Advice needed for writing on eggs

[unplugged89]

Hello BYC,

First time poster here. I've been looking for ways to mark my chicken eggs without the expense of getting a date stamp.

What would be the best tool to write the date on my eggs meant for consumption? I'm thinking ink would leak through, but a pen would be easier than a pencil.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

I use pencil as it seems the least toxic. Some people use those sharpie markers, but I am not comfortable knowing it can leak into the eggs. Not sure about regular pens.

You might want to post this question in our Incubation and Hatching Eggs forums for more help and input on this....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs

Good luck with all your hatches and welcome to our flock!

 

[MeepBeep]

They sell food grade markers if you don't want to use a pencil, look in the cake decorating area of some stores or look online...

If you have a lot of eggs, I don't think you can beat a date stamp and food coloring...

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

Sharpies are great egg markers. One of our members did an experiment with one on some hatching eggs:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...gg-with-sharpie-answer-is-yes-with-proof/0_30

You can see in the pics that there was no ink seeping into the egg through the shell and that was after the egg was in a warm, humid environment for 3 weeks. So no worries there

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! You've gotten some good suggestions above, I tend to use pencils just because I can usually find ones. You can use a sticky note etc and mark the egg dates on the carton inside lid.

 

[gander007]

Alright

I use pencil led really it is carbon so I do not know why it is called led ....

 

[MeepBeep]

I use pencil led really it is carbon so I do not know why it is called led ....

Because at one time long ago (Roman times actually) they did used stylus that were made from real lead to write, and the terminology/name stuck, modern pencils use a graphite/clay blend and it's not toxic in the least...

I forgot, another option that I have been using to mark eggs for hatch date is crayons, I use different color crayons so it's real easy to identify at a glance...

 

[vehve]

@sumi The "test" there only proves that with the particular markers used, the dye doesn't seep through. All kinds of solvents could still go through the shell, and different markers would have different make ups. Without actually measuring contaminants from inside the egg, it's hard to determine how much actually seeps through.

That being said, I doubt enough would seep through to really make a difference.

 

[drumstick diva]