...And I Proved You Wrong!!!

[Gypsy07]

Y'know, I've never measured accurately how much bleach I use. I just squirt some out of the carton into a round 1 litre container, then I fill up with hot water and give it a swirl around. I do use roughly the same amount every time but I judge it by eye. How unscientific!

I don't think it's anything like 10%, but I'm probably using a different type/strength/consistency of bleach. I use a general household thick bleach, and I'd reckon my bleach:water ratio is more like 1:150. But as long as you use hot water and rinse off thoroughly, I don't think it'll matter too much the exact strength of the solution. As long as it's strong enough to kill germs and rinsed off completely to prevent any residue remaining on the shells, I think you'd be fine...

 

[JD4570]

Wow a higher hatch rate you say? Hmm... I'm going to have to try this.

 

[Gypsy07]

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Honestly, give it a try, with an open mind. I read all that stuff about protective blooms and not washing eggs for ages, then I realised most of the people saying it were just following standard advice and weren't speaking from experience. I don't like following that kind of advice, cause it often turns out to be nonsense. So I ran a few experiments to find out for myself, and kept detailed notes to make sure I could figure out what was going on. All with eggs from my own birds, sometimes with eggs from the one individual bird, all stored in the same conditions for the same amount of time and then set side by side in the same incubator. The unwashed eggs I gave the best chance possible by changing out the wood shavings in the nesting boxes every day, collecting eggs two or three times a day, not touching them with my bare hands and discarding any muddy or poo stained ones. (Those ones got washed!) I left some eggs unwashed, rinsed some under plain hot water, and washed some in a bleach solution. Hatching results time and time again showed that the bleached eggs had a better hatch rate than the rinsed eggs, which in turn had a better hatch rate than the unwashed ones.

Edited to add: Specifically, washing eggs seems to reduce the number of blood rings and early quitters. I still get as many full term DIS.

 

[Silkie-lover33]

Ok, sorry about the long pause. I'm really excited! Every egg hatched and two of the chicks have vaulted skulls

This is the very first time I've had all the eggs hatch without even having to cull any . Currently I'm charging the batteries to my camera so I only have one good(ish) picture. It is so nice to have little chicks again

. Our last hatch was about 2 months ago, not a long time, I know, but I'm mental wreck without any chicks! Here is a picture!

 

[reereechickens]

Wow! Those chicks look pretty good to me!

 

[reereechickens]

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I did quite a lot of experimenting with washing/not washing eggs. I found that eggs washed in a hot dilute bleach solution (totally submerged for over a minute, scrubbed, rinsed off under water hot enough to burn your hands) had a much higher hatch rate than unwashed eggs. So now I wash every single egg I set. I've never had a chick die after hatching, never had to assist any to hatch, never had any get sick as chicks, never had any get sick as adults.

I don't know where some folk get their ideas from, really I don't.

I'm a Med Lab Tech and we used bleach 10% all the time back in the day, so I'm a bleach kinda gal. For some reason, bleach became the devil and we(the Lab not me)switched to a cleaner called Amp-fill(spelling is wrong but that is how it is pronounced). It was so bad the bottles that we stored it in would become cloudy, slimed up. and gross you DON'T get that with bleach 10%! So I agree with what you are saying!

 

[debs_flock]

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Kenmore, Icebox, The Fridge (in the same vein, William Perry), Mr Bubble (re washing the eggs), Amana, Iceman, hmm, that's all I can think of at the moment.

Deb

 

[spiritdance]

Has anyone tried washing with oxine before setting eggs?

 

[anderson8505]

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Kenmore, Icebox, The Fridge (in the same vein, William Perry), Mr Bubble (re washing the eggs), Amana, Iceman, hmm, that's all I can think of at the moment.

Deb

 

[Silkie-lover33]

Nice names! Today mommy is outside with all 5 of her babies. My silkies are looking particularly silly today all wet and straggly with dirty feet and topknots! I don't think they like it when it rains...

At least Heather and her brood are under the chicken coop all dry and toasty!