Bad Eggs Exploded-remaining Eggs Are Nasty-do I Need To Clean Them?

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I have a hen who is sitting. She got off today and the remaining eggs are covered in shells & "yuck". Do I need to take her off & clean them? If so, water temperature? This stuff is completely dried on, it's going to be pretty difficult to get off. I did get the nest cleaned out & replaced the hay.

Expected hatch date is this Saturday.

 

[thomas h]

yuk

Had that happen before

and then another egg exploded .
I candled them after that..
I did get a hatch out of this without cleaning the eggs .


what your supposed to do? not sure .Anyone



.thomas

 

[Barred Rocker]

I'm not sure about a broody hen but I was told when one exploded in my incubator not to wash them but to gently wipe them off, clean out the incubator and then hope for the best.

 

[dancingbear]

Was it a rotten, stinky egg that actually exploded? Or was it just an egg that broke?

If it's normal egg goo, and doesn't stink, leave it, it'll rub off under the hen in a day or two. If it smells bad, it's full of bacteria, wash them. I just use warm water and dish soap, it'll come off easier than you think. I use an old knee-high nylon stocking to wash eggs, just rough enough to remove goo, soft enough not to damage the shell.

I have done this many, many, many, times, sometimes repeatedly if there was a lot of nest traffic or a clumsy hen, one bunch got washed at least five times during incubation. There were 6 eggs left by the hatch date, and 5 of them hatched. The last couple of times I washed them, I thought they were a lost cause and didn't even bring them back to the house so I'd have warm water. Just washed them under the cold water at the coop faucet. Stuck them back under the hen. Then they hatched.

Later, with other eggs, I discovered that dried egg rubs off pretty quickly under the hen, and quit washing them unless they smell bad. I just remove soiled nest material and put in new clean straw, and stick the eggs right back under mom. Those hatch fine, too.

As I've said a bunch of times, these eggs are not nearly as fragile as we think.

I have about 36 chicks running around right now, to prove it.