Arbutus Peregrine
Songster
Thank you! The nestboxes are clean and what it looked like to me--I am new at this!--it looked perhaps like just a bit of smeared blood. Like perhaps a first egg caused some trauma coming out? It wasn't poop on the egg and it wasn't dirt. Just a bit of blood is my best guess!Always great to get the first eggs. Congrats.
If you store the eggs it’s better not to rinse with water. Using a paper towel to get the dirt of is good.
Never use dirty eggs to hatch.
How come the are dirty? I would try to let the hens lay in a clean nestbox.