Blowing Hatching Eggs...

[texascowboy1979]

When is it advisable to blow hatching eggs? Do I wait a week, two weeks... when is it safe to say that the little eggs is just not fertile?

Id like to know for..

Pheasants...
Chickens...
Turkeys...

I know that for pheasant and turkeys, its 28 days hatch time... For chickens its 21 days hatch time.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

Are you wanting to blow eggs that have already been started on incubation?? I wouldn't do that -

An egg that hasn't been incubated is fine to blow out at any time...

You can tell an egg is fertile by a small 'bulls eye' white spot on the egg. You can crack it open to tell. I think there is a thread on here that will teach you the difference in fertile and non fertile eggs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16008

 

[texascowboy1979]

Quote:
yes... I wanna know when its safe to remove eggs from the incubator. For example, I would not want unfertile eggs to get incubated for the entrire 21 or 28 days and then explode or crack before the due date and leave a mess everywhere...

Or are you saying that it is safe to incubate unfertile eggs up until the time they are moved into the hatcher?

 

[babyriver]

Do you mean candling the egg to see if its growing ?

 

[texascowboy1979]

Yes,

When is it safe to say... this is an infertile egg by candeling and then I remove it from the incubator...

Sorry I was not much clearer.. its been a long day and I forgot that people cant read my mind...

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I probably wouldn't do that but I guess you can if they haven't been 'cooked' for too long

It might be stinky and smelly if they have already started incubation and aren't fertile...

 

[FenDruadin]

I think the confusion is over the word "blow"--correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the OP just means that he wants to know if he can throw them away. And I think some of the responses are reading it to mean he wants to blow the insides out while preserving the shell in tact--like you might do for an easter egg you wanted to decorate and then keep. But which, of course, you wouldn't want to try and do for a rotten partially developed egg.

Is that clearer? Or did I just muddy the issue further?

And, by the way, once you know what you're looking for, you should be able to tell by Day 7 if the eggs are fertile. If I'm not sure, I wait another few days and check again. If I have one or two that are doubtful, I set them aside in the incubator (if there's room) and keep an extra watchful eye on them. I smell them every day and watch for oozing--if they start to stink or ooze, I know it's time to toss them. Also, I check every few days for development--if they've made no progress in a week, I toss them.