Broody hen

[Driley62]

Hey all,

I'm pretty sure my hen is broody for the 3rd time this year(oh joys). That's not why I'm writing this however. I'm thinking of letting her hatch a clutch and sell the chicks as a barnyard mix straight run. At least if she's not gonna lay and go broody all the time might as well make her earn her keep while off lay. But real reason I'm posting this... someone told me when marking the clutched eggs to not use a sharpie marker but a pencil instead. Something to do with the chemicals in the marker. Any truth to that? First time she went broody I gave her 4 eggs and they all hatched and survived just under two weeks when one mysteriously died. The second clutch she abandoned the nest because I moved her to the newly built coop(oops). Anyone able to provide insight to this?

 

[MROO]

Hey all,

I'm pretty sure my hen is broody for the 3rd time this year(oh joys). That's not why I'm writing this however. I'm thinking of letting her hatch a clutch and sell the chicks as a barnyard mix straight run. At least if she's not gonna lay and go broody all the time might as well make her earn her keep while off lay. But real reason I'm posting this... someone told me when marking the clutched eggs to not use a sharpie marker but a pencil instead. Something to do with the chemicals in the marker. Any truth to that? First time she went broody I gave her 4 eggs and they all hatched and survived just under two weeks when one mysteriously died. The second clutch she abandoned the nest because I moved her to the newly built coop(oops). Anyone able to provide insight to this?

If it's not food-safe, it's probably not chick/egg safe, either. If it doesn't say "non-toxic," don't use it. Personally, I'd err on the side of caution and use a pencil. If you're worried about it not showing up, use a carpenter's pencil (noy a wax one, a regular pencil) or a child's fat pencil. Those have softer lead and tend to leave a darker mark.
** Lesson Learned the Hard Way - Do NOT use a colored pencil. Most of those smear when they get wet, and you'll end up with runny, faded smudges that don't help a bit!

 

[aart]

Many have used Sharpie permanent markers with no ill affect.
If you use pencil you'll probably have to remark them as the pencil wears off.
China markers might work too.

 

[Driley62]

Many have used Sharpie permanent markers with no ill affect.
If you use pencil you'll probably have to remark them as the pencil wears off.
China markers might work too.

I used a sharpie. Theyre labeled as "ap certified" non toxic. Actually after I posted this I came across another thread about the same thing and someone conducted an experiment about sharpies and the porous shells and basically discredited the concept that the ink will pass through the shell. That was pretty much enough for me

 

[Ridgerunner]

One theory I read about why not to use Sharpies has nothing to do with the liquid, it's that the gasses given off as the liquid dries can harm the embryo. It goes through the porous shell, the membrane that surround the egg, and the egg white to get to the embryo on the surface of the yolk. And get there in a high enough dosage to cause harm.

I don't believe that for a moment. As fast as that liquid dries, the gasses evaporate almost instantaneously. They are not going to work their way into the egg through all that protection, they are going into the air. I use a black Sharpie to mark the eggs and don't worry about it. I've never marked half the eggs in an incubator with a Sharpie and not marked the rest to see what hatch rate I get. I've never tried marking half with a Sharpie and half with something else under a broody so I can't say I have any experience proving that a Sharpie doesn't make any difference. For it to be a valid experiment you'd have to do a lot of hatches and average the results.

If you are uncomfortable with using a Sharpie, use something else.

 

[Driley62]

One theory I read about why not to use Sharpies has nothing to do with the liquid, it's that the gasses given off as the liquid dries can harm the embryo. It goes through the porous shell, the membrane that surround the egg, and the egg white to get to the embryo on the surface of the yolk. And get there in a high enough dosage to cause harm.

I don't believe that for a moment. As fast as that liquid dries, the gasses evaporate almost instantaneously. They are not going to work their way into the egg through all that protection, they are going into the air. I use a black Sharpie to mark the eggs and don't worry about it. I've never marked half the eggs in an incubator with a Sharpie and not marked the rest to see what hatch rate I get. I've never tried marking half with a Sharpie and half with something else under a broody so I can't say I have any experience proving that a Sharpie doesn't make any difference. For it to be a valid experiment you'd have to do a lot of hatches and average the results.

If you are uncomfortable with using a Sharpie, use something else.

I used a sharpie the first time before I heard someone say to not. Out of the 4 she sat on all made it full term.