Can guinea eggs catch our germs??

[critters]

I am thinking they can....

I have been sick off/on for 3 weeks now ( better now at last) and I had my bator over half full...
had strep throat then the crud...awful stuff...

I think I killed all my eggs...they were doing well then in the last week died...no hatches!! (candling showed veins/movement)
I had been turning them manually cuz I like the personal touch, the time with the little guys, even before they are hatched...

So, what do you think?? could I have given them my bug and killed them off??

I have another batch getting ready for lockdown, due Sunday...candled them this evening and out of 13 eggs looks
like 1 dead (???) (but keeping in bator) 6 active and 6 unsure (too close to tell)....numbers are low but couldn't pass up
incubating them...still early...more eggs will come!

this is my second year incubating and think I may have learned something the very hard way...even tho I washed my hands
before and after handling them...

got more ready to put in the bator but would like your opinion about our germs and guineas/eggs...

 

[KrisH]

POSSIBLY

The warm moist environment could possibly have incubated your own germs in higher quantities and when you touched the eggs re-contaminated yourself. and any germs could incubate and possibly damage or kill embrios.

they do use eggs to incubate flu vaccines after all

RobertH

 

[critters]

well that makes sense....

 

[PeepsCA]

I agree with Robert. Incubators are germ factories (as is with all the germs on the eggs to begin with), and most definitely the perfect environment for any germs/bacteria that you bring in to flourish and then penetrate the eggs thru the pores in the shell. Can't say for sure that's what happened to your last batch of eggs, but it is a major possibility.

I'd make sure to sterilize your incubator really well in between batches, handle your eggs with clean, dry hands... and of course don't breathe, cough or sneeze on your eggs just to cover all the bases!

Good luck with your next hatches and hope you are back to healthy!