Can you clean fertile eggs?

[dancingbear]

The gases in hydrogen peroxide are oxygen and hydrogen.
Quote from Wiki:"A peroxide is a compound containing an oxygen-oxygen single bond. The simplest stable peroxide is hydrogen peroxide."
It won't hurt the eggs. It's ok, if the chicks breathe it, but until they pip into the air cell, they aren't breathing air, anyway.

I've had eggs get broken in nests many times. Leaving it makes for a foul, stinky, bacteria laden mess, and a high likelihood of contamination of the remaining eggs. I've washed them off, with soap and water, sometimes repeatedly during one incubation, and had the remaining eggs hatch just fine.

Rubbing a dry egg with anything is more likely to force bacteria into the pores than rinsing it off.

Whether you clean the eggs or not, as long as you clean the nest and replace the bedding, and if there's any wet stuff on the eggs, blot it off with a paper towel, or rinse it off, and they'll be fine.

I wouldn't use saline. Salt attracts water, if you leave a salt residue on the egg, it can potentially draw moisture from the egg. And, it could be irritating to the hens underside, if she's plucked feathers off her belly, as many do. You needn't use sterile anything, the underside of a hen is not a sterile environment.

 

[andorraclaim]

I've never seen this info before in the forums, good thread.

 

[dacasodivine]

I moved her to the next box and cleaned the eggs and put them under her. I nearly lost a finger or two but it's done. We'll see soon if it's too late. I have another broody on eggs that is due later this week or early next week(I really should be better at writing down dates). I have those chicks to look forward to as well. Fortunately, she doesn't share her nest.

 

[dancingbear]

When are these due to hatch? Let us know how it goes, but they should be fine. I've cleaned eggs many times during the incubation. They almost always hatch anyway, and the ones that don't, it probably had nothing to do with being washed off.

 

[dacasodivine]

This afternoon I saw she had abandoned the nest and moved to another with fresh eggs. I checked a 3 so far. Two were not fertile. The other looked like it had stopped developing at least several days ago. It should have been pretty much formed. I'll check the others later.

Since she did move to eggs laid today, I did wonder about giving her some new eggs to hatch. Is that too long to leave her sitting? Or should I go buy some chicks and stick them under her?

I do have another hen sitting too. I didn't write down when they are due but I seem to recall it was within a week of the other so I have that to look forward to.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I hatched eggs I washed and refridgerated under a broody. They turned out nicely.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I forgot to mention that I washed them with cold water.