candling eggs handling eggs ?

[peepsthebrassy]

will it effect the chicks in the egg if i handle them too much. sometimes i forget to wash my hands before touching them. will that effect them? im tiring not to but it is not a habit yet. 2nd time hatching chicks.

 

[Hannahloveshens]

In the wild a broody hen leaves the nest for half an hour a day so you can handle the eggs for that long a day if you so desire cancelling the eggs does not effect the chicks at all, if possible try to wash your hands as much as possible as you don't want bacteria getting in your bator many thanks hannahloveshens

 

[okiemamachick]

Maybe put a bottle of hand sanitizer in front of the incubator but I would say definitely make sure your hands are dry first or put a sticky not on the incubator to remind you.

 

[lazy gardener]

Good thought Okie re: the hand sanitizer, but I would hesitate because of the many chemicals in the sanitizer. My suggestion might be to put a big sign on the top of the incubator with a reminder to wash hands. BTW, I'm a candling addict, and also need to remind myself to wash my hands.

Also, with some practice and the right set up, it's possible to candle eggs while they are still in the incubator. You won't be able to do all of them that way, but you can do a few, and that just might give you your "dancing chick" fix without handling the eggs so much.

 

[okiemamachick]

I wondered about that too @lazygardener I thought if they waited for their hands to be dry from it, it would help at least with some of the chemical transfer I beleive it's mostly alcohol with moisturizer added but I may be wrong. I like the post it note/sign idea best lol

 

[peepsthebrassy]

thanks all for your good info

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I am also a candling addict. I don't candle all the eggs every night, but I do candle 3-4 maybe even 5 different ones each night. I make sure my hands are clean. My set up is upstairs and there is no bathroom upstairs so I keep a package of wipes up here. That way if I am already up here, and usually I am, I use the wipes.