Chicks hatched duck eggs left in messy bator clean it or not?

[Feathered Wings]

I just finished my first hatch in my new Hova-Bator it went well had 22 hatch out of 30 eggs. Did have a humidity problem and had 3 chicks stick to the shells so I know thats the humidity being to low, I will correct that with future hatches

Heres my question I had a Call Duck abandon her nest so I had no choice but to add her eggs to the incu. They are on day 24 and Calls start to hatch on day 26 and thats 2 days away and the chicks have left a big mess in the incu and water tray.
What should I do about this mess should I just leave it or rinse out the bottom tray?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated

 

[shelleyd2008]

I wouldn't mess with it since it is so soon to hatching for the calls. If it were further off I would clean it out, but a few days shouldn't hurt them.

 

[Katy]

I'd take them out and at least quickly wash the incubator out.....the mess that gets left behind gets nasty very quckly.

 

[Julie08]

it wont help you now but of future if you put cheese cloth on the wire bottom when the hatch is complete you just gather up the cheese cloth and throw it out it will catch the majority of the nasty.

 

[JordanFamily]

I agree. Just leave the mess but boy is it going to be stinky... Hope it isn't in your house! YUK! If it is in your house and starting to stink I would take the whole bator into a very warm and humid bathroom and open it to clean it... I run hot water in the shower and bring in the space heater when I have to do something like that and have always had great success. I make the bathroom 100% humidity and over 85 degrees when I have to do this... .. Goodluck...

 

[Feathered Wings]

If I leave it how bad will it smell? If it's really bad won't it cause the air quality to go down for the ducks?
Sorry for so many questions I just want to do the right thing

 

[Katy]

I wouldn't leave them in that mess. Bacteria can and will start growing quickly in the warm humid conditions. Take the duck eggs out, put them someplace warm and quickly wash the incubator out. When you put them back in mist them with warm water and they should be fine.

 

[Feathered Wings]

I decide to clean the incu and took out the duck eggs then took out the plastic tray, wiped out the bottom then laid the eggs in the clean bottom and put on the top.
Did this quick as I could it maybe took 2 to 3 minutes max then took the tray to the shower and rinsed it with hot water and got all the crud off.
Dried the tray then took the eggs back out added the tray put in some water then replaced the eggs and now on lock down.
Whole process took about 10 minutes and the eggs were never chilled, I really hope they hatch

I just couldn't let these duck eggs sit in a messy incu for the next 2 to 3 days I would rather clean it and them not hatch then them pip and suffocate from the toxic air.
Sometimes we have to make tough decisions and just hope for the best

Thanks for all your advice it really helped me

 

[Katy]

Quote:
You did the right thing.

 

[mtcookie]

I would have cleaned it as well. Bacteria can grow really quickly. And you did a good job at keeping your eggs warm.