Desinfect eggs during inccubation?

[Livi]

I know some disinfect hatching eggs and some dont. Personally I have been a non-disinfecter for a while, but I have grown abit paranoid when it comes to contagous avian diseases. I ordered eggwasher (for hatching eggs an dfood eggs) and also Virkon S to start disinfect eggs.

I see it is common to use disinfecter either straight away after collection or just before putting them in the incubator. I also saw mentioned that some spray their eggs also during incubation. Since I already have a few eggs going (day 15 and day 10) I was wondering if it is possible to spray over them now or could that ruin my eggs?

 

[rebel yell]

I don't know what part of the country you live in but there in the South the humidity is high most of the time, so I don't ever spray my eggs & never have washed them other than getting a little mud off of them every now & then, I don't recommend washing them, but that's just my opinion which don't mean its the best thing to do, all I know is, look under that hen & see how dirty the eggs are.

 

[Livi]

I completely agree that it is not exactly sterile under a hen however, the decision to sterilize my eggs are due to fear of getting diseases from other flocks than my own. I just wonder if it would matter, one way or the other, if I sterilize eggs that are under incubation. Not soak them for minutes, just a quick spray or a dip or something? Or leave it be, because whatever viruses/bacterias were on the outside is probably on the inside long time ago and sterilizing agents could harm the eggs?

 

[rebel yell]

I cant say either way,I always try to trust the breeder I get eggs from that they are disease free, as they say they are, But I have never washed any of my eggs, I guess its just a preference, Its all up to you, I think it reduces the hatchability of the eggs, & if it is very expensive eggs I would not wash them at all.

 

[PascalWinnen]

I also never thought it was necessary to disinfect eggs, until I dragged a disease into my flock and lost dozens of chicks due to AE.

Now I use Virkon-S to disinfect:
Just before putting the eggs in the incubator or transferring the hatching eggs to a customer, I prepare a 0.5% (1:200) solution in 38°C (around 100°F) tap water.
Dip the eggs in the solution for 2-3 minutes (I bought plastic egg trays for this purpose, no need to touch the eggs before or after disinfection)
Remove from the solution, let dry.

I didn't notice any significant drops in hatching results as a result of this procedure.

Kind regards

Pascal

www.schweizerhuhn.com

 

[bairo]

I dip mine in an oxine solution prior to incubation. I also use oxine solution as the water for incubator humidity. You can see some dilution ratios on my coop page...link under my user name.