Hi I am new here. I need some help please. I sold some duck eggs to a lady . I found out she put the eggs in the bath tub with a duckling I sold her. She is nuts! It has been 6 days now and I told her I would try to hatch them if she wanted. I told her her eggs were not going to hatch under the light and she needed to have a hen sit on them or incubate them. so I need to know if they can be cleaned before I put them in the incubator? Thanks
The best thing to do is give the ducks a clean and dry nest if they will lay in it. If you need to wash them, just use luke warm water and rub offf the big stuff. Don't have to be super clean. Dab them dry with a paper towle. Some will tell you never to wash a hatching egg but I have done it many times with ducks, chickens, turkeys and guineas and seen no decrease in hatch rates. I do have a few good incubators and a hatcher and that helps. I do like my Dickey's bator better the the couple GQF's I have.
It's best not to because it removes the bloom which helps keep bacteria from entering the egg, BUT if those eggs have been in a tub with a duckling for a week (What was she thinking??!!) and are super filthy I'd wash them. You don't want to introduce that much yuck to the bator so washing them would be the lesser of the evils. Use warm water and don't scrub more then you have to.
Thanks so much! I really doubt the eggs will hatch its getting old now. I will try and thats the best I can do.