dirty eggs in incubator?

[therealestchicken]

sorry i couldnt find any answers on google. i got the incubator today, last night i ended up just letting my hen sit on her eggs, they are day 16 now, should i be worried if they are a little dirty? i figured maybe it wouldnt affect them because they are already developing. also is this eggs okay? its not day 16 she laid it while she was sitting on them i just didnt know what the ring at the top meant

 

[nuthatched]

Can you get a better picture of the egg in a dark room?

 

[Altairsky]

They look good.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The way I understand this you had the eggs under a broody hen for 16 days and then moved them to an incubator.

should i be worried if they are a little dirty?

A little dirty is not a big problem. If they had dried clumps of mud or poop on them then the bloom would be compromised and bacteria could enter, causing them to be rotten and stink to high heaven. To me, those do not look bad so as long as they are not stinking I don't see a problem at all.

i just didnt know what the ring at the top meant

That is an air cell. It looks like it is exactly where it is supposed to be, on the fat end of the egg. For Day 16 the size looks OK. The eggshell is porous so the egg loses moisture as time passes. As that moisture leaves it is replaced by air. When a chick hatches it internal pips into that air cell so it can learn to breathe air instead of continuing to live in a liquid environment.

It looks like things are progressing normally. Good luck.

 

[therealestchicken]

The way I understand this you had the eggs under a broody hen for 16 days and then moved them to an incubator.


A little dirty is not a big problem. If they had dried clumps of mud or poop on them then the bloom would be compromised and bacteria could enter, causing them to be rotten and stink to high heaven. To me, those do not look bad so as long as they are not stinking I don't see a problem at all.


That is an air cell. It looks like it is exactly where it is supposed to be, on the fat end of the egg. For Day 16 the size looks OK. The eggshell is porous so the egg loses moisture as time passes. As that moisture leaves it is replaced by air. When a chick hatches it internal pips into that air cell so it can learn to breathe air instead of continuing to live in a liquid environment.

It looks like things are progressing normally. Good luck.

thank you!!