Dirty eggs in the bator=death?

[undergroundchickens]

Many of the eggs I received to put in the bator were pretty dirty (dropping smears as well as dirty hay stuck like glue to the shell that I couldn't get off). I am down to 4 eggs left (day 17) out of 11 shipped eggs. I was just looking them over and realized that the eggs that were clean are what I have left. The two eggs with embryos that had late deaths were pretty dirty, the other 5 were very early deaths (blood rings or just a small blood spot in the yolk). Could the dirty eggs be the problem with how many eggs I have left? How much does a clean egg shell really play in hatch rate?

 

[SkyWarrior]

I think it plays a part, but certainly shipping does too. One of my BCM came out of an egg that had some straw on it. Some of my clean eggs didn't hatch and some of my dirty ones did. I think there are a variety of factors besides stuff on the eggs. My thought is the cleaner, the better, but there are a gazillion reasons why eggs won't hatch/develop. Some having to do with fertility, handling, incubator issues, genetic problems and whatnot.

My first hatch I had 4 eggs hatch out of 13 eggs

My second hatch was none out of 9 that I attribute to the seller rather than my incubating. Shipped eggs are a gamble, but gosh, I'm willing to try incubating at least a few for not a lot of money. I might get some really cool chicks from them.

 

[mothersin2ition]

I have some on lockdown right now that were/are very dirty. I hope they hatch!!! I wouldnt have set them if they were just any eggs and were that dirty, but they were expensive shipped eggs so I wanted to give them a shot. I dont know what the general consensus is about setting dirty eggs since Ive only incubated once before, so I cant speak with authority. You probably run a greater risk of contaminating the other eggs if some of them get bacteria inside and then explode all over the others. That being said, I had a perfectly clean silkie egg explode after only 3 days in the incubator! So I guess you take a risk either way.

On a side note, where in Utah are you? I grew up in SLC and dh and I bought a house in Santaquin in 2003. We moved to WA about 3 years ago. I miss all my UT peeps!

 

[undergroundchickens]

I grew up in Orem/Lindon area then moved to SLC until I got married. Now I live in little ol' Richfield UT for the last 11 years.

 

[geebs]

Had lots of luck hatching dirty eggs... If they start to smell remove offenders.

 

[Rozzie]

My personal opinion is that it's poor business practice to ship dirty eggs. I sure wouldn't be a repeat buyer nor would I be likely to recommend that seller.
The only way I'd buy from someone I knew was shipping dirty eggs was if the breed or bloodline was so rare I didn't have much other choice.