Dirty eggs - what do I do???

[nothingbutbirds]

Since it's a bit of a debate, I would like to share my opinion. I personally would wipe them down with warm water. It won't really affect the eggs, and wiping them has proved to save them in my case. I have tried both ways. When I left them be, many of them died (not from mold, but from bacteria and lack of pores). When I cleaned them, all but one hatched. I realize there are other factors, but I also always clean my incubator eggs from the start and get 95% hatch rates. If you are questioning whether to clean them for the start, thats really deabtable and people should just do what they feel is right. But since these eggs are literally covered in other egg contents (blocking pores) I would definately clean them. Might I add, I did scrub too. You should make sure you get close to all of the yolk off. You will also want to change the nesting material, and if it's really bad, wash the hens underside and give it a quick blow dry. Just try to have the egg back underneath of her within 20 minutes.

i have scrubed before 2 got 6 out of 7 but i didnt want to say to because most sources say not to i have heard that hatcheries put he eggs in buckets of warm water, u can do that to get the humidity up fast

 

[nothingbutbirds]

Since it's a bit of a debate, I would like to share my opinion. I personally would wipe them down with warm water. It won't really affect the eggs, and wiping them has proved to save them in my case. I have tried both ways. When I left them be, many of them died (not from mold, but from bacteria and lack of pores). When I cleaned them, all but one hatched. I realize there are other factors, but I also always clean my incubator eggs from the start and get 95% hatch rates. If you are questioning whether to clean them for the start, thats really deabtable and people should just do what they feel is right. But since these eggs are literally covered in other egg contents (blocking pores) I would definately clean them. Might I add, I did scrub too. You should make sure you get close to all of the yolk off. You will also want to change the nesting material, and if it's really bad, wash the hens underside and give it a quick blow dry. Just try to have the egg back underneath of her within 20 minutes.

i have scrubed before 2 got 6 out of 7 but i didnt want to say to because most sources say not to i have heard that hatcheries put he eggs in buckets of warm water, u can do that to get the humidity up fast

 

[nothingbutbirds]

opps there are some duplicates

 

[nothingbutbirds]

opps there are some duplicates

 

[mariathesilkie]

Thanks everyone for your advice ... now I really don't know what to do!! ha ha! I replaced the bedding as I think the reason she'd broken the eggs was because she has kicked out most of the straw from underneath the eggs (plenty surrounding her but the eggs themselves were pretty much just resting on the wooden boards of the nesting box). So I've put a thick layer of straw under her now and she's pretty zoned out so hopefully she won't attempt to remove this. As for what to do with the eggs, I'm really undecided! aaahhh. I wish we were closer to hatching time. the next nine days are going to be anxious ones!

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Just another observation. Friends of mine do not wash clean or otherwise mess with their eggs at all. (knocking loose crap off is about as far as they go) They have had 90%+ hatch rates on all of their eggs(well over 4000 hatched since this spring). My wife scrubbed our eggs spotless and wasn't all that gentile about it. another set my kids sprayed with bleach sanitizer. While all of my eggs got destroyed a couple days ago, 99% were developing normally(also mind i was using a home made incubator for the very first time as well). So i have seen both extremes with no ill effects to be seen.

 

[mariathesilkie]

I just checked and the hen has kicked out all the straw again! So she's back nesting on wooden boards. I guess it really might come down to a survival of the strongest (strongest eggs that don't get crushed!). I will update again once I've decided what to do re cleaning or leaving the eggs.

 

[mariathesilkie]

Ok, so when the hen got off the nest for her daily five minute stretch and snack I had a good look at her eggs. They were filthy - covered in a thick layer of yolk, with broken egg shell, feathers and straw stuck to it. I didn't want to interfere but I could not see how any little chicks could possibly peck their way through this thick layer (if they made it that far anyway, because I doubted the eggs could 'breathe' properly with all the pores covered). So I cleaned them with some warm water and a smooth cloth. It didn't take too long, a couple of minutes each egg and then it was tucked back under mother hen. I really hope I have done the right thing. We are at day 14 now so hopefully everything progresses ok from here. I candled the eggs when I cleaned them and all look good.
The other thing was I kept adding straw to the nest and the hen kept moving her eggs to places without straw. She was getting grumpy at me between cleaning and candling the eggs, and insisting she nest on something other than wooden boards. We seemed to have arrived at some sort of compromise and she is nesting on a little straw - better than nothing. In return I have vowed to not interfere any more and will let her do her job on her own for the next week (harder than it sounds!! haha). In the meantime another little silkie hen has gone broody, so I may just get her some fertile eggs too, just incase this first batch are doomed. But for now it's a matter of wating and hoping!

 

[cochins1088]

Don't think that they are doomed in any way, as I said, I have had much more sucess by washing these "filthy" eggs than not. Just like you said, it covers pores, increases risk of bacteria, and the little chick wouldn have to peck through the grime. The others say to simply let nature take its course, which I try to follow as often as possible, but if you have the oppurtunity to give them a better chance at life, why not? I usually leave my eggs be unless somthing similar happens like once, a rotten egg exploded under my poor broody. She was a stinky mess and the eggs were too. The contents of rotten eggs are full of bacteria so these other eggs were literally covered in harmful bacteria. I washed the eggs, changed the bedding, gave her a real quick bath and blow dry and she was back on her eggs in no time, 10 days later I had 6 chicks from the 7 eggs. The last eggs was crushed with the fully formed chick sadly, so thats a 100% development rate.

 

[LoveChickens123]

i heard when they are born you take a moist paint brush and u use that to help them out of the shell