Dirty eggs?

[The Rinaest Rina]

Hi! I've just gotten my greedy hands on thirteen big-chicken eggs and seven banty eggs. The bantys are pretty clean, but I'm worried about the thirteen. Most of them have some sort of grime or dried muck on them.

I've read that dirty eggs should be avoided for hatching, and eggs should never be washed before they're incubated. But these are the only eggs I have, and I'm disappointed to have so few.

Would it hurt to wipe off the dirt with a damp paper towel, or would that just make it worse? Would it be better if I just stick them in and hope for the best? My worry is that bacteria on the outside will compromise the development.

 

[Debbie292d]

I'd be taking a DRY paper towel and brushing what I could off, then sterilize them and incubate. I wrote an article how to do this, but basically, soak them in Odoban solution for a minute, let them dry, and incubate.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sterilizing-hatching-eggs.79104/

 

[Toothpick]

I'd toss them in and see what happens. I pretty much go against the grain though lol

I've recently hatched dirty eggs. I put dirty eggs in the fridge to eat. I sell dirty eggs. I clean dirty eggs sometimes. Dirty eggs are just eggs IMO. If they are not cracked they are viable. Eat or hatch.

 

[The Rinaest Rina]

Ok, thanks for the info y'all!

Guysss... my dad brought eggs from his co-workers' flock for me like two minutes after I posted... I was so surprised and happy.

I asked him about the dirty eggs and he said that a little water wouldn't hurt, but dirt might contaminate the microclimate. So I did wipe the bad ones with a wet paper towel.
When I spent time on a monastery last fall, I had the privilege of helping the elderly chicken mama nun with her flock. She directed me to wipe the dirty ones with a wet sponge, saying it wouldn't hurt the bloom- "Big chicken farms sanitize their eggs in bleach. That's why you have to refrigerate those; but no. Water won't hurt.", she said. In two months there I never encountered a spoiled egg.

All that to say, we shall see. I'll candle these eggs in three days, and replace the duds with my spares. They'll still hatch within an acceptable window with the others and keep the hatchrate up. I'm keeping records of every egg and what I did to it for the sake of science.

 

[The Rinaest Rina]

A weeks-late update: The hatch was pretty successful! There didn't seem to be any correlation between eggs being wiped off with warm moist paper towels and eggs failing to hatch.
Four did not hatch, thirteen did. Of the four, one must have stopped developing earlier on, while the other three appeared to have perished somewhere around day 19.
All that pipped arrived safely and are in good health.