Dirty eggs

[harbor hens]

I was asked by a friend to help hatch a batch of eggs from his coop, his eggs are not collected every day and they are covered with dry poop by the time they are collected. can a dirty egg be hatched in an incubator? And how old can it be before it's too late to place in an incubator?

 

[ParagonPoultry]

Broody hens hatch dirty eggs. Most people like the clean what they can off with a lightly moist paper towel. Typical rule is under 10 days old for best hatch rate. Personally, I've hatched 3 week old eggs.

 

[cmom]

If there is a lot of poop on the egg then I take scrub pad and clean it off as best I can. I have hatched eggs that have been a little dirty ok.

This is a Pheasant egg that hatched, just an example. It was really dirty and I did clean it but the poop was dried on pretty good.

 

[harbor hens]

O.K. thanks so much for the info and photo!

 

[ggrap]

Don't clean the egg with anything wet because it will remove the bloom, which protects the embryo inside. Use a light sandpaper to remove the stuff. But best case senario is to pick clean eggs that are as fresh as possible. I think no older than 5 or 6 days, longer than that you will get a much small percentage to hatch.

If you need to save the eggs because you don't have enough from one day, put them in an egg carton, point down and lean them against a wall. About a 55 degree angle, and flip carton to the other end every 3 hrs or so as you can. You want to keep them in a room that is cool, about 50 or so, to prevent the germination from starting before you want it to.