Dirty shipped eggs arrived. What to do?

[BlazingColours]

I bought some hatching eggs that were shipped out Monday. I picked them up at post office today and found 24 filthy eggs. Contacted supplier and was told the muddy season has caused all their eggs to be dirty and that they don't clean them. Also told that they have just as good hatch rates with dirty eggs as clean ones. I told them I would not have purchased them had I been told they were very dirty. Anyway these are the eggs I have so need to do as best I can with what I have... I do have 24 other eggs that are clean which I was going to incubate with these. How to clean them so I can attempt to hatch them and not have a contaminated incubator for the other eggs and chicks once they hatch.

 

[Pyxis]

A bit of mud won't hurt them. Really, it won't. When we're in mud season up here I hatch them all the time and it doesn't affect the hatch rate. That said, I wouldn't ever sell muddy eggs without disclosing that they were muddy, so I agree the seller misstepped by doing that.

If you want to wash them, I would try first rubbing the dirt off with a dry cloth. If that doesn't work, then you can use a bit of plain warm water. Most people don't wash their eggs because they are worried they are going to wash the bloom off, but I've never had problems when gently washing eggs with a cloth and warm water.

 

[cmom]

I have incubated both unwashed and washed eggs. You can also use a scrubbing pad and get off as much of the dirt off as you can. If the eggs are really dirty I have washed the eggs and it didn't affect my hatches but I prefer clean eggs. I ship eggs too unwashed and I don't send dirty eggs. This is an example of how I pack the eggs. Good luck and have fun...

 

[MissChick@dee]

Wipe with wet paper towels.

 

[BlazingColours]

Thanks everyone so far. Some have mud chunks, some speared in poop and some a mix. Will try scratching off the chunks but have been doing some reading which suggests washing in warm water 105 degrees and dipping in a 1/10 bleach/water solution. OR a 50/50 water peroxide. Having a very hard time considering putting them in there this dirty...

 

[Mosey2003]

Personally, when I have actual dirty ones, I wash them. I won't incubate dirty eggs. I also always sanitize. I don't see any higher incidence of quitters/ones dying when washing vs not.

If I received those eggs, I would run them under hot tap water until the mud melted off, not scrubbing hard, but just enough to get them clean. Then they'd go into a big hot bowl of my sanitizer for a few minutes, then out into racks to air dry. Shipped eggs can often use a brief soak anyway to regain a bit of the moisture they lose from being shipped, in my opinion. I use half water and half original gold Listerine to sanitize, I don't use bleach and I wouldn't use peroxide.

I think we worry a bit too much about removing bloom, when I wash eating eggs I usually give them a good scrub, and they still have bloom re-appearing as they dry. I won't rub on them with dry cloths or sandpaper, that seems more disruptive than a stream of water to me.

Honestly, I'd rather receive them dirty than pre-washed, so that I know they've been washed the way I want, and close to when they go in the incubator. If the seller had washed them, they may have lost more moisture while traveling than I like.

So, I'd do that and let them sit still and upright for at least a day, and then put them in.

 

[jblackb042]

I am finishing up a hatch of 12 BCM and 12 Cream Legbars shipped. I washed them all with warm water and soap, then a quick dip in warm water with a teaspoon of bleach. I had 9 of the BCM and 10 of the Legbars make it to lockdown. So far I have 6 legbar and 6 BCM chicks out with several more working that way. This is day 21. I will be washing all of mine from now on.

 

[Yardmom]

I have put washed eggs under a hen and had them not hatch ( 3 unwashed ones did). I didn't know ahead of time so not sure if my water temp may have been to low, but washing is going to hurt more than dirty eggs for hatching.

 

[jblackb042]

I have put washed eggs under a hen and had them not hatch ( 3 unwashed ones did). I didn't know ahead of time so not sure if my water temp may have been to low, but washing is going to hurt more than dirty eggs for hatching.

Don't think I would put washed under a broody, because you remove the bloom and expose it. For clean incubators though, I think it helps tremendously. In my experience anyway.

 

[Mosey2003]

My policy is the less bacteria in my incubators, the better. I don't use broody hens. If I did, I wouldn't wash their eggs. That's the only time my incubator has seen dirty eggs, when my friend took them from broodies and wanted me to hatch them. Looking back, I wish I had washed and sanitized even those, I came uncomfortably close to having a few explosions and the only thing preventing it was looking closely at them every single day to see which ones weeped. Never again.