disinfecting eggs???

[UrbanFarmChix]

Hi All,

While poking around the hatching eggs on e-bay (looking for silkies) I came across a seller who dips her eggs.

"I dip every egg I put in my own incubator in disinfectant to avoid seeding my incubator with bacteria. Since we all know where eggs come from, I do the same to yours before I ship them. This is not "washing" the egg, and I always use water that is warmer than the egg to avoid having bacteria pulled into the shell. If for some reason you do not wish this done, please let me know when you send payment."

I wonder what the disinfectant is? Do you do this too? I've been wondering and concerned about seeding my sparkly new incubator with bacteria that I'm sure grow healthy in the warmth and humidity. Thoughts?

Venturing forth to incubate this month,
Alisan

 

[pdsavage]

You should ask the seller what they use.....

 

[MissPrissy]

If you choose to disinfect eggs it should be done just before setting a hatch - not by a seller who will be handling the eggs and shipping them to you to be handled again. Most eggs do not need disinfecting. Are these chicken eggs? If the eggs are clean from the nest they are perfect for setting to hatch.

Some goose eggs do need disinfecting before setting a hatch but given time to dry and sit for several hours and those can be sand papered instead.

There are many things people use to disinfect eggs.

If I were the buyer I would instruct her not to disinfect my eggs.


As far as your incubator - after every hatch you must disinfect, sanitize and sterilize it. No way around it. New or old. I have seen many threads on the forums where people can't figure out why their hatches fail repeatedly and I would say 75% of the time in new hatchers the incubators are not being cleaned properly.

Here is my thread on how I clean the hovabators after every hatch. If you are using a LG the same rules apply. Remove everything you can and clean it top to bottom.

 

[Faverolle]

Quote:
I use Tektrol. It disinfects plus has a residual effect to keep working for days after.

 

[UrbanFarmChix]

Ok, thanks for the input. They are chicken eggs and I have a hovabator. I'll research more about cleaning between hatches. I'm going to read up on Tektrol too.

For those that do clean their eggs do you get a better hatch or is there another reason?

Cheers,
Alisan