Do you clean eggs before putting them in the bator?

[minpinmama]

Just curious, if you get an egg that has a little crud on it do you wash, never wash or just tidy up a little?
If you wash how do you go about it and what do you use to wash the eggs with?

 

[Pepurr]

I read that you are not supposed to clean the egg because of, there is a protective coating that would be lost, and cleaning could drive bacteria into the porous shell.

 

[Ashburnham]

Eggs have a protective coating - not a good idea to wash them - you can brush off dry muck with a bit of steel wool if too dirty.

 

[HatchCraft]

I always wash . Would not incubate unwashed eggs. Make sure cleaning solution is warm.

 

[FenDruadin]

I've tested it both ways and had consistently higher hatch rates with UNwashed eggs. This includes duck eggs which, as anyone who has ducks knows, means that I'm frequently incubating very dirty eggs. It is VERY HARD, at first, to put those mucky eggs in the incy, but again--always I have higher rates than when I wash.

On the other hand, I never put REALLY mucky eggs in the incubator.

I have a related question. Does anyone have data on whether eggs that have been rained on are equivalent to eggs that have been washed? Or, as long as you don't run them under the tap, are they considered "unwashed"?