Do you Wash Duck Eggs Before Hatching??

[chickens4me]

Would it be a good idea to wash them first?

I have 16 duck eggs I just bought locally for $10. (12 Khaki Campbells, Mallard, Crested)

But they are Filthy & I now hesitate to put them in my incubator!

How would you all wash them (if you do?)

Thanks for your Help!

 

[crazy cat lady]

I never washed my duck eggs when I tried hatching pekin eggs a few years ago. Just wiped them off the best I could.

 

[shelleyd2008]

You can use a fine grain sand paper to get most of the gunk off, just be sure not to rub it too hard, you can damage the shell. I don't wash mine either, but there were a few that were wet and muddy when they were brought in. My dad got the bright idea to wipe them, so I guess in a way, they were washed. We'll see how they do.

 

[chickenlisa]

I run warm (almost hot, but not really hot) water from the faucet and pass the egg under it quickly. Then its wet enough to just rub all that gunk off with a paper towel or scrubbie. I don't hold it under the water and anything and I've had almost 100% hatches from my own duck eggs doing it that way.
Lisa

 

[vfem]

I was given the option to 'moist wipe' the super muddy one's I had hatched... I decided not to, I was opting for a better hatch rate and I was scared to diminish the bloom on the outside of the egg.

I did end up with 2 hatching out of 4 (one turned out not fertile at all). I was very pleased.

They are just going to be very hard to candle, fair warning.

 

[chickens4me]

Chickenlisa, I think I will try the "almost hot" wash method...just for my own "peace of mind."

vfem, I didn't know duck eggs were hard to candle! I won't worry so much about that now.

Well, here I go...I am going to put in those first duck eggs ever!

Thank you all! I'll let you know how it goes....

 

[Webfoot]

Yes, I wash all of the dirty ones. I did a head-to-head comparison of dirty eggs vs. washed ones last year and found no difference in the hatch rates. All my egg processing/storage/incubation/hatching is done in the house, so hygiene has to be a consideration. Bators are a perfect environment for bacterial growth and I like to keep mine as clean as possible, so no poop allowed!

Webfoot

 

[chickens4me]

They are in the bator~~All Washed properly.

Now for the waiting.

Hatching teaches patience for sure!

Thanks again for your advice wonderful BYCers!~~It really was helpful.

 

[DuckyBoys]

I have always washed my eggs - though I do have a few goose eggs in the bator right now that weren't very dirty, so I skipped it. I have pretty good luck, in fact last year I got some filthy call eggs from ebay and I scrubbed them with soap, still hatched 50% of them, and all of them developed to some point.

 

[chickens4me]

Here's an update....

After 6 days, I candled these duck eggs and 12/16 have veins.

And I scrubbed every single one before putting the incubator~~so it appears washing them may be a GOOD thing?!