Does anyone sanitize/dip hatching eggs before incubating??

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I decided that my last two hatched were very sub-par in spite of my diligent bleaching and scrubbing of my bator, tools, etc....

I've been doing some research on sanitizing eggs prior to hatching and the research certainly does prove a decrease in chick mortality when the eggs are sanitized prior to hatching. Not scrubbed...just dipped.

I settled on hydrogen peroxide as it was one that tested well in the research and it's easy to get! I just received my tufted/rumpless eggs from Gary and decided to use these as my test eggs. With the tufted/rumpless issues you usually only get about 75% hatchability...plus my eggs are shipped, so drop that by about 40%. I dipped all of them for 1 minutes in warm (warmer than the eggs) hydrogen peroxide and layed them out to dry for a few minutes. Now they are safely tucked away in the incubator.

I'll keep you posted on how the hatch percentage is coming along. I've also put a box of disposable latex gloves by the bator and I use one if I need to touch the eggs. I'm just not taking anymore chances. I am convinced that bacteria is the cause of my hatch rate dropping because nothing has changed.

Anyone else dip their eggs??

ETA: picture...how could I forget?? Some great looking eggs!! Thanks, Gary...

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[keljonma]

KJ Theodore of Shagbark Bantams wrote about using Oxine AH as an egg dip before incubation
http://www.shagbarkbantams.com/oxine.htm

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Anyone else know anything about doing this...or do it yourself regularly??

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I use Brinsea incubation disinfectant. I dip eggs that I receive from people. I just dip them and set them on a towel to dry off. I dont dip my eggs, because I know where they came from. lol.

I also use the brisnea incubation disinfectant to clean out my incubators after.

 

[klf73]

I am very interested in how this goes. The only thing I would have done differently(seriously only meaning me, not inferring anything was done wrong

) was to not dip a certain percentage and put them in a different bator that was cleaned the exact same way as the "experimental" eggs just so there was some sort of control or comparison. I will be waiting for your day 7-10 candling report

Good luck
Krista

 

[Shared Acres]

This is my first time putting eggs in a bator, so I have no clue!

Can you wash eggs?

 

[Akane]

Washing eggs has risks. Eggs have an antibacterial coating and scrubbing it off can increase the risk of bacteria contaminating them. Putting eggs in liquid that is cooler than the egg can cause the contents to contract and pull bacteria into the shell. That's why people are just dipping in warm solutions. There are also regulations against submerging eggs in water that are going to be sold in stores.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Krista...that's what I really wanted to do but I had eggs pipped yesterday in my hatching bator and couldn't use it.

Everytime I turned the eggs...even though they are in cartons (gads...I've got over 4 dozen eggs in there)...I put on latex disposable gloves.

I'm just tired of mid to late embryonic death and I'm going to do my best to stop it!!

 

[klf73]

I had the same thing, but I really dont' think it's anything you are doing wrong. For example, the 100% hatch I got from Marie Martin was in with eggs from another BYC'er. Everything identical, when it came to hatch time I lost quite a few of the other eggs, no idea why

. I now have 3 bators

, 2 styro ones now used as hatchers and a large cooler dh rigged to do 8 dozen

. I wish you luck and look forward to your candling report

Krista

 

[klduke]

Has anyone finished their testing on this? I had severe problems with bacteria a few months ago and decided to "sanitize" everything... Previously, in my little styrofoam incubator, I lost about 90% to bacteria at various stages of development ( I was hatching 12 yard eggs and two hatched and only 1 survived more than one day.) After sanitizing my incubator and even spraying with Lysol (mostly ethanol) - I actually washed another 8 yard eggs in warm running water and then put a light Lysol spray into the air over my incubator before closing it up... 100% success!! Has anyone else seen that kind of difference?? I believe that complete sanitation of the incubator and brooder environment and being confident that there are no bacteria or other germs / pests are on the eggs is a big part of successful hatching. I haven't tried the H2O2 or Oxine yet but I probably will because I suspect that the ethanol may be a little risky. Comments??