I give my Broodies worthless eggs (EE) to hatch and keep the good ones to myself. Broodies cannot be trusted, They decide to stop, they roll away good eggs. They are great mothers and an easy way to raise chicks, but they have their risks.
When I say reach into an incubator, naturally, I mean with a sterile latex glove,,,,,,Introducing "not that much" is more than I want to introduce. I hatch to the standards my USDA vet requires for NPIP and then a tad more.
I know some of you will find this odd but I got through over 10 gallons of Bleach year hatching and rearing chicks. This does not count the bleach I use in my normal chicken keeping.
I know someone on here thinks I am a tad anal about my hatching practices....Luckily she is MIA for a few days.... I think she said she would be back tomorrow...
I practice survival of the fittest once they hatch. It is just too easy for a bacteria to get a foot hold inside the incubators and lose 220 plus eggs in a fast swoop..
@Pensmaster aRE yOu iMpLyING MIGHT b Cray cRAY?