hairline crack question ~newbie

[yodercountrygirl]

OK so I was getting my eggs to go into the bator and noticed on 2 eggs a small hairline crack. Do I go ahead and put them in or not?? this is my 1st hatch and I don't know. It has taken me all week to get 18 eggs, my girls were being stingy and not giving me any and I really wanted to put them in today.

 

[loopy12]

Apparently you can out candle wax or even nail polish on the crack and it shoudl be fine - just smell it occasionally.
I didn't know this and removed a 3 day old embryo with a beating heart before I found out

 

[Elite Silkies]

I have never had one hatch that I put candle wax on, but you can always try it. I personally would not set them myself. I have never heard of using fingernail polish before.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Have not tried the nail polish but wax works good. I have hatched several that way. Smelling the incubator daily is good advice even if every egg is perfect.

 

[NicInNC]

I had a tiny crack on one of my eggs that my broody is on. I just lit a pink candle and dripped a tiny bit of wax over the crack. It seems to be doing well and last week when I candled, there was movement!

 

[suzettex5]

CLEAR NAIL POLISH WORKS!! Heres the proof (if you have no leakage from egg and it was fertile to begin with

)

Our 2 year old smashed this egg onto a counteredge while we were candling at day 16 of incubation-Aaaaaaahhhhh!!

Same egg, different view=

We put several coats of clear nail polish on it, put it back under our broody hen, continued candling till day 20, and look who hatched out!!

Try it, you have nothing to lose, but please watch out for stinky-ness and if you candle, check it for signs of life before setting it so you dont accidentally set a rotten egg!!

Good luck!!

Edited= The wetness you see on the egg is the clear nail polish, not any fluid from the egg! Amazingly, the inner membrane of the egg was not broken and no pieces of shell were actually dislodged!

 

[yodercountrygirl]

Hey thanks everyone!! I used the nail polish, the cracks were barely visible so heres crossed fingers!!!

 

[yodercountrygirl]

just candled them and they are fine!!!!

 

[Akane]

I'd probably go with candle wax over nail polish because of the chemicals involved but I know it has worked for some. I've hatched a few dented or slightly cracked eggs without putting anything on them but they were damaged after they started to develop. I probably wouldn't set cracked eggs and just set fewer eggs rather than keep trying to collect past 7 days. If you do keep the cracked eggs in the bator I'd candle very frequently because there is an increased chance of bacteria contaminating the egg which will lead to exploding rotten eggs and potentially the entire hatch ruined if you don't watch out. That's the main reason most won't set them in the first place.

 

[jossanne]

I used green crayon on one that I was getting ready to set and accidentally cracked. I just melted the crayon and dripped it on. After the crayon set back up, I put the egg under mama hen. It hatched out a cute little chick 3 weeks later. So I believe in crayon wax...