Hatching Dirty eggs

[GuineaFowling]

I ordered eggs from two different farms. The first farm had packed them very well and none were broken. They also packed me extras. The second farm did not pack them very well at all and two were broken on arrival. They did not pack extras so I paid a lot of money for less eggs than I anticipated.

Unfortunately, egg yolk got on few of the non broken eggs. I wiped as much away as I could but there is still icky yolk on them. I’m really disappointed as these are purebred Wheaton Americauna eggs and I really want them to hatch.

Now my dilemma is, if I place the dirty eggs in the incubator with all the clean ones and a dirty egg hypothetically gets bacteria in it and goes bad, will that affect all the other eggs even if I remove it before it explodes.

I guess my question boils down to whether being in the same space as the dirty eggs can negatively impact (cause the clean eggs to get bacteria too) the rest of the eggs.

 

[Rose Quartz]

I've set clean eggs with dirty ones before. Some dirty ones still make it so I do it. The dirty ones that die I take out, I've never noticed an increase in mortality with them in. I do have an auto turner so they don't really touch each other until lock down, and it's forced air.

I have once had 2 chicks hatch that seemed to have some kind of bacteria going on. Both had green wet goop all over them. I chalked it up to my 3 year old opening the incu and touching those eggs with slimy spaghetti fingers. One chick was fine, the other lived 1 week before dying. It seemed normal, but the stress of moving to it's forever home was too much.

I've not set any eggs with yolk on them, but generally it dries and flakes off so it might not be too big of a deal even for those eggs. If you're candling regularly you should be able to spot any eggs that are going bad and have them out before they affect the others.

 

[Helloworld]

Put in there and wait for incubator to dry like said. Call people and tell them you want replacements.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I'm doing an experiment washing incubated eggs right now! I have 12 call duck eggs and I washed 6 of them and marked them. I used a 50-50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. I used a paper towel wetted with the solution to clean. Only on day 7 but every duck is alive so far!

 

[GuineaFowling]

@Rose Quartz Thank you that’s very reassuring to hear! I’m still very disappointed in the breeder. I informed her about the broken eggs and how there is yolk all over the others and she didn’t even address that in her response.
@Helloworld typically I’d do that, but this breeder is across the nation from me. I also don’t care for replacements as I will be paying for shipping and I’m setting the eggs tonight and only have one bator. They wouldn’t get here in time...

@BirdsBeesTrees thats really interesting! Do you have thread started for your experiment? I’d love to follow your progress.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

No I haven't. I didn't know if I should start one now or wait until they were done but thanks for the idea!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I'm doing an experiment washing incubated eggs right now! I have 12 call duck eggs and I washed 6 of them and marked them. I used a 50-50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and water. I used a paper towel wetted with the solution to clean. Only on day 7 but every duck is alive so far!

That’s cool! I did something similar last year with very dirty welsh Harlequin duck eggs. 1/2 were undipped, 1/4 dipped in a bleach solution, and 1/4 in a hydrogen peroxide solution. All fertile eggs hatched. These were set with clean mallard eggs and someway dirty guinea eggs and there were no notable bacterial problems. I’m actually incubating rescued guinea eggs right now, almost fully developed. Eggs broke in the nest and covered many with yolk, plus there were dead chicks, etc. It smells terrible, but I’ve put all eggs that had movement on the incuabtor yesterday night and two have hatched so far, including one extremely contaminated egg. Good luck with your incubation!

 

[Mosey2003]

I always sanitize. I would dip the dirty eggs, if it were me. I use a solution of 50% original gold Listerine and water. My tap water is super hot, over 100F, so I basically just use that plus room temp Listerine and it gives me a dip that's hotter than the eggs but not so hot it hurts the embryos. I would put your yolk-y ones in and let them sit for a minute or two, then take them out and see if dabbing with paper towel gets the yolk off. Let them sit upright until they're dry before they go in the incubator.

 

[HuffleClaw]

I always sanitize. I would dip the dirty eggs, if it were me. I use a solution of 50% original gold Listerine and water. My tap water is super hot, over 100F, so I basically just use that plus room temp Listerine and it gives me a dip that's hotter than the eggs but not so hot it hurts the embryos. I would put your yolk-y ones in and let them sit for a minute or two, then take them out and see if dabbing with paper towel gets the yolk off. Let them sit upright until they're dry before they go in the incubator.

Wonderful post!

 

[GuineaFowling]

I always sanitize. I would dip the dirty eggs, if it were me. I use a solution of 50% original gold Listerine and water. My tap water is super hot, over 100F, so I basically just use that plus room temp Listerine and it gives me a dip that's hotter than the eggs but not so hot it hurts the embryos. I would put your yolk-y ones in and let them sit for a minute or two, then take them out and see if dabbing with paper towel gets the yolk off. Let them sit upright until they're dry before they go in the incubator.

Darn I’ve already set them in the bator. I cleaned them off as much as I could so I’m hoping for the best. Thank you for the advice. Now that I know I can sanitize eggs I’ll be doing that from now on!