Hatching Duck Eggs

[Quacker13]

My ducks have recently started laying eggs and I am very impressed, my khaki has laid one everyday for the past month and my welsh harlequin has laid one everyday for about the past week. My girlfriend and I want to purchase a small incubator and try to hatch three or four. My question is, every morning I go out to collect the eggs they are covered in manure despite cleaning the coop daily and adding fresh woodchips. I read that the eggs can't have any manure on them in order for them to hatch, but I also read that it's bad to clean them or wipe them off with a paper towel, so what do I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[apricotvalleywf]

Give them a quick scrub with a sponge and soap. You want to wipe the poop off of the eggs but you dont want to impact the bloom too much; ideally not at all.

The bloom is a protective covering for the egg that the mothers give when laying. If you incubate eggs with bacteria on them this could affect your hatch. Constant 98.5-99.5 temperatures with 65-70% relative humidity will develop any bacteria left on the eggs and may affect hatchability of other eggs.

I haven't noticed any downside of giving the eggs a quick scrub in soapy water (hot) and drying immediately.

 

[Quacker13]

Thank you for the help apricotvalleywf!