have several question LONG POST

[debbyluvschickens]

OKay, I have a few questions. First, I have eggs due to hatch on monday(thats if you count from the day I put them in the bator, otherwise theyre due tuesday) I got a brighter light, and looked at them a couple days ago, they are still pretty light colored, Im thinking no ones in there. I bought most of them from a lady locally, and they were nasty nasty nasty. I washed them with a sponge and no soap of any kind, I let them sit over night and put them in the next day. Was it bad to wash them? Anyway, the lady asked me if I wanted more eggs, and I told her no bacause I didnt think the others were going to hatch. She gave me 90+ eggs because she was over run and felt bad about the others. These eggs are also poo covered, to the point that you cannot tell the color of some of them. Also some shells are wrinkely. She has been saving these eggs for about 2 weeks, and doesnt turn them. She just puts them in a box...on top of each other...so most of the ones on the bottom were cracked.
Do you have to turn them everyday in order to incubate them?
Do you wash them?
Do the ones with the misshaped shells hatch?
Are these eggs too old to hatch?
WHAT DO I DO?

ON a brighter note..I got some quail, baby call ducks, baby muscovy ducks, baby geese, baby turkeys, and a pair of lion head rabbits today. A man also gave me a quail egg and a golden campine egg that was just laid today.

 

[chickenlisa]

in my short time of reading and hatching,I've learned that:
1)you need to turn the eggs about 3X /day before putting them in your incubator,
2)you don't wash them if at all possible, but you don't put dirty or pooey eggs in the bator because of growing bacteria,
3)eggs older than about 5-7 days hatch less than eggs less than 4 days old,
4) very large, small, mis-shaped eggs shouldn't be put in the bator. Not to say they won't hatch, just that normal shaped and sized eggs (for that breed) do better.
Hope that helps you. I'd pick out the best, cleanest, uncracked, newest eggs (if they are marked) and use them. I'd toss the rest myself.
Wishing you good luck.
Lisa

 

[debbyluvschickens]

Thanks, they are not marked at all, and only about one third of them are even fairly clean, I cant decide, one part of me says...take a chance, what can it hurt, but then why waste time, electricity and bator space for eggs that wont hatch. I wonder what the chances of hatching them are...less than 50% ??? The worst part, is this is my first time incubating eggs since I was about 16, I had a bator full and no one hatched. I was so bummed I packed the bator up and didnt get it out for almost 10 years just to have the same thing happen with the eggs I bought.