Help! I accidentally washed fertilized chicken eggs in cold water.

[Lelilamom]

If memory serves, once you wash the membrane off the outer shell, they will not incubate any further. Candle them or float test them and discard the incubated ones.

 

[The Moonshiner]

So the eggs are most likely all in different stages of incubation if they did survive?

 

[NatJ]

I accidentally washed fertilized chicken eggs under cold water and I'm worried I could have killed them. Is it possible for them to still hatch even though I ran them under cold water? We started warming them back up again pretty quickly and got them back under the hens but I'm concerned that I doomed them to die because I made a stupid mistake.

They are probaby just fine. Try not to do it again, but don't panic.

If memory serves, once you wash the membrane off the outer shell, they will not incubate any further. Candle them or float test them and discard the incubated ones.

Washed eggs certainly can hatch, whether they are washed before incubation or during it. This sometimes comes up when a hen poops in the nest or an egg explodes and gets the others messy: washing the eggs does NOT doom them to die.

Candling is a good idea, but I would not float test any eggs at this point. Float testing can give an estimate of how old the egg is (because an old egg has a big air cell and that makes the egg float) and float testing may tell if there is a live chick wiggling (the water can slosh around.) But candling can also tell the size of the air cell, and it lets you see if a chick is wiggling around. Candling is better because it does both of these without getting the egg wet, plus it also lets you see what stage of development the egg is at. Float testing will get the egg wet (again), and in some cases can kill a developing embryo by cutting off the air supply (more likely if you leave it in for a long time, less likely if you are fast.)

The oldest would have been sat on by the hens a maximum of 9 days. The eggs range from 1-9 days old. I was washing them because me and my family rinse our eggs with cold water to get off anything on the outside. Then we date them and put them in the fridge. This was the first time we've ever had fertilized eggs so I wasn't expecting eggs with chicks until my sister cracked one open and it had a chick in it.

Do you have a rooster?
How big was the chick?

Had you been collecting eggs every day? If it was under a hen for less than about 2 days, it was probably just a blood spot or meat spot rather than a chick. Both of those can happen even in eggs that are not fertilized. A fertilized egg takes several days to develop enough that it looks different than an unfertilized egg.

For now, I suggest you mark all the eggs that are currently under the hens, and every day you should take away all the new eggs that are laid, so no chicks can grow in them.

They range from being 1-9 days old.

That could turn into a problem. Each egg should hatch about 21 days after the hen started to sit on it, which means you could have the earliest chick hatch 8 days before the last chick. That makes trouble for the hen, the chicks, and you. If the hen gets off the nest to take care of the first chicks, the late ones get too cold and die. Or if the hen stays on the nest to keep the eggs warm, the chicks suffer because they need to get out and eat.

If you have several hens, they may divide the duties nicely (one stays on the later eggs, one gets up with the earliest chicks), or they may all make the same choice.

I would suggest that you candle the eggs in a few days, and divide them up by how far they have developed. Give the most developed eggs to one hen and the least developed to a different hen. If you have more than two hens sitting, give the in-between eggs to other hens. That way each hen will have eggs that hatch within a few days of each other, which usually works well enough. A hen will often wait that long before getting up with the earliest chicks, and the chicks are okay with that. They absorb the egg yolk before they hatch, which means they can go 2-3 days without eating (nature's way to avoid some problems.)

For future, I would suggest collecting eggs in a safe place (like inside your house but not in the refrigerator), and when you have the right number you can put them under a broody hen all at once. That way they will all start developing at the same time, and will all hatch about the same time. This is similar to what many kinds of wild birds do: lay an egg each day in the nest, but not start sitting on them until there are the right number, so they all develop at the same time. The "right number" is whatever fits nicely under the hen without sticking out at the edges, or less than that if you do not want to have that many chicks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I accidentally washed fertilized chicken eggs under cold water and I'm worried I could have killed them. Is it possible for them to still hatch even though I ran them under cold water? We started warming them back up again pretty quickly and got them back under the hens but I'm concerned that I doomed them to die because I made a stupid mistake.

I've done it, & hatched chicks.

 

[RebeccaSilkies]

They are probaby just fine. Try not to do it again, but don't panic.


Washed eggs certainly can hatch, whether they are washed before incubation or during it. This sometimes comes up when a hen poops in the nest or an egg explodes and gets the others messy: washing the eggs does NOT doom them to die.

Candling is a good idea, but I would not float test any eggs at this point. Float testing can give an estimate of how old the egg is (because an old egg has a big air cell and that makes the egg float) and float testing may tell if there is a live chick wiggling (the water can slosh around.) But candling can also tell the size of the air cell, and it lets you see if a chick is wiggling around. Candling is better because it does both of these without getting the egg wet, plus it also lets you see what stage of development the egg is at. Float testing will get the egg wet (again), and in some cases can kill a developing embryo by cutting off the air supply (more likely if you leave it in for a long time, less likely if you are fast.)


Do you have a rooster?
How big was the chick?

Had you been collecting eggs every day? If it was under a hen for less than about 2 days, it was probably just a blood spot or meat spot rather than a chick. Both of those can happen even in eggs that are not fertilized. A fertilized egg takes several days to develop enough that it looks different than an unfertilized egg.

For now, I suggest you mark all the eggs that are currently under the hens, and every day you should take away all the new eggs that are laid, so no chicks can grow in them.


That could turn into a problem. Each egg should hatch about 21 days after the hen started to sit on it, which means you could have the earliest chick hatch 8 days before the last chick. That makes trouble for the hen, the chicks, and you. If the hen gets off the nest to take care of the first chicks, the late ones get too cold and die. Or if the hen stays on the nest to keep the eggs warm, the chicks suffer because they need to get out and eat.

If you have several hens, they may divide the duties nicely (one stays on the later eggs, one gets up with the earliest chicks), or they may all make the same choice.

I would suggest that you candle the eggs in a few days, and divide them up by how far they have developed. Give the most developed eggs to one hen and the least developed to a different hen. If you have more than two hens sitting, give the in-between eggs to other hens. That way each hen will have eggs that hatch within a few days of each other, which usually works well enough. A hen will often wait that long before getting up with the earliest chicks, and the chicks are okay with that. They absorb the egg yolk before they hatch, which means they can go 2-3 days without eating (nature's way to avoid some problems.)

For future, I would suggest collecting eggs in a safe place (like inside your house but not in the refrigerator), and when you have the right number you can put them under a broody hen all at once. That way they will all start developing at the same time, and will all hatch about the same time. This is similar to what many kinds of wild birds do: lay an egg each day in the nest, but not start sitting on them until there are the right number, so they all develop at the same time. The "right number" is whatever fits nicely under the hen without sticking out at the edges, or less than that if you do not want to have that many chicks.

Thanks so much for responding. We've got two broody hens sitting on the eggs. The third hen isn't interested on sitting on her own eggs lol. I'm glad that they still have a chance to hatch.

 

[RebeccaSilkies]

They are probaby just fine. Try not to do it again, but don't panic.


Washed eggs certainly can hatch, whether they are washed before incubation or during it. This sometimes comes up when a hen poops in the nest or an egg explodes and gets the others messy: washing the eggs does NOT doom them to die.

Candling is a good idea, but I would not float test any eggs at this point. Float testing can give an estimate of how old the egg is (because an old egg has a big air cell and that makes the egg float) and float testing may tell if there is a live chick wiggling (the water can slosh around.) But candling can also tell the size of the air cell, and it lets you see if a chick is wiggling around. Candling is better because it does both of these without getting the egg wet, plus it also lets you see what stage of development the egg is at. Float testing will get the egg wet (again), and in some cases can kill a developing embryo by cutting off the air supply (more likely if you leave it in for a long time, less likely if you are fast.)


Do you have a rooster?
How big was the chick?

Had you been collecting eggs every day? If it was under a hen for less than about 2 days, it was probably just a blood spot or meat spot rather than a chick. Both of those can happen even in eggs that are not fertilized. A fertilized egg takes several days to develop enough that it looks different than an unfertilized egg.

For now, I suggest you mark all the eggs that are currently under the hens, and every day you should take away all the new eggs that are laid, so no chicks can grow in them.


That could turn into a problem. Each egg should hatch about 21 days after the hen started to sit on it, which means you could have the earliest chick hatch 8 days before the last chick. That makes trouble for the hen, the chicks, and you. If the hen gets off the nest to take care of the first chicks, the late ones get too cold and die. Or if the hen stays on the nest to keep the eggs warm, the chicks suffer because they need to get out and eat.

If you have several hens, they may divide the duties nicely (one stays on the later eggs, one gets up with the earliest chicks), or they may all make the same choice.

I would suggest that you candle the eggs in a few days, and divide them up by how far they have developed. Give the most developed eggs to one hen and the least developed to a different hen. If you have more than two hens sitting, give the in-between eggs to other hens. That way each hen will have eggs that hatch within a few days of each other, which usually works well enough. A hen will often wait that long before getting up with the earliest chicks, and the chicks are okay with that. They absorb the egg yolk before they hatch, which means they can go 2-3 days without eating (nature's way to avoid some problems.)

For future, I would suggest collecting eggs in a safe place (like inside your house but not in the refrigerator), and when you have the right number you can put them under a broody hen all at once. That way they will all start developing at the same time, and will all hatch about the same time. This is similar to what many kinds of wild birds do: lay an egg each day in the nest, but not start sitting on them until there are the right number, so they all develop at the same time. The "right number" is whatever fits nicely under the hen without sticking out at the edges, or less than that if you do not want to have that many chicks.

We have a rooster he's almost a year old. My mom looked at the eldest chick and it was pretty big. She found this out by candling them with a flashlight.

 

[NatJ]

We have a rooster he's almost a year old. My mom looked at the eldest chick and it was pretty big. She found this out by candling them with a flashlight.

Sounds good!

I asked about the rooster because sometimes people think they have fertile eggs with chicks inside, even when they have only hens (sometimes a rooster has been visiting, but more often those cases are blood spots or something similar, not actually a chick at all.)

Candling is easiest if you do it somewhere very dark (like a closet with no windows and a closed door, with the room outside the door having its light turnd off too), and if you use a light that is small but bright. Some small flashlights and some cell phone lights are good. Big flashlights don't work as well because the light shines around the egg instead of just through it, and dim flashlights don't work well because they just aren't bright enough. So if you have any trouble candling, try a smaller/brighter light or a darker room or both.

The internet has quite a few charts of chicken eggs at various stages of development, if you want to compare and see what stage yours are at.

 

[RebeccaSilkies]

Sounds good!

I asked about the rooster because sometimes people think they have fertile eggs with chicks inside, even when they have only hens (sometimes a rooster has been visiting, but more often those cases are blood spots or something similar, not actually a chick at all.)

Candling is easiest if you do it somewhere very dark (like a closet with no windows and a closed door, with the room outside the door having its light turnd off too), and if you use a light that is small but bright. Some small flashlights and some cell phone lights are good. Big flashlights don't work as well because the light shines around the egg instead of just through it, and dim flashlights don't work well because they just aren't bright enough. So if you have any trouble candling, try a smaller/brighter light or a darker room or both.

The internet has quite a few charts of chicken eggs at various stages of development, if you want to compare and see what stage yours are at.

We ended up losing two before they hatched. But one of them has made a hole in their egg and their making noise.