I AM FREAKING OUT... Bad smell in incubator! HELP!!

[astylishgirl]

I can't get that smell out of my nose! It is awful.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

We had a smelly egg today but not from the bator...a carton. Someone sent me some eggs to incubate and apparently the hen had already sat on them, or they were left in a hot vehicle, or something because when I candled this morning they all had development in them, except 2 or 3, and they had died. One was smelly smelly already. We chunked them all out in the woods.....

 

[pawprnts88]

I had a chain explosion once.... quite a sight. lol I had FINALLY gotten these eggs away from my goose (who had no male) and they were baaaaaaad. When I went to put them out in the back property where the wild things were sure to love them, one exploded which made another explode and so on.... an experience I'll never forget. My nose certainly won't either. )

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Quote:
lol!

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
...Because an exploded egg will splatter on everything with vile smelling and bacteria laden goo.
Your incubator will be hard to clean
the chicks will be hard to clean
the smell will be awful
the eggs that are unhatched can not be washed so you have to live with it
it's nasty...

Actually, I've washed eggs from under a hen, when one broke during incubation, and they still hatched. (several times on one ill-fated clutch with a clumsy broody hen, 5 of the six remaining eggs hatched, after being washed 4 or 5 times) Wouldn't leaving bacteria laden goo on the eggs, be a higher risk than washing it off? And risk contaminating even the ones that didn't get splattered, if any?

 

[nnbreeder]

Wait till you find a nest of last years eggs with a weedeater, that is totally gross!

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

Try sniffing coffee, that's what perfume stores do to "clear your palate" so to speak. I had a staggered hatch and the egg goo got on the eggs to be hatched, it was yucky........

 

[RainForestBird]

My duck eggs are smelling and I'm hoping that I didn't kill them when the temperature climbed to 102. I cooled them as soon as I saw the problem and then put them back and gradually turned up the heat. I was working on my duck pen when it happened, so I was preoccupied with duck stuff. The last batch I had only one quail hatch and it was deformed and wouldn't eat, it eventually died after putting me through 48 hours of pure hell. So depressing. I now have 48 eggs from Pennsylvania that aren't looking very promising. They should have hatched yesterday and I'm not seeing or hearing anything and there's a peculiar smell, not really bad its like water that eggs have been boiled in. I suppose its from the high humidity and the heat. There is bacteria that is bound to grow at body temperature. Its unavoidable, regardless of how clean your incubator is and how often you wash and glove your hands. Some eggs are covered with debris from the quail cage/duck house/chicken coop. You may be able to brush it off, but its by no means sterile, its in fact covered with nasty bacteria. I have to learn how to discern the bad bacterial odor (dead eggs) from the not so bad (normal quail odor).

I'm beginning to think that I should just give up and sell off all 3 of my incubators. Its much easier and more uplifting to get chicks or ducklings from a local breeder or feed store and concentrate on something you're pretty sure will survive if you follow the directions. I'll save a lot of money in the long run. Eggs are too much of a gamble and I've wasted so much time and money buying eggs online after looking at pretty pictures of live birds and then receiving dirty, cracked and poorly packed eggs.

I'm sorry to be so negative. I'm feeling the same way about my garden. So much work and so little reward.

 

[murtyhen]

Thank you for this sound advice. On my first hatch. Day 16. Started out with 12 Rhode Island Red eggs. Candled at day 10 and looked like they were all viable.

Was getting a bit of a pong from the incubator for the last day or 2 but put it down to natural odours that may be coming from the eggs. Gas exchange and all that. Only out of pure curiosity I looked up about what might be causing the smell did I find out the real reason.

I found 1 egg that was well on the way to be rotten inside. I'll check again in the morning when the air settles down in the incubator again for anymore possible offenders.

I buried the little sucker in my garden coz I don't want it exploding in my trash bin.

Thanks again.