Incubating Eggs - Smell?

[lmdengler]

Good Morning All -
We are on day 12 of our incubation and we noticed there is a slight smell when we opened the incubator to add water. Is that normal?
Lisa

 

[Mosey2003]

I would candle and remove clears ASAP if you're noticing a smell, that's usually a bad sign. You can candle right in the turner without touching them, just use a small bright flashlight, clears will glow straight through. Make sure you bleach the flashlight end first.

 

[lmdengler]

I don't quite understand what you mean. If I open the incubator - won't a lot of heat and humidity get out?

 

[Mosey2003]

Which part?

Clear eggs - ones that are not developing chicks. They will glow bright when you touch a small flashlight to the top/big end. An egg with a chick will have veins and a little blob in it.

You want to remove the clear (dead) eggs, because if there is a smell, it's likely that one is growing bacteria, and if you let it go long enough it could explode in the incubator and compromise the good eggs.

 

[lmdengler]

Ohhhhh. What about the escaping heat and humidity while doing this?

 

[Mosey2003]

That's why you want to leave them in the turner and quickly touch the flashlight to them, it's much faster. You open it to add water every few days, if your incubator is worth a darn, it should recover fairly quickly. Since they're not in lockdown yet, the risk of an exploding egg is greater (to me) than having the lid off for less than a minute. Up to you, though.

 

[Mosey2003]

Are they blue eggs? Those tend to be more porous and can have a higher possibility of going rotten.

 

[lmdengler]

Are they blue eggs? Those tend to be more porous and can have a higher possibility of going rotten.

12 of the eggs are Maran (dark chocolate) and my own eggs which are mixed brown/light brown. Bob is a Silver Laced Wyndotte and the girls are Sex Link, Orphington, and Barred Rock. One thing I will share is that my eggs, 10 of them were very clean (naturally - I didn't clean them) the 12 Marans I drove to the farm and purchased - some of them were a little dirty. We scraped off the dirt but didn't wash them (of course). Could that be adding to the smell?

 

[Mosey2003]

Possibly. It would make me nervous, I always sanitize. The dark eggs are going to be harder to see into as well...

 

[lmdengler]

When you say sanitize - you mean wash them? The guy I got them from told me not o wash them to just scrap off any residue.