incubating soiled turkey eggs

[Happy Camper]

I got my first turkey eggs and would like to incubate them. My hen layed just in the open and they were heavily soiled. I cleaned as much as possible with paper towel...
I am under the impression turkey eggs are not kept as clean as chicken eggs.
Any recommendation before I incubate? Will this be an issue?
I have only incubated very clean eggs...

 

[turkeyguy123]

Try just rinsing them with water

 

[ANMwoodducks]

Sad to say, i could never hatch soiled turkey eggs when i raised them, and it is not a really good practice to ever wash hatching eggs, not saying you cant do it but Nature created them the way they are and if you wash them you wash off important oils and you can push dirt and bacteria into the poors of the egg. I tryed hatching soiled turkey eggs many times and never got one to hatch. Plus if you dont get all the dirt, poop, and whatever else is soiling the egg off, if you put it in your incubator with all the clean healthy eggs it can spread bacteria in the incubator. You can try to hatch them maybe youll have better luck then me, of course the ones im talking about were very soiled. Good luck

 

[Happy Camper]

Sad to say, i could never hatch soiled turkey eggs when i raised them, and it is not a really good practice to ever wash hatching eggs, not saying you cant do it but Nature created them the way they are and if you wash them you wash off important oils and you can push dirt and bacteria into the poors of the egg. I tryed hatching soiled turkey eggs many times and never got one to hatch. Plus if you dont get all the dirt, poop, and whatever else is soiling the egg off, if you put it in your incubator with all the clean healthy eggs it can spread bacteria in the incubator. You can try to hatch them maybe youll have better luck then me, of course the ones im talking about were very soiled. Good luck

I wouldn't wash them because of what you say and if we were to imitate nature... there would be no way a hen would use any water to unsoil her eggs before sitting on them.... By the same token I think when hens sit they may sit on soiled eggs... I don't know however if soiled eggs hatch or not under a hen and if there is something in incubating them that prevents them from hatching. Anyhow, I have got one pretty clean just using a paper towel and another one that it heavily stained w/ mud and is a little crusty from dried mud I just could not get out. I will probably collect heavily soiled ones and put them back on their pen for them to sit on in a couple of days.

I removed the toms from the pen (I just have 2 hens) and put a nicer clean nest. They emptied the clean hay on the nest and already began soiling it

So I guess my chances of collecting clean eggs have not improved much... thanks so much ofr the advice!

 

[Happy Camper]

Try just rinsing them with water

Have you hatched washed eggs successfully?

I have always heard that is a NO-NO... but of course people get all sorts of results from trying new tricks... I'd love to hear/ learn from your experience.

 

[kuntrygirl]

If it were me, all I would do is wipe it off the best that I could. I would not rinse or submerge them in water. If it is that bad, you may not want to incubate it with the other clean eggs. You could possibly run into a problem.:/

 

[sandspoultry]

This topic comes up every year at hatching time so a few years ago I set a full flat of eggs that were cleaned in warm water and another flat that were set as is. There was no difference in the hatch rate from one flat to the next.I did it a couple times that year and the results were always the same, no difference. I have done it with chicken and turkey eggs but we don't have enough waterfowl to set 2 flats at the same time so I don't know about them. I have noticed on the turkey eggs if the hen lays outside and it rains and the egg sits in water they never hatch or go bad during incubation.

 

[kuntrygirl]

This topic comes up every year at hatching time so a few years ago I set a full flat of eggs that were cleaned in warm water and another flat that were set as is. There was no difference in the hatch rate from one flat to the next.I did it a couple times that year and the results were always the same, no difference. I have done it with chicken and turkey eggs but we don't have enough waterfowl to set 2 flats at the same time so I don't know about them. I have noticed on the turkey eggs if the hen lays outside and it rains and the egg sits in water they never hatch or go bad during incubation.

This is good information to know. Thanks for posting what you did.

I have found a few turkey eggs in the waterers but never incubated them because I wasn't sure if they would hatch. Those were breakfast.

 

[Happy Camper]

This topic comes up every year at hatching time so a few years ago I set a full flat of eggs that were cleaned in warm water and another flat that were set as is. There was no difference in the hatch rate from one flat to the next.I did it a couple times that year and the results were always the same, no difference. I have done it with chicken and turkey eggs but we don't have enough waterfowl to set 2 flats at the same time so I don't know about them. I have noticed on the turkey eggs if the hen lays outside and it rains and the egg sits in water they never hatch or go bad during incubation.

Thanks for sharing your experiment! One question... so you think there is a difference between sitting in the water and just rinsing. Meaning, some of your rinsed eggs did hatch... but the ones that sat in water outdoors never did...

And I think if it is riskier to add the water element (meaning ruining them if they get too wet while rinsing them) and it really makes no difference just not rinsing them... because in your experiment there was no difference between your rinsed and soiled ones... then I should just set them as is. Of course trying to eliminate as much dirt in a dry way...

Hmmm, decisions, decision...

 

[sandspoultry]

I think sitting in the water does contaminate the egg, it could be sitting in water for hours before you gather it so the water does seep thru the shell. A 5 - 10 second rinse and wipe down probably wouldn't penetrate or not penetrate as much