Marking eggs

[oldchickenman]

Im new to Incubating is it ok to mark eggs with markers such as sharpe or is pencil best? Thanks

 

[gumpsgirl]

A pencil is best because you don't have to worry about it bleeding through the eggshell.

 

[Opa]

No problem at all. Mark date laid, breed etc.

 

[katrinag]

I use a pencil and colored pencils. Works great for me. Then I can erase what ever I marked on it during incubation and remark it.

 

[lockedhearts]

I mark mine all the time, in fact the ones you get from me will have the hens name on them. I marked those in pencil, but once I start to candle I mark any iffy ones with an x or question mark so I can check on them again.
There was a debate on here about sharpies bleeding through and honestly they don't.

 

[oldchickenman]

So it is ok to use sharpies?

 

[lockedhearts]

Yes, as with anything else there will be varying opinions. Do I recommend you have a coloring spree on the eggs, no. But marking them to keep up with them is perfectly fine.
I sometimes set multiple staggered hatches. I keep a large calendar handy and use different color sharpies on my calendar and use the same colors on those particular eggs in the bator.
This is very handy as I have, on more than one occassion, moved the wrong eggs to the hatcher at the wrong time.

 

[katrinag]

I know when I get eggs I would like them to me marked in pencil, but have had one with sharpie and have not noticed ill effects in hatching

 

[MagsC]

I have heard the ink might be bad for the egg, but I havent done it so have no experience with that. I use a pencil.

 

[steffpeck]

I used sharpies for my first few hatches, and then just pencils the last few, and I did get better hatches with pencil than sharpies. I wondered if the sharpies had some effect that lowered the chance of hatch ability. I personally will only use pencils from now on.