Marking eggs

[BigBen]

A buddy of mine has two hens sitting 17 eggs. When they hatch I am taking half of them.
He started marking some of the eggs with a Sharpie marker so he could tell when they would hatch.
Someone told him that the ink will permeate the egg and destroy the em brio.
Is that true?

 

[DUccleDude]

I always use a pencil just to be on the safe side.

 

[jossanne]

Not true. There is question as to whether or not the ink will harm the embryos, but there are lots of people on here who have successfully hatched chicks from sharpie-marked eggs. So it can't be too bad...

 

[BigBen]

That's good to know.
My buddy actually took an egg and cracked it open to make sure.
At 5 days it had a little red in the yolk and spider veins.