I finally have a rooster & we need more hens, so I am letting 2 brooders sit on eggs. One egg broke this week or leaked in there & I got it out, but it smells cause goop's on the other eggs & straw. If I wash the eggs, would mom reject them? Is it more dangerous to wash the eggs (temperature, egg coating, etc.) than to let the eggs hatch in a stinky nest (bacteria, etc.)? It's been 18-23 days of absolutely religious egg-sitting by the moms - one hen I've NEVER seen up & the other never up for more than about 4 minutes. But no chicks yet. At what point do you figure if they haven't hatched, must be dead inside & give up & toss them? (heartbreaking to these devoted moms I bet).
I'd slip an egg out from underneath the hens and candle them to check to see if there is an embryo. I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for the ones that are in the broken egg nest. Do you have anyway of getting day old chicks for the hens to raise if they are both sitting on duds? They both sound like good broody hens and I'd want to complete the process.
