PENCIL or FELT MARKER

[Ringtailtwister]

Which is the safest to mark eggs with pencil or felt marker?

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

For me I just use a pencil for any marking of eggs that I do. I've had no problems with it at all. I'm not keen on felt markers, it's the thinking the ink could soak through egg that bothers me. I have read though that some do use them. Hopefully some felt markers will chime in with more about them for you.

 

[nhrocks]

If your eggs are under a broody, especially a broody duck, go with marker. The oils on the mother rub off pencil markings, and you won't know which eggs are new and which have been incubating for three weeks. Ask me how I know lol. Silly muscovies ...

 

[Ridgerunner]

If both are extremely safe, why does it matter if one is “safer”?

If you are worried about the felt marker soaking through the shell, look inside the shell after hatch. Or just mark on a shell after you crack and egg. I haven’t tried that but I use black Sharpie’s to mark my eggs and don’t see any ink soaking through after hatch. You might check it out Yorkshire to see what happens.

Some people are concerned that the fumes that go with the felt marker will cause damage to the embryo. I’m not at all worried about that. The fumes are so volatile that they evaporate practically immediately. I use a Sharpie to mark my eggs that go under a broody, normally making two circles around the egg, one the short way and one the long way so I can see the markings at a glance. I write on my incubator eggs so I can identify individual eggs during hatch, usually putting numbers all over them. I’ve had 100% hatch rates (and much worse) under broodies and in the incubator. I have not seen that the Sharpie makes any difference at all.

When I grew up on the farm many decades ago we did not use Sharpies or magic markers to mark eggs under a broody. All we had were pencils. If you use a soft-leaded pencil and rub lines on the eggs holding the pencil sideways to get a lot of markings on there, they last throughout incubation. If you use a hard leaded pencil and try to write on them using the point, the markings can be extremely hard to see after a while.

Use whichever method you wish. As far as I’m concerned they both work and are very safe.

 

[Ringtailtwister]

Thanks for every one's input on this topic. Simply things to ole' hands are sometimes worrisome to Newbie's.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

If both are extremely safe, why does it matter if one is “safer”?

If you are worried about the felt marker soaking through the shell, look inside the shell after hatch. Or just mark on a shell after you crack and egg. I haven’t tried that but I use black Sharpie’s to mark my eggs and don’t see any ink soaking through after hatch. You might check it out Yorkshire to see what happens.

I will certainly give that a try on a cracked egg. I'm afraid my incubator is away now for this year so can't test on incubator eggs. I don't have Sharpie's just some cheap and nasty ones so will give them a whirl. Marker pens have a habit of going missing in this house so only cheap ones here!! Never thought of looking after to check for ink but so obvious when pointed out. Thanks.