My 8 year old daughter got me started with keeping chickens. Our first 3 chickens hatched out in her 2nd grade classroom. It's been over a year now and we've gotten into incubating eggs, especially now since it's so difficult to find chicks. She has ALWAYS wanted Showgirls (I know a lot of folks don't share the love for them, but they're like a "unicorn" to her) and I've had a very difficult time finding fertile eggs for hatching in this breed. We have purchased a few "Possible Showgirls/Silkies/Sizzles/Satins, etc etc" but haven't been able to find actual "Showgirls", until now. We've had an absolutely awful time with USPS getting the eggs here in a timely manner and with air cells that aren't completely dislocated, in spite of priority shipping. Eggs are taking up to 6 days to get to my post office. The Showgirl eggs went out on the 12th (6/12/2020) and my post office received them today (6/17/2020). There was a broken egg that leaked out onto some of the others and after receiving a blow with enough force to bust an egg, you can imagine how the air cells look. The seller did a wonderful job packing and clearly stated all over the box what was inside and fragile, etc, so I don't place any blame on the seller. My concern is that there is 1 egg that looks really nice but some of the busted egg leaked onto this one. I am going to incubate every intact egg, but what do you suggest I do to ensure the best hatch rate? I don't normally wash eggs but I do use a brand new kitchen Sponge to buff away any poop specs. I follow the hatching thread that was created a while back and still referred to often. I have them in a carton with the air cell pointing to the ceiling, for 24 hours. I don't have any oxine or anything special to clean them with. I worry though because I don't know how long the egg was wet with the contents of the busted egg. If you were in my position, what would you suggest? Thank you for taking the time to read my dreadfully long post. I appreciate your time and any advice you can offer.
