question on choosing hatching eggs

[KristyHall]

OK I have been very careful in choosing which eggs I have to hatch but there are a couple that make me a little nervous. One is rather long and sort of narrow, and the other is small for the breed. Should I not try to hatch these and just replace them with a more suitable egg? Any other tips on choosing suitable eggs?
I have some eggs my neighbors eggs who gave me some. They all seem healthy, though some have a couple of specks of dirt on them. Is a little dirt ok? How ruthless should I be in culling eggs?

 

[KristyHall]

oh and also, one of the eggs looks like it is speckled with pale spots that look almost translucent, it's weird, you know how wax paper looks when it has grease on it? you can almost see through it?

 

[pdsavage]

If its an egg ill hatch it,little dirt won't hurt.You can take some fine sand paper and take it off or i use a damp cloth.

 

[Heluerto]

If you were mass producing fertile eggs, they recommend incubating the more standard looking eggs, so nothing too big, nothing too small, nothing odd shaped etc. If you arent mass producing, then you may as well use what you have.

Its the same with supermarkets (at least here in the UK), if you buy a standard tin of carrotts, they are all about the same size, but if you go for the cheap value version, they come in all shapes and sizes, I prefer the latter - the way nature intended.

I have a very small Lavender Araucana egg in my incubater at the moment - it certainly seems to be developing normally, and at the same pace as the 'normal' one, just a bit smaller thats all!

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
I read that it increases the chance of forcing bacteria into the shell by washing it or sandpapering it. Am I wrong?