Setting damaged eggs

[dancingbear]

Thanks, Danny. Interesting posts. I just upped my temp for this hatch, to 99-100.5. My hatches were a little delayed, so I thought a tad warmer might help. We'll see. I put a few eggs from my own hens in with this batch of damaged shipped eggs, so they should hatch, at least, if nothing else does. I can gauge the effect of the temp change from them.

I don't think the candle wax will do much to kill bacteria. It's not hot enough to burn your skin if it drips on you, it's probably not going to kill much. What it could do, however, is trap the bacteria, providing a barrier the bacteria may not be able to cross through.

Any bacteria on the surface of the eggs is already in the 'bator anyway. If the cracked egg is contaminated with anything significant, you'll probably find out if you candle at day 7. If the cracked egg is showing clear, or expired at that point, take it out. The rest will most likely be fine. I just wouldn't leave a questionable egg in the 'bator long enough for it to explode. That would be risky for the other eggs, so would leaving a questionable egg until it started to smell or ooze.

The underside of a hen is not sterile. I understand there are contaminants that should be avoided, but I think we can get too hung up on this issue.