smelly problem.....eeeeek !!!!!

[Myst4]

Hi, my Silver Laced Wyandotte went broody June 25th...so I placed 10 eggs of various breeds under her(from my other hens). Anyway, she would get off the nest once a day and go outside to stretch her legs,eat and drink, and then back on the nest she'd go. Today, day 5, everything looked good, although I noticed a foul smell in the coop. Wasn't sure what it was. This afternoon, my kids came to me,after being in the coop and said that there were 2 broken eggs on the floor of the coop,so they through them outside. Tonight,early evening, I gently lifted the broody hen(Ms. Dottie) to check on her eggs and to my surprise there were only 4 left and her underside was all wet looking,dirty and smelly. My question is, what should I do? Will the remaining 4 eggs be ok? This happened to my other broody hen and all of her eggs died and then turned rotten. I'm worried that the same thing will happen to Ms. Dottie's eggs and she will be childless. Should I take the eggs away when she is out to stretch her legs tomorrow and wash them gently and change the hay in her nest? Thanks for any help ahead of time.

 

[kellim]

I would definatly change the hay, that will be a breeding ground for bacteria! As for washing the eggs, I have washed some of mine that were REALLY nasty before putting them in the incubator and they have done fine, hatched out and all. Some people say not to do it, but I did and it turned out okay. But that was just me, most people don't wash them off. I have heard that you can wipe them off gently too without any danger of harming the developing baby.

 

[Myst4]

Quote:
Well, before coming on here and reading your message,I had the opportunity to wash the eggs and change th hay in the nest. I noticed this morning,after I lifted the broody a bit,that one egg was stuck to her. I think that is what happened yesterday. That 2 eggs were stuck to her and when she jumped out of the nest to go eat,drink and stretch they fell off and broke. Anyway, I got the remaining stuck egg off of her ,with her protesting. There were 6 eggs in the nest...one was cracked badly,so I removed it. I washed the eggs as much as possible(they were really sticky and disgustingly dirty,with warm water and my bare hand(no cloth). She is back sitting on them in her fresh nest. Hope they do ok. Thanks for your opinion.