so I go to the auction

[rancher hicks]

Nearby there is a small animal auction every now and then. I went to see the sights and to hopefully buy some hatching eggs. I have two hens that are broody and didnt' want to hatch anymore Dels or crosses. So I went. I purchased a doz. "barred rock" hatching eggs. Well this is why I'm posting here. These eggs weren't clean. In fact two of them were so dirty I threw them in the trash. I wouldn't even wash them for eating eggs. Lord only knows if they'll hatch. I didn't even save the carton.

Now I had someone e-mail me looking for a Barred Rock roo. So I thought what the heck.

I also picked up 4 EE eggs from a friend to put under the girls.

What I can't get over is that someone would even put these eggs up for sale. It's the first and probably the last time I'll buy hatching eggs from the auction. I dry cleaned off a few, cuz truthfully only about 5 were clean. If they weren't going under broodies I might have tossed them all. No way would I risk contaminating a whole incubator of eggs.

I wouldn't even mention it to the auctioneer as some folks seem to think this is acceptable and should be tolerated.

 

[pdsavage]

Each person deals with hatching eggs diffrently,some don't clean em ,some just dry scrub off the dirt,some wash em....Everyone has thier own standereds......With most auctions you can look the stuff over before you buy them you know....

 

[debilorrah]

I wouldn't sell SUPER dirty ones, and I get some really dirty ones!!!!!

 

[SarahFair]

Ive never had a "dirty" egg... I have one have grit from a rainy day

Did it look like it was laid in a wet pile of poo?

 

[Teresaann24]

I would never sell dirty eggs. I have hatched them before though of my own. Sometimes my girls have dirty undersides from dirt bathing in mud.
BTW: The broodies will most likely get the eggs dirty themselfs mine do sometimes..LOL
Here is my own eggs in the bator. (If you look way in the back their is 2 dirty ones in there that are growing just as well as the others)

 

[paddock36]

Weren't you allowed to look at them first? I go to a local small animal auction and you are allowed to look at all the items auctioned off before the auction and you can go take a look during too? That way you know what you are buying.

 

[rancher hicks]

Honestly it never occurred to me to look at them and they weren't shown before bidding. Just held up in the carton. Believe me if I had known this might have been the case I would have. I haven't ever bought eggs at the auction or any auction before. I definitely will if I ever do again. The shell of the eggs gets a greasey stain on it and that makes me think the pores of the shell have been compromised. Here's a pic of the eggs I tossed and even though it's blurry you can see how dirty they are. It is not advised to hatch dirty eggs. Further I keep my nest boxes and birds clean so they don't get the eggs dirty. In fact I change the hay in the nest boxes if it even looks soiled or egg look dirty. Of course my birds will poo sometimes but that's when I clean the nest box out and put fresh hay in.

 

[Goose and Fig]

That is just plain lazy! Yuck!

 

[ranchhand]

Ick. Looks like another egg broke and splashed onto them. I wouldn't sell or buy that for hatching.

 

[SarahFair]

My barred rock laid brown eggs..