to wash or not to wash the egg before incubating

[chrisngo73]

hello everyone, there's an avian flu quarantine in place in Ireland at the moment so the geese are spending all their time in their enclosures resulting in very soiled caked in dried eggs. I've been washing them thoroughly, often having to scrub them down before putting them into the incubator but I've been having a lot of quitters, sometimes a whole batch just quit between 7 - 15days. Could the washing have anything to do with it?

I've always clean my eggs under the faucet and had good success last year so I m not sure where I've gone wrong. They are healthy prime stock albeit unhappy at the moment being locked in.

We build them new enclosures so they could have more room, and this week we added a sun deck so they can be outside but we can tell they really long for the grass and we cant cut it for them because of the quarantine.

It's frustrating, we live up on the mountain in the middle of nowhere, there arent any wild birds here. None of our friends (some of whom lived by the public lake and river) even bothered locking up their flock but we are law abiding old folks who didnt want our flock being taken from us for not following the rule.

Could it be the washing that is causing poor embryo development? or could it be that they are just not happy?

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Yes, washing eggs before incubating can kill them and lower your hatch rate.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, hope you are enjoying BYC so far!

That does sound really frustrating.

I'm honored to meet you though, as I to am law abiding!

Love your sun deck.

I've never been on a mountain with no wild birds though.

Not even able to cut the grass for them...

Have you considered sprouting anything or growing fodder for them? I do barley because it is supposed to be the easiest. But it's just a matter of rinsing the seed a couple times a day... and by day 8 it is a nice lush carpet of green. My chickens and goats both love it and it's very nutritious. Lots of things can be sprouted... corn, peas, barley, wheat, oats, beans, sun flower seeds. Whatever you have access to! I bought a 50# bag of barley seed for $15 dollars and the amount you start with to sprout gains 6-7 times it's original weight in those 8 days. And it really doesn't take special equipment.

Yes, I believe washing can effect your hatch-ability.

Best wishes!