Too Early for Feb Hatch-A-Long Thread??

[Pyxis]

I use Sharpies for marking mine, and it never hurts them. But for cracked eggs, I'd always use tape or candle wax.

 

[EggWalrus]

I use Sharpies for marking mine, and it never hurts them. But for cracked eggs, I'd always use tape or candle wax.

Same here. I grew up in a family paint and body business and am certified in nearly every kind of coating on the planet. Hens rub pencil marks off the eggs so I've always used fast drying sharpies. Only time I ever had problems was when I used a cheap Chinese knock off marker. It dried so slow, it smudged. Not one egg out of that bunch hatched.
Candlewax is non-toxic and re-seals the crack in the egg to keep bad bacteria out.

 

[MGG]

I've used nail polish and it works great for me. I use a dull pencil to write on my eggs. Numbers, air cell marks, etc. The nail polish won't hurt the baby at all, and it's easy to pip through. The brand she used is a good natural one too. I know some won't agree with me about the nail polish, but if the embryo dies, it won't be because of the nail polish.

 

[MGG]

Candle wax never works for me. It's so hot and it drips all over me and my egg. I tried running a test batch of 8 extra duck eggs last summer and several were cracked from a hairline, to a bad dent, to a chip down to the membrane. I used 5 different nail polish types for this experiment. Natural and regular polishes of different brands. I used a more natural one one the egg with the chip and other kinds on the other cracked eggs. Then I took and put a smear of nail polish and put it all over on all of the good eggs. All of them made it except for one malpositioned one who died while we were at church. The nail polish didn't hurt a thing. I put it on right when they arrived too. They grew up totally fine, and I sold them.

 

[MGG]

I've never used a broody so never had problems with pencil rubbing off

 

[EggWalrus]

I've used nail polish and it works great for me. I use a dull pencil to write on my eggs. Numbers, air cell marks, etc. The nail polish won't hurt the baby at all, and it's easy to pip through. The brand she used is a good natural one too. I know some won't agree with me about the nail polish, but if the embryo dies, it won't be because of the nail polish.

How long have you been raising chickens? Do you need to use nail polish on them often?
Just curious.

 

[MGG]

I only just started hatching last year with my incubator. I had to use it on one of my chicken eggs because my favorite hen got killed and I wanted to have her baby, but her last egg was dented. I patched it and it hatched. She is now a perfect little hen and just started laying. I also used it on my shipped quail eggs as you can see in my picture on the last page because they came from quite a ways away and one was totally smashed, one was dented, and one had a hairline fracture. I painted them, let them rest for a few hours and then I put them in. The only quail egg that didn't hatch was an infertile one. (I also threw away the smashed one course) Then I tried the duck experiment. I personally try really hard to only set perfect eggs, but I didn't want to waste my money on the quail by not even trying, and I'm so thrilled my hen could live on through her daughter. The ducks were really cool to test on too.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Eight chicks in the incubator now, wow they hatch fast! I've got nine in the brooder, so that makes seventeen! Five eggs to go!

They say "don't count your chicks before they hatch", but I can't help it! I'm already planning names and what I'm going to do with them once they hatch. I'm also planning my next hatch. It's true, Hatching is very addicting!

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

I don't understand. I've always heard to use pencils (never magic markers) for marking eggs to hatch.
But it's ok to use nail polish?
The solvent in Sharpie markers evaporates in under a second and shouldn't go thru an egg shell. But nail polish uses a slow solvent and takes several minutes to dry/evaporate, giving it ample time to breach the shell. I hope the Polish doesn't hurt the baby in the shell!

Honestly I use whatever I have on hand. Pencil, Sharpies, Crayola markers, wax, nail polish. Whatever I can put hand on first is what I'm using. Repairing a cracked egg is a bit of a Hail Mary from the jump. I've only repaired about 4 eggs in the 2 1/2 years I've been hatching. If memory serves me correctly only 2 of those hatched.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Eight chicks in the incubator now, wow they hatch fast! I've got nine in the brooder, so that makes seventeen! Five eggs to go!

They say "don't count your chicks before they hatch", but I can't help it! I'm already planning names and what I'm going to do with them once they hatch. I'm also planning my next hatch. It's true, Hatching is very addicting!

That's the wonderful part about hatching. The limitless potential!