Washing eggs before incubation - reason/how to

MichelleKing

Songster
Aug 25, 2018
207
341
132
Ohio
do you or do you not wash your eggs prior to incubation?

I wash mine. I have had phenomenal hatch rates on quail, Serama, silkie, maran, ameraucana, and many more. So here’s the deal- I did research and I think it’s a good practice. I ONLY do this when I have super valuable eggs that will
Hatch into valuable chicks, AND I do it for all my quail and Serama eggs.


Reason 1:
Mycoplasma and other bacterium.
These can penetrate the shell. When you increase the humidity and the membrane expands before hatch, it’s possible the bacteria can get to the chick and cause it to die before hatch

Reason 2,
I’ve noticed, Since doing this, my hatch rates have gone sky high. I’m an experienced Hatcher to begin with, but I thought I’d try this. For example, Serama are notoriously hard to hatch.
I hatched 7/9 on my first batch and 4/6 on my second. My quail I hatched 37/50. Not bad. My silkies have 100% hatch rate.

You will need :
Disposable gloves
Dish soap
Three bowls
Bleach
Scrubber with bristles
Drying towel


Method:
1. Fill each bowl with luke warm water and line the bowls up in a row
2. Bowl 1: add a few drops of dish soap and stir up
bowl 2 leave plain water
Bowl 3 add 1/2 teaspoon of bleach
3. Dip the egg in the soap
Water very quickly.
4. Take out and rub VERY softly with the brush to get excess dirt or fecal
Matter off
5. Dip in water to wash soap
Off
6. Dip in bleach quickly and take out
7. Put on drying towel

Now you are done!
 
I thought removing the bloom exposed the egg to more bacteria and the environment? I thought that even though the egg may have a bit of “fecal matter” on it, it was protected by the bloom. I’m still newer when it comes to hatching. That said, I haven’t washed since they don’t get washed in nature. When a broody is allowed to set, her eggs don’t get washed and I thought chicken mommas have the best success rate. I’m learning something new. Thank you.
 
I thought removing the bloom exposed the egg to more bacteria and the environment? I thought that even though the egg may have a bit of “fecal matter” on it, it was protected by the bloom. I’m still newer when it comes to hatching. That said, I haven’t washed since they don’t get washed in nature. When a broody is allowed to set, her eggs don’t get washed and I thought chicken mommas have the best success rate. I’m learning something new. Thank you.


You definitely do not wanna scrub so hard that you take off the waxy part.
You want to gently very gently wash and scrub. The purpose of this is to remove fecal matter, bedding and any associated bacteria. Not a necessary step by any means but I’ve noticed it makes a difference!
 
Have often wondered...just what does it take to remove the bloom from an egg?

I imagine it may be different for different eggs as bloom viscosity and quantity can vary from bird to bird.
But how can you really (not arbitrary anecdotes, but absolutely) tell if the bloom has been removed or not.

My gut tells me that bloom is water soluble and is rather easily removed when rinsing an egg, let alone using any type of solvent(like dish soap) and/or mechanical 'scrubbing' (whether a brush or your hands).

I agree that washing and sanitizing hatching eggs can be a very good idea.
 
I should be hatching quail soon... maybe I should do a 50/50 wash and not wash? As long as I’m careful it shouldn’t harm anything, at least I don’t think it should.


Yeah give it a try, it definitely doesnt harm anything. I had done a TON of hatches before I heard of this and then I tried it and i dont know if it was a coincidence or if it was because of the washing...but my hatch rates soared like crazy!
 

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