Washing eggs before incubation - reason/how to

[Feathers4Fun2]

True enough hens don't wash their eggs. But then again I'm not a hen.

 

[MichelleKing]

True enough hens don't wash their eggs. But then again I'm not a hen.

I’m not a hen either luckily. I’m a human.

 

[Mosey2003]

I think the bloom thickness/amount depends on the hen/egg. Many that I wash the bloom that's left becomes apparent as they dry. And I mean wash-wash, for sale or eating.

I always sanitize hatching eggs. If they're dirty and I really want/need to set them, I will rinse them under warm water and gently rub the dirt/poop off. Then I hit them all with my sanitizing spray, let them dry, and set them.

I use original gold Listerine diluted 50% with water. Haven't had a single egg go bad yet.

 

[tifftuffy]

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!

what size bowls?? size matters because of the measurement of bleach..

 

[Molpet]

NPIP requires eggs to be washed
from pg 51 https://www.poultryimprovement.org/documents/ProgramStandardsAugust2014.pdf

 

[Molpet]

what size bowls?? size matters because of the measurement of bleach..

10% bleach

 

[tifftuffy]

10% bleach

thanks!! that was what i needed,,

 

[DiYMama540]

Very interesting...I have some duck eggs that I'm considering trying to incubate and they definitely need a wash.
Thanks for this!

Has anyone else tried the Listerine? I saw that method on YouTube also.

 

[Mosey2003]

Yes, I use the Listerine. 50% with water.

 

[ceyoung77]

I was incubating eggs a couple years ago (Black Australorp) from my own hens. The first couple clutches I had that summer had horrible hatch rates (less than %50), so I did some research and decided to try something different. I put all the eggs into the cardboard-ish cartons and sprayed them real good with hydrogen peroxide, once they were air dry I set them. I don't remember exact numbers but after spraying I got a 92-94% hatch rate. I will do it again any time I incubate.