whats with pencil/pen writing

[tiki244]

is it better to write with pencil on egg? what if it is pen?

 

[silkieluver_07]

my family and i use pencil,pen, or marker. it hasnt had really any effect on the egg. but if your hatching them, make sure you DO NOT use sharpie.

 

[tiki244]

ok thanks

 

[hinkjc]

We use red sharpie marker on our wild turkey eggs so we can see the mark easily when checking the broody turkey hens. Let's just say you want to check them fast cuz they don't look to highly on you bugging them on the nest. Never affected their hatches either. I only use pencil on my chicken eggs tho.

Jody

 

[silkiechicken]

Most only use pencil as it does not permeate the shell. Sharpie and other inks on the other hand, can permeate the shell and bring some toxicity to the chick. However, these levels are low, and even if I had eggs scrawled over with sharpie with info on the egg, they can still hatch.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi!
For what it's worth, I mark nearly all my eggs for hatching with a Sharpie Permanent Marker.
Unless the shell is compromised in some way (cracked), a Sharpie marker WILL NOT penetrate / permeate the shell.
Think of dying eggs at Easter...
The dye does not 'soak thru' the shell or even stain the membrane UNLESS the shell is compromised / cracked. The dye sits in a layer on the outside of the shell.

But if it makes you uncomfortable, mark the eggs with a pencil

Lisa

 

[Frizzledhen]

This is great information. I have been using pencil all this time. The problem is, the pencil disapears daily. All the eggs are hatched by the best incubator on the market, MaHen. When a MaHen goes broody, all the other hens try to lay thier eggs in her nest. If I can't see the pencil mark when I check the egg, I pull that egg. But when I am done taking unmarked eggs out of the nest, I no longer have the original count. A permanent marker will make this job a lot easier and more accurate.

 

[TheOLDNewChick]

Yeah, I used sharpie for the "x" and "o" markings... Scared me on here when I saw someone say sharpie was a no-no. I think I had minor heart failure.

 

[tiki244]

Thanks everyone, thats great to here. Now I can quit worrying. (for now that is tehe)

 

[silkiechicken]

I've seen sharpe ink soak though some egg shells where you could see it from the inside after the chick hatched, however, the amount of "soak though" depends on the porosity of the shell.

My dyed easter eggs always were tinted inside though... especially with blue dyes.