Who's setting with me Sept 1st-4th?

[cochins1088]

I smelt a faint smell coming from my incubator so I went off to see who the culprit was, and the last egg I smelled, Phew. Took it outside and dug a small hole to bury it and cracked it open.... A fine forming chick was inside with black fuzz starting to grow :-/ A pic is below (hope that doesn't offend or gross anyone out! . Not sure what happened (?)...

All the other eggs didn't smell so fingers crossed they go ok.

Rotten eggs become rotten because bacteria invades. It can happen if you wash your eggs, or if you leave them be. I have tried both. It's sad, but it happens. Even mother hens end up with rotten eggs, so it's not in any way your fault. Bacteria is everywhere.

 

[animalsroc4evr]

Ah I see, none of them were washed.... I Hope no more get bacteria in them and die

 

[Nicole01]

I had a rotten egg last time. Peeeeeyew! They stink horribly! Mine never made it that far.

It's a good thing you removed the egg before it exploded in the bator!

 

[animalsroc4evr]

My worst nightmare would be an exploding egg, and if that one would have it probably would have been really really gross.... I Hope I don't get anymore!

 

[Nicole01]

You can easily smell the rotting eggs before they explode.

 

[cochins1088]

Yes, that happened to me during my third hatch. Day 19 an egg exploded, I happened to be in the room at the time and heard it. I went over to the incubator and disgusting rotten egg was all over the incubator and other eggs. I quickly washed every egg and the incubator and got it all going again in about a half an hour. It was horrible but didn't affect the hatch. I hadn't had a rotten egg until then and I didn't realize that I was supposed to watch for them. I had firgured the bad smell was normal and just happens. Now obviously I know about rotten eggs and have caught them on time ever since but I'll never forget that horrible mess. I also had a rotten egg explode all over a broody. I washed her eggs and set them in the incubator temporarily while I bathed her. Cleaning her was worse than cleaning the incubator. I then gave her new bedding and nearly evervy egg still hatched.

 

[animalsroc4evr]

Oh I'm no stranger to rotten eggs, My birds just love to lay their eggs on the ground in the coop and then bury them as best as they can. The other day I found 5 eggs that were on the verge of exploding and smelt SO bad. I threw them in the woods, and sure enough one of them made that "pop" sound when it hit the ground. That one was super light too, you could just feel the rottenness lol

This egg in the incubator just started to give off a faint smell, so faint I had to egg the eggs super close to my nose, so it wasn't sitting there long with a dead chick in it. Pulled that bad egg out and candled just to be sure there was no movement/veins (the smell was so faint I just wanted to be 100 percent sure).

The little fuzz was super cute on this little guy, too bad he didn't make it all the way... But it wasn't meant to be, and I'm sure there was some reason behind it...

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

Ah I see, none of them were washed.... I Hope no more get bacteria in them and die

When I get a rotten egg I don't wash the other eggs, I air out the incubator, remove any water in it add fresh water if needed. Leaving it open long enough for the bacteria to be removed (mostly at least) I think gives the chicks the best chance. Washing eggs isn't good for them because you may push the bacteria in the egg instead of removing it.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

You can easily smell the rotting eggs before they explode.

Not this hatch but in spring I had one explode. No smells that I could smell even after it exploded. Just suddenly went POP and egg shell went everywhere. It scared me so much. I thought it was the lightbulb at first.

 

[cochins1088]

When I get a rotten egg I don't wash the other eggs, I air out the incubator, remove any water in it add fresh water if needed. Leaving it open long enough for the bacteria to be removed (mostly at least) I think gives the chicks the best chance. Washing eggs isn't good for them because you may push the bacteria in the egg instead of removing it.

I don't totally understand what you are saying, can you clarify? I only washed them because one exploded and they became full of egg junk. If you remove a rotten egg before it explodes, the bacteria shouldn't be out and about the incubator anymore than it would be else where, bacteria is everywhere, in the air we breathe so I don't see the point of all this work if you remove the egg in time. And I have experimented with the whole washing eggs thing. With my personal experience, I found that I get better hatches when I do wash them from the begining. In fact, of the shipped eggs I reiceived (unwashed) I decided that 2 of them were bad enough to need to be washed even though I hadn't planned on it. And of course one of them is one of the only 2 that hasn't been invaded with bacteria. To wash you should use water warmer than the egg and gently wipe it down, don't submerge it for any longer than 30 seconds and don't srub to hard, just enough to get all of the crap off and for it to look clean. I know this is a debated issue, but that is just my personal experience. Some poeple even use Clorox wipes for the eggs to disinfect the eggs and incubator.