Why no washing/disinfecting eggs?

[Katy]

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I know you don't like studies, but yes, late mortality is strongly associated with older eggs and dryer eggs. If the chick can't position to pip internally, if it's too dry, if it's too old, if it got rotated inside the shell - there are many reasons that shipped eggs have a very high mortality rate when they try to transition from embryo to chick.

And older eggs and dryer eggs have what to do with whether they were washed or unwashed? Dryer eggs to me would indicate incubating issues.


You're right muggsmagee....I don't think I ever said I don't like studies altho I don't put much stock in some of them.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Your questions presuppose some things - are backyard coops cleaner than broiler-breeder houses? I'd honestly say no, many (maybe even most) of the time. Broiler breeders are incredibly expensive and valuable and their husbandry is not at all going to resemble the filthy eating-egg production facilities that were highlighted in the USDA inspections last year. They're not caged, they're all-in-all-out, eggs that are visibly dirty are never used, odd-shaped eggs are never used, floor eggs are never used, the entire flock only lives in the facility for a few months before it's scraped to the floor and sterilized. Compare that to some of the pictures of coops, yards, and chickens in the hatching eggs for sale section... honestly, I'd put my money on the broiler-breeder flocks.

Dry hatches aren't dry. I've never read a single thread that said they were dry unless the ambient RH was so high that they didn't need to add water. Dry hatches mean that you're running the humidity in the 30s and watching your RH for a signal to add water, rather than incubating with water in the tray "because you're supposed to." It's just a focus on monitoring RH rather than monitoring your water tray.

I absolutely agree that we have lower-quality incubators. I think that, unfortunately, a lot of the time we also have lower-quality eggs, for reasons that have nothing to do with washing/not washing, so our hatching rate may never be as high as broiler breeders are - but I think we can take a lot from how they get chicks from eggs most successfully.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

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Older eggs and dryer eggs have NOTHING to do with washed/unwashed. Which is why I said that the fact that I lost chicks late in incubation was because of old/dry eggs, NOT because of not washing them. I explained why I am pretty sure I lost those chicks specifically so that nobody would think I was blaming not washing them. If you can find an incubation problem, let me know - this was a Brinsea, temp was 99.6, forced air incubator, 37-40% RH to day 17, 65% RH to pipping, 70+ after the first pip. The air cells grew too fast too quick, they were not solid in the shell, when I opened the unhatched eggs (taking them out of an incubator that was still 70 RH) the air cell was too large and the chicks had not been able to uncoil enough to pip internally. They had absorbed the yolk but their internal membranes were very tight and the shell itself was brittle and dry, no hint of pliability that you normally feel.

 

[Katy]

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I'm very well aware what dry hatching means......it's the method I use. You had made reference to dryer eggs which I took you to mean that you felt the air cell had dried down too much....that is the "drier" I was referring to.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

No, sorry, Katy - the dry incubation thing was for Muggsmagee. I know you know well what it is. Muggs was saying that my big air cells shouldn't have hurt, because lots of people incubate "dry." I was saying that dry's not dry, just careful/regulated/wise RH.

 

[Muggsmagee]

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All I said was GOOGLE dry hatches. I never claimed there is zero humidity!

 

[magicpigeon]

Sorry to interrupt, but I thought to add that although it is agreed that laying hens do not "disinfect" their own eggs, the hens do not get a perfect hatch rate either, and this I notice can still be higher than what we get. I agree that we should try to maximise the amount of eggs hatching, but disinfecting eggs and them putting them back in an environment that is not sterile (such as a hen's nest) probably wouldn't work...Just my $0.02

 

[Gypsy07]

I just found this thread today and read through it all with interest. I'm currently trying to hatch eggs from just one of my hens, and I've been having trouble getting clean eggs. It's really wet and muddy where I am just now and my free range hens track mud and poo into the nesting boxes and trample it all over each others' eggs. Added to that, the hen whose eggs I am incubating usually chooses to lay on the floor of the coop and by the time I find her egg it is usually filthy. I'm also running a staggered hatch, as she only lays an egg every couple of days. Anyway, it all adds up to less than ideal conditions and early candling has shown what looks suspiciously like blood rings in more than one fertile egg.

I've been rinsing the eggs in quite hot water to get the muck off, but I've not been disinfecting them. Is that pointless, as in, I'm cleaning off the visible dirt but not the bacteria? When people talk about unwashed eggs, are they REALLY incubating filthy and poo encrusted eggs successfully? Anyway, I've decided I'm going to disinfect the next few eggs I put in the bator. So... should I be storing the eggs grubby and disinfecting them all immediately prior to setting them? Or should I be disinfecting them as I collect them and before I store them? I collected one egg today and after rinsing it off I dunked it in a mild solution of bleach in hot water for maybe 30 seconds. Is that an okay sterilising method or should I be doing something different? Any and all advice gratefully received!

 

[Muggsmagee]

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When I set my hatch, I wanted to do the peroxide method, as someone else mentioned. I couldn't find how to go about that, so I scrubbed my eggs in hot water w/ antibacterial dish soap...which is what someone else mentioned.

If your eggs are poo encrusted...chances are good that any harmful bacteria that "may" be present will have already entered the egg. I NEVER set/hatch poo covered eggs. If there is a stuck on clump of mud, poo, or wood chip, I just scrape it off with a paper towel. Anything that is covered in mud and poo goes in the garbage...or washed/scrambled and fed back to the flock.

Continue to try and lure your layers into a clean nesting box. Use golfballs, or something similar to encourage them.

I had found the peroxide method after my hatch...I'll see if I can find it for you and post back here. If your layers continue to lay on the floor of the coop, you would be a good candidate for washing your eggs. You could also set a temporary nest box where the hen is currently laying.

If the egg is disgusting...don't use it. IMHO.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Yes, I have to agree. If they're that filthy, washing may give you a bit of an edge but it's not going to solve your problem.

Can you put the nest boxes far back in the coop and make sure they're walking through six or eight feet of clean dry shavings before getting to them? Or can you add something to the yard to give them a chance to get out of the mud?