Hi there! =)
I'm still a novice when it comes to incubating eggs. I just ordered some eggs from ebay, and they're unclean. I was wondering how to clean them nicely because I heard cleaning too much can wipe away the coat which protects the eggs from infection. Thanks alot!
-Charlie
Hi Charlie, the answer to that is - don't clean them. The muck on the outside won't transfer inside if you don't destroy the protective waxy coating.
I'm sure Sara will agree.
:)
Good luck
Regards,
Sarah L
This is tricky, the books say not to wash the eggs but my duck eggs are a terrible state when they come in so I do wash them in warm water, dry, then wipe with a special disinfectant. My hatch rates are always good with the ducks, I'm aware though that broodies don't wash & disinfect & they seem to do OK!
Hi Charlie,
If you can avoid cleaning the eggs I would say don't wash as the dirt can transfer through the egg and cause illness, defects in the chicks or even chicks not hatching.
If the eggs are really unclean there is sometimes the chance that this can contaminate the incubator so if you do decide to wash then as Jeni says use warm water. The water needs to be warmer than the egg so that the dirt doesn't get through the porous shell and don't rub too hard as this will rub off the protective layer on the shell.
Here is a discussion we had about it earlier this week http://farmingfriends.com/forums/topic.php?id=470
You can get a disinfectant I think I mentioned it in the above posts.
This is always a tricky one to answer. I would say if they are not too dirty then put them in unclean.
Kind regards
sara @ farmingfriends
Hi Jeni, my broody ducks eggs were always spotless, so I guess the constant turning and damp feathers cleans the eggs up a treat. It was great too as not one of them pooped in their house whilst brooding, so of course they were all cross legged in the morning to come outside to do so.
Sarah L
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