Should I wipe the eggs when I gather them?

[6x6archeryelk]

First off, Hi. I am new here although I have been reading the forum for a while. My question is, Should I wash the eggs when I gather them? I am trying to hatch bobwhites and ringnecks. We just had our first hatch and something went way wrong. We hatched three ringnecks is all. We started with 22 ringnecks and 12 bobwhites. Now we are trying to figure out what we did wrong. I read today i shouldn't wipe the eggs and we wiped all of ours as I read we should prior to starting. Any advice would be great as we are starting our second incubation tomorrow and as you can see we need help. Thanx

[sp2207]

I never clean my eggs, the dirty eggs i toss out. all you can do is start over with a new batch of eggs. could it be that they werent fertile? or are they fertile? or was it a problem with your incubator?  low temp?  high temp ?
Scot

[6x6archeryelk]

They were all fertile as we candled them at 12 and 18 days. We had a temperature spike at day 21 in the incubator. I believe the temp outside went up higher than normal and we caught it to late. All the eggs that didnt hatch were developed and died late.

[jchiar]

did you candle the eggs?  did the eggs show any signs of development ?

[sp2207]

How high did the temp get up to?
Scot

[pamike]

do not wash the eggs it will clog the pores and suficated the embryo or it will push bacteria into the egg from the pores both will kill the baby inside. just scrape off what you can with a fingernail real lightly. there might be a little left but as long as it is off as good as possible it usually will be ok. that is what we do and have had no loses over it that is how we were taught to do it.

to much water on it or humidity will drowned it also. the temp spike most likely is what killed them.

[CharlieHorse]

just scrape off what you can with a fingernail real lightly. there might be a little left but as long as it is off as good as possible it usually will be ok.

LOL!

 Do not try this if you have a habit of chewing on your fingernails or anything of that nature, this practice has been recognized by the State of Ohio to cause blindness in laboratory roaches.---THE GENERAL SURGEON


LOL!  Sorry pamike, I couldn't resist!  LOL! 


I don't wash/clean mine either.

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

just scrape off what you can with a fingernail real lightly. there might be a little left but as long as it is off as good as possible it usually will be ok.

LOL!

 Do not try this if you have a habit of chewing on your fingernails or anything of that nature, this practice has been recognized by the State of Ohio to cause blindness in laboratory roaches.---THE GENERAL SURGEON


LOL!  Sorry pamike, I couldn't resist!  LOL! 


I don't wash/clean mine either.

trailbossusa,

You owe me a new or used keyboard. After reading your reply, a full mouth of uncontrollable coffee spewed out.

On a lighter note: I do wash my eggs. I will either use a bleach solution at 10% or the available bacterial hand soap. I have had no changes in any controlled hatches that I have done. So wheither they are washed or not, as long as they are fertile they hatched. The owns that are mud covered get tossed.

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[Babs_MN]

Like Steve, we wash our eggs too.
Right now, I'm incubating pheasant, duck, chicken, and blue scale and valley eggs as I routinely do to check fertility. I try to clean them, or mimic cleaning them a number of ways as I can never be sure what other people are doing before they send them, or what some may do after they get them!
So, some I washed under running water, some I wiped and some I sanded. I didn't have any bleach left after running it through the jets in the tub, so that will will have to wait for next time. ;)
Anyway, I've candled and am expecting a full hatch first week of June. I would be very doubtful that the way you cleaned your eggs had anything to do with it.

My guess as to what may have gone wrong would be that temperature spike, as you never wrote back to say how high it got up to. Otherwise, it sounds like everything you did up to that point was correct.

WhenI look at my chart for hatching problems under "Fully developed, not pipped died in 18-21 days" - it says :

Inc temp too high
lack of turning
low humidity
lack of ventilation
lack of vigor in breeding flock
nutritional deficiency
bacterial infection

If your eggs and inc didn't smell bad, you can pretty much rule out an infection. An infection smells absolutely foul. I suggest you just set them again and keep an eye on the temp. :)

Babs

[6x6archeryelk]

The temp spiked to 103 for about 12 hours on day 21. Everything I have read so far tells me it was the temp as well I was just hoping the eggs werent that sensitive to changes like that but I guess they are.

[cjstuchlik]

WhenI look at my chart for hatching problems under "Fully developed, not pipped died in 18-21 days" - it says :

Inc temp too high
lack of turning
low humidity
lack of ventilation
lack of vigor in breeding flock
nutritional deficiency
bacterial infection


Babs
[/quote]

when you say you look't at your chart is this like a book or what is it.
cause I would  like to have somtheing like that to look at when I have problems with incubating.

Thanks
Ks_frm_boy

[Babs_MN]

when you say you look't at your chart is this like a book or what is it.
cause I would  like to have somtheing like that to look at when I have problems with incubating.

Thanks
Ks_frm_boy

The chart is actually from the back of a little giant (incubator) instruction manual. I thought it pretty handy and so added it to my collection of info. I keep a 3-ring binder with all sorts of tidbits because I just never know what kind of crazy question someone might email me with. If I don't know, I ask here. ;)

Babs

[cjstuchlik]

Thanks, I have the little giant incubator sheet around here, some where....I'll have to look tomorrow. As for today I'm going to bed!

Ks_frm_boy

[ncffp163]

Hi ya'll,

Here is a link that that has a trouble shooting guide to use, if you want it:
http://www.rockingtranch.com/

click on   "help pages". The troubleshooting guide is there. Hope it helps and Good Luck.

Eric

[woodenegg]

Here's a great one from UCDavis.

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8127.pdf