Marking Eggs and Dye

[silkiepjsg]

I have a Q for our group. I hear so much ONLY use a pencil to mark your eggs. The Q comes in my mind, what happens if you use a crayon? A marker? etc. I understand that the idea is to keep the egg healthy. You don't want to indroduce contamination, chemicals, and what not into the developing embrio. Then my mind goes to those Easter Chick pictures that I have seen where the whole embrio was colored w a dye that is injected into the egg. See for instance: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/eggs/res32-qa.html
where is says under Q # 90:

90. How do you color embryos?
To color embryos you inject a colored dye about .2 to .5 milliliters into the egg with a hypodermic needle near the bottom of the egg.

Now I am thinking, I have left over easter egg dye (yah, I know, I'm a bit slow to clean up the craft table)- NO not to inject - but can I dip one side into the dye, to tell the different breeds apart in the incubator? I just got silkie and cochin eggs, and they look similar to me. If I made some yellow or orange, I could tell them apart.... What do you all think?
And why can't I use a marker or crayon?
Thanks!

 

[silkiepjsg]

Oh, my husband just said he tossed the egg dye

But I just thought that it does have vinegar in it...
Crayon OK?

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Good question. I'd like to add to it- how about natural dyes such as grass, flower petals, tea, etc. that many people use to color eggs?

 

[Smoky73]

Lordy, I dunno, I have used sharpies before, and ink pens. I have received eggs done with pen, like gel pens and sharpies, no problems that I can see.

If you get technical, I don't think pencils would be much better, they are lead after all, and lead seeps into everything.

 

[robin416]

The dyes being used are food dyes. If you used clothing dye then it would kill the egg.

The reason for avoiding things like permanent markers like Sharpies is because of the chemicals in the ink. Eggs are pourus so there is the possibility of the chemicals leaching through the shell to the peep.

Crayons are safe, as are pencils, probably what we call grease pens, even the jell ink is probably safe.

 

[4H kids and mom]

If you get technical, I don't think pencils would be much better, they are lead after all, and lead seeps into everything.

No pencils are made with actual lead anymore. The "lead" of the pencil is actually graphite.

As far as marking the eggs, when I bred parrots, they would always end up rubbing/washing off the pencil, so I switched to NON-toxic markers and never had a problem. I would NEVER use a permenant marker like a sharpie, though, as the chemicals in them are far too harsh. Keep in mind that kids sometimes sniff permenant markers to get high...wouldnt you then assume they wouldn't be good for an unhatched, odds are against it from the get go, tiny chick? Crayon is wax, and wax will clog the pores of the egg. Eggs need the pores open to "breathe". I would also stay away from grease pencils for the same reason. Stick to pencils, or non toxic markers that are safe enough for a human toddler to eat.

 

[silkiepjsg]

Wouldn't the poo on some of the eggs clog some of the pores? Still just thinking about this whole thing.

 

[robin416]

We're not talking about clogging pores we're talking about bad chemicals actually crossing the protective barrier of the egg and membrane and killing the embryo.

Setting only clean eggs is recommended because there might very well be bacteria in the dropping that can cross into the egg.