Can I wash my eggs?

[DuckWhisperer06]

Hi, my neighbor (he doesn’t live there, he just works the land) has been wanting some ducks on his pond (where he lives) since we got ours. We were hoping to incubate some for him that our ducks have laid.

Some of our eggs are a bit dirty, our ducks could care less where they lay .

I know I’m not supposed to wash eggs before I set them but I fear I might do more harm leaving it because of how dirty they are.

Any suggestions about what I should do?

 

[Cyprus]

You can wash them. Honestly, it's fine.

 

[Squishychicken]

Best to not wash so you leave the bloom intact which is the protective layer on the eggs. How dirty are they like caked in mud and pop? Could you get some pics?

 

[Stacyoung13]

Hi, my neighbor (he doesn’t live there, he just works the land) has been wanting some ducks on his pond (where he lives) since we got ours. We were hoping to incubate some for him that our ducks have laid.

Some of our eggs are a bit dirty, our ducks could care less where they lay .

I know I’m not supposed to wash eggs before I set them but I fear I might do more harm leaving it because of how dirty they are.

Any suggestions about what I should do?

I have taken a wet paper towel and wiped off all of my eggs before incubating and have had NO ill effects. I don’t scrub, I just wiped over them til they’re pretty much clean. Good luck!!

 

[casportpony]

Some info here:
http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/EggCleaning.aspx

 

[MandaH]

I have done some minimal washing off of eggs that did not hinder my incubation. The important part is to not scrub them at so the film stays on.

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

I will get pictures as soon as I can.

We are hopefully moving them to their new pen later today, which will be bigger so I can place some sort of nesting box in there for them. I hope they use it.

 

[DuckWhisperer06]

They range anywhere from top to bottom.

It really all depends on when I get out there to pick them up or if it rained recently. I give them a spot to lay where it’s nice and dry and clean, but they don’t use it, they just lay in any mud they can find .

 

[casportpony]

Those look.like eggs from my ducks!