Flies in Incubator, Can they Compromise Viable Eggs?

[CiaBia]

To give you some backstory:
I have a GQF 1502 Sportsman that I only fill to 1/4 of it's capacity weekly, so to help offset electrical fees I'll incubate eggs for a small fee.

Mistake #1: About a month ago, a customer brought me eggs that they had kept 'moist' with wet towels. Out of the 4 dozen, about 3 of them had fly larvae sitting in the bottoms of the egg cartons, some crawling up them. Wanting to give the eggs a chance, I decided to wipe the eggs off and try to incubate anyway. BIG MISTAKE

Fast forward, I had two of the eggs explode with dozens of flies. Ever since I've been releasing flies by the dozen every time I open the incubator door. All of the 'infected' eggs have hatched out and been cleaned from the incubator.

Now to my main question: Are flies able to lay eggs/larvae through an egg shell, and kill potentially viable eggs? I had about a dozen developing goose eggs, which I know for certain were viable about 3 days ago. Today I took two out that were smelling rotten and when candled, looked completely black inside (the eggs are only on week two, so they should be mostly clear with some veining) I've since covered up the intake and exhaust plugs with screening so flies cannot enter/exit. I'm praying I didn't doom the rest of my eggs to the same fate

 

[oregonkat]

Yikes, that is a nasty situation. Did you happen to eggtopsy the 2 goose eggs that were smelly? Were these your fresh eggs or shipped?

I dont think that fly larvae can enter through the shell unless the shell itself were compromised in some way. It would seem that the flies have found a nice warm place to lay eggs in the bator. You may have to do some kind of a bug bomb in there when you dont have eggs to incubate as there are so many nooks and crannies in there for the flies to incubate their own.

 

[CiaBia]

Yikes, that is a nasty situation. Did you happen to eggtopsy the 2 goose eggs that were smelly? Were these your fresh eggs or shipped?

I dont think that fly larvae can enter through the shell unless the shell itself were compromised in some way. It would seem that the flies have found a nice warm place to lay eggs in the bator. You may have to do some kind of a bug bomb in there when you dont have eggs to incubate as there are so many nooks and crannies in there for the flies to incubate their own.

Thanks for replying!

I haven't done an eggtopsy yet, but I definitely should. I just pulled them out about an hour ago so I do still have them, I'm just working up the guts to open them Judging by how bad they smell on the outside, I can only imagine the inside!

They were shipped eggs, very well packed and fresh. Well, as fresh as shipped can be, lol. Bug bomb is now on the list of 'To Do's', there's already dozens of dead flies littering the bottom of the Bator

I do hope they can can't penetrate the eggs shells then, that would certainly help my chances of ending their cycle! One of the rotten eggs that I pulled out did have larvae-looking eggs attached to the bottom, so I'm hoping that's a sign that it's ONLY outside of eggs It was one of the dirtier eggs of the bunch.

 

[MelissaRose]

Good luck!

 

[CiaBia]

Good luck!

Thank you! I'll need it, lol.

 

[oregonkat]

Yup, I would say 'infestation' is the word for your day today. Yuck. Come to think of it, flies can be big disease vectors. Bacteria can definitely enter through the shell. I should have thought of this before. UGH, how much longer is your incubation? I have no clue about goose eggs, so forgive me. You are going to have to eggtopsy those disgusting eggs. Do it in a ziploc bag and look at the contents and see if you can tell if there was bacterial infection in there. You might see green or kind of neon yellow nasty goo.

 

[lazy gardener]

Do you have an other incubator that you could move the viable eggs to? I would spray them with some sort of egg sanitizer (yeah, I know that's a no-no) and move the eggs out of that bator, and set them up in a new bator. I would then vacume it out, and completely wipe it down inside and out with a good bleach and soap solution. Does it have a fan? If so, I would turn the fan on, and completely wrap the bator in plastic. Leave a bowl of strong bleach solution in the bator. Let the fan run for 8 hours or so. I suggest that you do this outside your home.

Those flies are a cess pool of bacteria. I am surprised that you have any eggs that hatch at all. Any chicks that do hatch are going to be maggot food. The flies will be attracted to the moist chicks, and will be laying eggs on the chicks. Fly eggs hatch incredibly fast. The maggots will immediately go to work devouring the chicks.

Before committing eggs to that bator again, run it for a day or two, perhaps putting something in there that would be an attractant if there happen to be any lingering flies or maggots.

 

[007Sean]

Thanks for replying!

I haven't done an eggtopsy yet, but I definitely should. I just pulled them out about an hour ago so I do still have them, I'm just working up the guts to open them Judging by how bad they smell on the outside, I can only imagine the inside!

They were shipped eggs, very well packed and fresh. Well, as fresh as shipped can be, lol. Bug bomb is now on the list of 'To Do's', there's already dozens of dead flies littering the bottom of the Bator

I do hope they can can't penetrate the eggs shells then, that would certainly help my chances of ending their cycle! One of the rotten eggs that I pulled out did have larvae-looking eggs attached to the bottom, so I'm hoping that's a sign that it's ONLY outside of eggs It was one of the dirtier eggs of the bunch.
View attachment 1378257

Those are blow fly egg larvae. Their attracted to rotting flesh and in this case eggs. I would shut the bator down and disinfect with a 10% bleach solution and a spray bottle.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would not use insecticide. Bleach will do the job, and once the bator is cleaned out, will dissipate, not leaving any residue.

 

[lazy gardener]

Lesson learned. Follow your gut. If a situation looks like it may cause harm to your flock or your equipment, refuse to get involved.