Great expectations

[Susan Skylark]

So I really really scrubbed and soaked 6 quail eggs and tossed them in the incubator and thought I had finally discovered how to ruin hatching eggs. Most didn’t develop or were really slow, so I thought I was on to something but the flaw was only 2 hens provided the eggs, while I don’t typically have issues with either bird, it might have influenced the outcome. So I repeated the ‘study’ with a dozen eggs (each a different hen), had a control group, a scrub only group, a soak only group, and a both group. I ended up with (day 6), one early embryonic death or deformed embryo in the both group, an infertile double yolker, and nothing else weird. So much for my grand extreme egg washing theory! I think I also used older fridge eggs on the first trial which definitely causes developmental issues. No sign of bacterial infiltration even with soaking eggs in tap water, scrubbing off the bloom, rinsing under cold running water, and contaminating the surface with a week old chronically moist dish rag. No smell, no cloudy yolk or white, no slowed development or anything. One infertile and one early quitter seems typical per 12 eggs set for my eggs so nothing surprising there. I was so excited to prove my original results were consistent only to prove they weren’t, probably due to old age rather than extreme clean (at least I replicated my geriatric egg results!). So extreme cleaning, while not routinely recommended, won’t destroy your eggs (though it might impact a small percentage).

 

[Debbie292d]

I don't think you'll change anyone's mind about scrubbing their chicken eggs though. We've all learned about damaging the bloom.

Thus, just sanitizing them, rinsing them, drying them, then incubating them has no impact.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The guidelines are there to improve your odds of success. Following them perfectly does not always guarantee success. Violating them does not always guarantee failure. They just improve your odds. Something like stopping at a red light does not guarantee that someone will not rear end you anyway. Running a red light does not guarantee somebody will T-bone you every time. But obeying those rules give you a greater chance of avoiding an accident. There is a reason they are there.

I don't think you'll change anyone's mind about scrubbing their chicken eggs though. We've all learned about damaging the bloom.

Debbie, I'm not sure about that. You always have those that are going to violate any rules they can. The rules do not apply to them. I relate that to when I was a Boy Scout leader. The boys thought they were bullet-proof, nothing bad would happen to them. Even when a boy required stitches because of mishandling a knife, well that was him. It will never happen to me. Some people never outgrow that bulletproof stage. Some people will see this and think those guidelines are rubbish. And they may have initial success.

Susan, I think you are learning how tough those eggs can be. But with all your playing around I think you are heading toward a spectacular failure. Continue to be cautious, rotten eggs can really stink.