damaged egg

[chickenfan]

I notice an egg in my incubator is slightly cracked in one area. Is it important to remove this?

 

[chrismahon]

Cracked eggs usually develop bacterial infection at some stage Chickenfan. Has it candled OK though, so there is an embryo growing? If there is I would leave it, but it may just become a cloudy blob later.

 

[Marigold]

I would say remove it - if it does develop bacterial infection, there will be the risk of this transferring to the other eggs, or to the chicks when they've just hatched and are bumbling around drying off. And if it should explode, you will lose the whole hatch and catastrophically contaminate the incubator. Best to only try to hatch what appear to be perfect eggs I think.

 

[chickenfan]

Thank you Chris and Marigold. Yes, not a good idea to try and hatch I think, and certainly not if it might explode!

 

[KittyKat]

If you know when the crack has happened (i,e. that it is very recent), you can try covering it in nail varnish. Usually not worth it for the risk of infection, but worth a try if the egg is special for some reason.