Hen poo on eggs

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:41 am

My little black pekin hen, Arabella, is sitting on 5 eggs - due to hatch next Tuesday. A couple of days ago when she was off for a drink I noticed that a few of the eggs had quite a bit of poo all over their shells.

She does a great job of turning her eggs, so much so that she moves from corner to corner of her broody box every day. It seems that she has accidentally rolled them into her toilet area at some stage.

Is the poo likely to harm the developing chicks, or make it harder or more dangerous for them when they hatch? I didn't want to clean them as I thought this might do more damage, but am still worried about them being dirty.

Any suggestions?

Deb :-D

Peter16 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:50 pm

I believe it can effect the eggs negatively ie lower hatch rate, and it was a good idea not to wash them,
a person with more experience will answer in more detail

Happyhenz. · **Joined:** Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:49 am **Posts:** 607

you can wipe them over with a WARM wash cloth not a cold one as that causes the pores in the egg to shrink and drawn in bacteria.
I would only wipe them if theyare really dirty otherwise i would leave them alone.
Hope this helps.

Kylie · **Posted:** Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:13 pm

Hi Debbie

I have a thread very simular to yours with the same concerns with dirty eggs, they where under one of my hens and hatched with with no probs..

Hope it helps.. :-D

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:44 pm

Thanks guys, I think I'll leave them alone as they are so close to hatching.

Sorry, I didn't look for another thread on this before I posted! :oops:

Deb

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

Happyhenz wrote:

you can wipe them over with a WARM wash cloth not a cold one as that causes the pores in the egg to shrink and drawn in bacteria.
I would only wipe them if theyare really dirty otherwise i would leave them alone.
Hope this helps.

110% Dito, just to put our 2 cents worth in

Thanks
P.A :lol:

jo-chicken · **Posted:** Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:44 pm

I would not worry unless you have big chunks of poo on them. It shouldn't effect them at this stage unless they have hairline fractures. If they have big chunks of poo then just get an old knife and get the worst off and let the rest be. The chicks shouldn't have a problem hatching unless there are big chunks. Just check your nest box for more poo though, some hens won't get off the nest everytime to do this.

debbieo4914 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:10 pm

The outcome.........100% hatch rate, so no problems this time!

Thanks for the input everyone!

Deb :-D

Muscovy J · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:13 pm

great to hear , i dont clean any of my eggs at all , you did the right thing good 1 mate

Kylie · **Posted:** Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:03 pm

thats really great Deb, can't wait to see some pics :-D

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