I am incubating 24 eggs for the first time. I have a strong sence of smell and as I enter the room where the incubator is -- I can smell an odor. It reminds me a little of old water (like the kind of smell you get from a small frog tank or old flowers). Is everything ok? I am on my 11th day. Also, when candeling - you do pick up the egg with your hand right? You dont just try to see it as it is sitting in the incubator - so you?

-- Lynna Pebley (Desiredhaven@aol.com), April 23, 2002

Answers

You are rotating the eggs, aren't you? Like a mother hen would? Then picking them up to candle them will be no problem - and you do have to do that. If you're not rotating the eggs, then I suggest you do some more research, and be prepared to abandon this batch.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 23, 2002.

Been a while since my dear sister in law incubated eggs; however the smell you describe is familiar. Ditto Don's post, but I wouldn't worry about the smell.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 23, 2002.

Lynna, here is a great site for learning about candling eggs, it has pictures, a cute song(so turn on your speakers! LOL)and everything! http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/ Have fun, LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), April 23, 2002.

Try to isolate the odor and see if it is coming from one egg. Eggs do go bad during incubation and they can & will explode if left in the incubator. This is a bad thing because it gets the rest of the eggs filthy.

-- Dash (forthechix@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

I use a mag lite from Wal Mart to candle my eggs sometimes. With it, I do not have to pick up the egg if there is enough room in the incubator to get it in position at the big end of the egg. The smell - how long have you noticed it? I can smell mine as soon as it warms up and I put the eggs in. If you have just started smelling this odor, candle the eggs - you probably have a bad one. When I set my eggs, I use a pencil and put an X on one side and an O on the other. This helps me keep track of which ones I have turned. Good luck.

-- Robin Downing (Southpawrobin1@aol.com), April 24, 2002.

Since I don't have enough eggs at one time to fill my incubator, I put eggs in daily. So i put an X on one side and the day of the month (24 for example) on the other side. That way, I know exactly what day my eggs should hatch. If I have one that doesn't hatch when it should, It goes out, instead of leaving it in the incubator to possibly explode.

-- kathy in southeast ohio (katelyn_123us@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

Lynna, Don is right. Get that wonderful sense of smell in there right away, and smell each egg. If it goes far enough to explode, it will contaminate all the eggs. Quite an experience to clean out an exploded egg; one you will NEVER forget!

-- Judy in IN (whileaway3@cs.com), April 24, 2002.