Egg Questions

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Okay but how does one slit the eggs safely?

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Two ways that I do it ... pinch the top of the shell and make a small "nic" with a pair of cuticle scissors ... then stick the tip of the cuticle scissors slowly into the "nic" and cut slowly trying to keep the tip of the scissors pointed "up".

The other way that I use Kev@NERD taught me and is actually much safer ... Using a pair of blunt tipped forceps, pinch the shell at the top of the egg and "push" the closed forceps into the soft "skin" of the shell ... then, open the forceps to spread the hole. If you do it slowly and carefully, you won't break a single blood vessel inside the egg.

As a side note, the sack inside of the egg is sometimes still adhered to the outer shell of the egg before day 54 or so, so cutting before then might be a little bloody.

The earliest I've ever cut is day 54 and when I used to cut my clutches I would typically do it on day 56.

Now I wait for the babies to tell me when they're ready ... I've found that I get better rates of yolk absorbtion that way. ;)

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Sorry for the tons of questions but when Christie and I talked about this we both commented that we'd never seen much specific info on this procedure but a lot of mention of it being done.

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No problem at all Jo, keep asking away! ... That's why I'm here. :D ... Helpful, right? ;)

-adam

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Originally Posted by xdeus

Adam, how often do you open the containers and let them take a breath? Or do they all have the window cracked so you don't worry about it?

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I used to use 1.5 inch walled styro boxes with glass pane tops ... but this year I'm getting so many clutches I had to switch to a smaller box to fit them all in the walk-in incubator. Now I'm using what I think is either 15qt or 18qt Rubbermaid (my memory ain't working yet this morning) snap top boxes from target. They are the "tall" boxes with the "locks"' on the lid. I put a piece of press -n- seal (now 1002 uses) over the top of the box loosely and then snap the lid down. They're working perfectly! ;)

-adam