# Rotten egg?



## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

I posted in another thread about a couple of eggs I took inside, away from the hen, to finish hatching. One of them I know is still alive - we can hear peeping and see it wiggle from time to time.
The other, I think is rotten. No movement or sound that we have noticed, and it smells. Not too bad, but a little. I'm pretty much positive it is bad, but how can I be sure?


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## Frosty1 (Jul 12, 2011)

One thing you can do is to "candle" it. It takes a candling device though. You may want to get one. With that you can see if a little chicken is inside, or if it's just rotten. Also, if possible I would take it away from the other eggs. Maybe to a second incubator if you have one, because one rotten egg in a closed space can kill your whole batch.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

you can candle it with a flashlight.


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

I candle with a flashlight, but if it smells then it's bad. And don't open it!!! Eeek! Save yourself that smell. Rotten eggs are like little bombs that make a great explosion and release a terrible terrible smell.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

RunAround said:


> I candle with a flashlight, but if it smells then it's bad. And don't open it!!! Eeek! Save yourself that smell. Rotten eggs are like little bombs that make a great explosion and release a terrible terrible smell.


Oh Runaround ya just stole my fun.


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## dobe627 (Oct 16, 2007)

I use a flashlight toofound the smaller maglite. Works great. & handle bad one carefully cuz as mentioned they do "explode" and the stink stays with you


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

I candled them both and they were very different, so in spite of your good advice, I threw the rotten one (outside, of course) to see what would happen.  Yup, it was a stink bomb, but not nearly as bad as I thought.
The good one is slowly hatching!


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

milkmaid said:


> I candled them both and they were very different, so in spite of your good advice, I threw the rotten one (outside, of course) to see what would happen.  Yup, it was a stink bomb, but not nearly as bad as I thought.
> The good one is slowly hatching!


 :laugh: Glad you at least took it outside.


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## jduwall (Aug 7, 2009)

I agree.. candle them...but I have chickens and eggs that smell are almost always bad...just pitch it. post pics of the new baby


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

It started to hatch, but died in the egg. I carefully monitored the temperature, but I am almost sure I did something wrong and let it get too hot. I feel so badly about it. We still have the eight that the hen hatched, and I posted about them in another thread!


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

They don't always make it. It may have been too weak to begin with and that why it was barely hatching late. :hug:


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