FINCHforum

I know this might sound funny, but is there any safe way to mark eggs?

I know the egg shell "breathes", but if I wanted to mark an egg say when fostering with societies, what is the best method? I am looking into the 2 cocks and 1 hen society setup, but want to remove any possible society eggs and therefore need to mark the fostered eggs.

Can you just make a small mark with a permanent marker or is there something else that must be used

the only eggs that I have ever marked have been dummy eggs which I place under my societies, as these were infertile I used a permenant marker. all I do once the dummy egs are in the nest is make sure that I remove new eggs that have been laid by the societies before placing the foster eggs in there

Good idea marking the dummy eggs mick, that solves half of my potential problem. What do you do if the societies then lay an egg of their own, or do they stop once they realize they have a "clutch"?

You can put a small dot on the end of each real egg, using a permanent marker. Then, if the Society hen lays any of her own eggs, you will know which are hers.

I just use a sharpie pen.

Thanks guys, I thought of using a permanent marker but was worried that the egg might absorb the ink. I feel much better now.