Coloring chicks while they are inside the egg can be useful to keep track of offspring from various hens as you develop your backyard breeding program or to astound kids during springtime holidays as they watch brilliantly colored chickens emerge from their eggs. A few basic supplies and patient precision will have chicks in a rainbow of colors hatching in your incubator.
Select a spot 1/2-inch from the egg's point. Moisten a cotton ball with alcohol and wipe the spot to remove bacteria. Dip the end of the drill in alcohol to sterilize it.
Rotate the drill between your index finger and thumb while gently pressing it against the sanitized spot on the egg until you have created a hole in the shell. Do not insert the drill any further, but remove it and set it aside.
Assemble the sterile needle and syringe. Draw 0.5 ml of dye into the needle and insert just the tip of the needle through the hole in the egg. Inject the dye slowly into the egg just beneath the inner shell.
Wipe the scissors with rubbing alcohol, using a fresh cotton ball. Snip a small piece of the adhesive bandage to just cover the hole in the egg. Return the egg to the incubator.
Clean the syringe and needle by rinsing with distilled water and sterilizing with alcohol each time you use a new color of dye.
Items you will need
- Eggs from white chickens, ducks or geese incubated 11 to 14 days
- Food-grade vegetable dye
- Adhesive bandages
- Cotton balls
- 95 percent isopropyl alcohol
- No. 3 dental drill
- No. 20-gauge sterile hypodermic needle
- 1 hypodermic syringe
- 💡 Eggs from species of white ducks, geese and chickens produce the best results.
- 💡 Mix dye colors to create your own unique shades.
- 💡 As feathers grow in, your chick's color will disappear slowly.
- ⚠ Be careful not to insert the needle too far into the egg, or you may injure the chick embryo. Use only food-grade dyes to prevent health risks to chicks.
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