[Nhcoll-l] Un-Blown Eggs in Collection

[Ingrid Rochon]

Hello all,

We are currently re-housing our egg and nest collection in preparation for
a move to a new storage facility, and have encountered quite a few sets of
un-blown eggs - these have no holes, are heavy with dried yolk matter, and
have a greasy, tacky surface.  Amazingly, after 50 years or more in
storage, they haven't exploded!  We also have several broken eggs with
dried, greasy yolk matter adherent to the eggshell.

Ideally we would like to clean these specimens and remove excess grease and
organic manner that will be attractive to pests... but we're not sure what
the best treatment might be, and our literature search hasn't turned up
many similar cases to ours.

Does anyone know of a way to clean and salvage un-blown eggs?  Any advice
would be appreciated.

Best,

Ingrid Rochon and Janet Gillette

*Ingrid Rochon*
*Collections Intern/GWU Graduate Student*
*Museum of Northern Arizona*
*ingrid.rochon at gmail.com <ingrid.rochon at gmail.com> *

*Janet Whitmore Gillette*
*Natural Science Collections Manager*
*Museum of Northern Arizona*
*3101 N. Fort Valley Road*
*Flagstaff, AZ  86001*
*(928) 774-5211 <%28928%29%20774-5211> ext. 265*
*jgillette at mna.mus.az.us* <jgillette at mna.mus.az.us>
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