First attempt at hatching shipped eggs!

[maddogdodge]

I've hatched plenty of my own eggs and locally bought eggs under broody hens but never before have I hatched shipped eggs!!

I ordered some yesterday and they arrived today. I'll be putting them under my broody light sussex hen

Eggs arrived well packaged, no cracks or signs of damage. Only issue I have is that a few have detached air cells... I don't have an incubator so I'll just have to put them under my hen and hope for the best...

I've ordered:
1 x Gold Campine
1 x Silver Campine
2 x Silver laced Wyandotte
2 x Gold laced Wyandotte
2 x Silver laced Polish
1 x Gold laced Polish
1 x White crested black Polish
2 x Araucana (The Australian type)
2 x Speckled sussex
2 x Salmon Faverolle

Fingers crossed for at least a few babies!! I'm incredibly excited but also very very nervous!

I'm going to let the eggs sit at room temperature until tonight.

 

[lazy gardener]

I believe the recommendation is to let them sit for 24 hours. You might want to read the specifics about hatching shipped eggs in the learning center. I wish you the best with your hatch!!!

 

[RubyNala97]

Shipped eggs are hard under broodys. The usual course with shipped eggs is to incubate them vertical to get those loose air cells to re-attach and firm up with turning or touching for the first few days. I've never gotten a totally detached air cell to hatch. But I have read of it. I would label and mark the ones with the worst air cells to see if she can hatch them. I wish you and her the best of luck!

 

[maddogdodge]

I believe the recommendation is to let them sit for 24 hours. You might want to read the specifics about hatching shipped eggs in the learning center. I wish you the best with your hatch!!!

Thanks, yeah I heard 12-24 hours. I'll do something along those lines, haha!

 

[maddogdodge]

Shipped eggs are hard under broodys. The usual course with shipped eggs is to incubate them vertical to get those loose air cells to re-attach and firm up with turning or touching for the first few days. I've never gotten a totally detached air cell to hatch. But I have read of it. I would label and mark the ones with the worst air cells to see if she can hatch them. I wish you and her the best of luck!

I checked them all again, only 3 have detached air cells. So hopefully the others will be okay. I'm definitely not counting my chickens before they hatch though!! The 3 bad ones are both of the Faverolle eggs and one of the Gold Laced Wyandotte eggs.

Will be interesting to see what happens - I don't think those 3 will hatch though.

 

[trailrider330]

I checked them all again, only 3 have detached air cells. So hopefully the others will be okay. I'm definitely not counting my chickens before they hatch though!! The 3 bad ones are both of the Faverolle eggs and one of the Gold Laced Wyandotte eggs.

Will be interesting to see what happens - I don't think those 3 will hatch though.

How did your hatch end up going? Was your broody able to successfully hatch the shipped eggs?

 

[maddogdodge]

How did your hatch end up going? Was your broody able to successfully hatch the shipped eggs?

Not good Most of them died about half way leaving 2 that made it to hatch day. When it finally came to hatch day, 1 hatched and my hen killed it so I kicked her off the nest and put a different hen on the last egg, that one hatched... and of course was a rooster, lol

 

[trailrider330]

Not good Most of them died about half way leaving 2 that made it to hatch day. When it finally came to hatch day, 1 hatched and my hen killed it so I kicked her off the nest and put a different hen on the last egg, that one hatched... and of course was a rooster, lol

Sorry to hear that.

I am getting ready to have a go at my first batch of shipped eggs using my best broody. Do you have any advice to give me, or others, getting ready to hatch shipped eggs?

 

[RubyNala97]

Sorry to hear that.

I am getting ready to have a go at my first batch of shipped eggs using my best broody. Do you have any advice to give me, or others, getting ready to hatch shipped eggs?

I have not used a broody to hatch shipped eggs yet but I have hatched a lot of shipped eggs in an incubator. Have you done shipped before? I would give them a good candle once you unpack them and check the air cells for damage. Then let them rest, fat end down for 12-24 hours depending on damage.

 

[trailrider330]

I have not used a broody to hatch shipped eggs yet but I have hatched a lot of shipped eggs in an incubator. Have you done shipped before? I would give them a good candle once you unpack them and check the air cells for damage. Then let them rest, fat end down for 12-24 hours depending on damage.

Thanks for the advice. I ended up letting the eggs settle for 12-30 hours, depending on how bad the air cells were, and then set half (8) under my broody and half (8) in the incubator. (Didn't want to literally "put all my eggs in one basket" in case something went wrong.) The broody hatched 6, and 6 hatched in the incubator as well. I was then able to graft the incubator chicks to the broody hen. I am very happy with a 75% hatch rate on shipped eggs!