Scrambled egg cells? UPDATED with candled photos

UPDATE: I added pictures in post 4 below. I would love feedback on them if anyone is knowledgable please!

I just received some shipped eggs that were super well packaged, but took three days to get here, rather than the 1 day express it was meant to take (the post service problem, not the shipper). They are now 4 and 5 days old (from the date they were laid).

I quickly candled them and they didn't look good to me, but I am a beginner at this. I compared them to some regular eggs from our fridge. I can see the air cells in ours from the fridge but can not really see an air cell in my shipped eggs, except MAYBE on one of them. They are Silky eggs so are tiny, and it somewhat looks like MAYBE there is an air cell when I put the candler at the end the cell should be, but I can't see it when I shine up from the other end, and am not sure if it is just a reflection/shadow sort of effect from the candler itself. On my fridge eggs, I can easily see the air cell. Should I assume my eggs are all scrambled? I did gently tilt them, looking for a detached air cell, and there is nothing moving.

I went ahead and put them right under my hen. I figured I had nothing to lose. If that is a terrible error and I should set them a while, please let me know ASAP! Not sure if it is ok to pull them back out. I'm a bit heart broken as I was so excited about these eggs.

mysterychick said:

I just received some shipped eggs that were super well packaged, but took three days to get here, rather than the 1 day express it was meant to take (the post service problem, not the shipper).  They are now 4 and 5 days old (from the date they were laid).  

I quickly candled them and they didn't look good to me, but I am a beginner at this.  I compared them to some regular eggs from our fridge. I can see the air cells in ours from the fridge but can not really see an air cell in my shipped eggs, except MAYBE on one of them.  They are Silky eggs so are tiny, and it somewhat looks like MAYBE there is an air cell when I put the candler at the end the cell should be, but I can't see it when I shine up from the other end, and am not sure if it is just a reflection/shadow sort of effect from the candler itself.  On my fridge eggs, I can easily see the air cell.  Should I assume my eggs are all scrambled? I did gently tilt them, looking for a detached air cell, and there is nothing moving.

I went ahead and put them right under my hen. I figured I had nothing to lose. If that is a terrible error and I should set them a while, please let me know ASAP! Not sure if it is ok to pull them back out.  I'm a bit heart broken as I was so excited about these eggs.

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I did shipped silkie eggs last year, super well packed, when I unpacked them I couldn't see air cells on most of them. She did a great job storing before shipping. The air cells had barely grown in the 3-4 days she had them before shipping. I had like 3-4 that were slightly wobbly but they all firmed up after the first couple of days. By day 3-4 I could se the air cells of most. I had 18 eggs. All but one showed development. 3 were very early quitters. Like day 3 quitters. 14 made it to lockdown and 12 hatched healthy chicks. I did let mine sit for 12 hours before starting incubation.

Good luck with yours!

mysterychick said:

I just received some shipped eggs that were super well packaged, but took three days to get here, rather than the 1 day express it was meant to take (the post service problem, not the shipper). They are now 4 and 5 days old (from the date they were laid).

I quickly candled them and they didn't look good to me, but I am a beginner at this. I compared them to some regular eggs from our fridge. I can see the air cells in ours from the fridge but can not really see an air cell in my shipped eggs, except MAYBE on one of them. They are Silky eggs so are tiny, and it somewhat looks like MAYBE there is an air cell when I put the candler at the end the cell should be, but I can't see it when I shine up from the other end, and am not sure if it is just a reflection/shadow sort of effect from the candler itself. On my fridge eggs, I can easily see the air cell. Should I assume my eggs are all scrambled? I did gently tilt them, looking for a detached air cell, and there is nothing moving.

I went ahead and put them right under my hen. I figured I had nothing to lose. If that is a terrible error and I should set them a while, please let me know ASAP! Not sure if it is ok to pull them back out. I'm a bit heart broken as I was so excited about these eggs.

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When I received eggs that were scrambled, it looked like a million bubbles inside. Not seeing an air cell can be a good thing. They basically went from the butt to the box and didn't have time to dry out any, since air cell size is a reflection of lost moisture.

Also, what are you candling with? If it's too dim that could be why you aren't seeing much.

Thank you both. I went out and grabbed one to photograph. I am not feeling very positive here .

First, here is a laid, infertile egg from my silky. This egg is about 2 weeks old:






and now one of the shipped fertile eggs with the fat end at the top. They all look pretty much like this, though one had a tiny, marginally discernible air cell. I thought this might have been the one but stupidly I didn't write down which of the blue creams it was and must have grabbed the wrong one. The remaining 8 look just like this, and the one better-looking one really doesn't look a lot better:

You really can't tell much if you are shining the light into the small end. All in all, they look fine to me, though a bit porous perhaps. Can you take a picture with the light shining into the big end?

Another thing I will mention is I would not be handling them so much. They need to rest after shipping.

ETA I have never put shipped eggs under a hen. For one thing they are usually too expensive for me to leave it to chance like that, plus its customary to incubate them upright and not turn them for the first few days and good luck getting the hen to comply with that lol

Thanks SunHwaKwon. All the images, other than the first one of the shipped eggs were from the fat end of the egg. Well, it is all too late now, so I guess I just wait. I put them under a Silky. She is hard-core serious about her job and has been preparing for this her whole life. I'm might be naively optimistic, but I have no doubts she will do an amazing job of it. She has been broody half her life lol. I've also read that the hatch rate from a hen is better than the hatch rate from an incubator, on average, so I am trusting her to do this well. I wish I'd let them sit out a bit before putting under her, however they were at the post office down the road overnight and were packed big end facing upwards, so I figured that in a way they had been sitting out appropriately. Well, hopefully I will see something encouraging on Day 4 or 5. I'm leaving my Silky to do it her way until then. I'm encouraged to hear that they don't look to horribly awful upon receipt at least.

I'm on day 7 with my incubation hatch. 6 of my eggs were shipped. All 6 looked like that when I candled them before adding them, And for a few days after being put in the incubator. I couldn't see an Air cell at all. But after a few days I could see it. Then around day 4 I could see it really good and on day 7 it's right where it needs to be. My eggs also took 3 days for delivery due to postal issues. Just hoping this will give you some hope!

MaconMommy - thank you a TON! That does give me hope. I hope it isn't false hope lol, but I do appreciate the encouragement. I probably freaked out about nothing. Can't wait to see what is happening in a few more days then. I am going to wait until day 4.5 to check. I keep checking on my poor broody though, but she is just perfect and doing her job, so she should be the least of my concerns. Congrats on your little embryos!

mysterychick said:

MaconMommy - thank you a TON! That does give me hope. I hope it isn't false hope lol, but I do appreciate the encouragement. I probably freaked out about nothing. Can't wait to see what is happening in a few more days then. I am going to wait until day 4.5 to check. I keep checking on my poor broody though, but she is just perfect and doing her job, so she should be the least of my concerns. Congrats on your little embryos!

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I'm not gonna lie, I panic about EVERYTHING. Lol. And I've been checking them daily. A few have tiny air cells still but they also just started developing. I can't wait to see your update! Hopefully it comes with good news!