Can you freeze Fertile Pekin Chicken eggs?????????????????????????

Hi again all out there in poultry cyber world....

Am a newbie to hatching and although my first batch in the incubator failed I am totally into this now....

I have made my own homemade system and have just set my second batch. I learned a lot from my first ever attempt, and have now used that fast gained knowledge on my second go.

My question is simple, my family and I love Pekin Chicken's and want lots of them as pets to add to our almost mini zoo at home. I was searching eBay last night and a seller is offering frozen fertile eggs. They claim that they will pack them very carefully and whilst in our UK postal system will be defrosting..... Is it possible to freeze these eggs?. If so could I not do this at home so I have an good supply ready for each time I wish to set some. How long could they be frozen?. Anyone know at what tempreture?....

Sorry its a lot of questions but Dad always said unless you ask you will never know....

Hope someone can answer me...

Darrin
JG...

ive never heard of people freezing fertile eggs. i would imagine its not good but i might ber wrong. most eggs can be incubated 10 days after laying because the birds lay in clutches so they wont set on them until they have laid so many. if the person you buy from ships the eggs the day they were laid then i would think they could make it anywhere in the world at room temperature. i have got eggs from all over the us and had great luckoverall as far as hatchability all thngs considering. ive seen some of the beautiful chooks yall have over there in england. wish i had the resources to get some of them to the states

Hi Dave

Thanks for the advice. I only asked as I have never heard of it before. Edible eggs can be frozen but they suggest you remove them from the shells.

If I can help in anyway in getting you some good eggs from my contacts over here and them send them priority I will. Our UK postal service offer an air mail service that can take 3 to 5 days which I have used before for other items either sent or recieved. Although I have never sent such a fragile item in the post, there must be some sort of safe and secure packaging available for such items.

Back to the freezing subject, I have just taken a phone call from a contact who tells me that it is possible. The temp must be below -15C for a maximum of 6 months. He claims he does it as he also sells on eBay.

I really have no idea if it's possible. Maybe I should just try it with maybe 6 eggs. Freeze them and then in a month or two take them out allow some defrosting time and set them. After a few days candle them to see whats the situation. Maybe that could be my next test on my quest of poultry hatching and then report back to the members...

Anyway, thanks again Dave

Darrin

When I find a frozen egg in the laying box, the egg is always cracked. I suppose you can hatch a cracked egg (not even addressing the frozen part), but I would think the chances of success would go down a bit.

I say freeze a few of your own and try it...I don't think it will be much of a success since most frozen eggs crack so the egg would already have two things against it but no harm in trying..

Quote:
You mean--I might be able to get eggs from the UK? I saw a picture in the UK Mag Practical Poultry of Croad Langshans that laid some really pretty purply pink dark brown eggs and I want some so much. There are lots of people here--well a few people--who have Langshans, but not the ones that lay those eggs. The Langshans here are pretty much bred to be show birds. I don't show, I am more interested in egg color.

I am sorry--I did not mean to hijack your thread. Darn. But this is SO interesting.

I never heard of Pekin chickens either, but cannot imagine that frozen eggs would hatch. I could be wrong.

Catherine

Frozen eggs will crack, so the Ebay person is pulling your leg to say they can send you frozen fertile eggs to hatch. What you will likely get is a leaky box of ooze. Also, once the eggs drop below a certain temperature for a particular period of time, the germinal disc is damaged and will not grow/develop into an embryo.

the problem with getting eggs top the states isnt the shipping part its the usda and customs regulations. i dont know how hard it would be. any customs or usda people reaing this please enlighten us

When eggs are frozen unscrambled, or without salt added to the yolk portion, the yolks gel. I tried it. Not for hatching, but for eating. Also, the shells crack vertically.

i know this post is old but i figured i'd say something. i have hatched eggs that came in the mail with cracks from slight freezing. but i would imagine eggs being sent on a plane would freeze anyways as they are at a high altitude so i don't see why a seller would even need to freeze the eggs in the first place unless it is a hot month of the year (like, now). but like i have said, i have had success hatching cracked eggs, as well as eggs that cracked from freezing during winter shipment.