Experiment: mishandled eggs

Have you ever bought shipped eggs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 8 88.9%

  • No

    Votes: 1 11.1%

  • How many hatched?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    9
Date sort Score sort
BeachBumBiddies

BeachBumBiddies

Crowing
12 Years
Feb 18, 2010
759
80
266
FL
I have bought hatching eggs online & have read the horror stories people have about buying hatching eggs. Mishandling, x rays, etc are supposed to kill hatch rate. I am curious to know, has anyone tried to handle their eggs roughly or maybe even have them x rayed & then tried to hatch said eggs? I have been doing some reading & according to what I have read, the USPS (which is what most people use to ship eggs), x rays few if any of their packages.So by that rational, most eggs should get to you in good shape for hatching. If this is the case, are the people selling the eggs at fault? Maybe shipped eggs have a poor hatch rate because the people selling them aren't checking fertility often enough or at all? I am going to attempt to hatch eggs I have mishandled as maybe they would be during shipping & see how many, if any hatch. I don't know where I could get them x rayed without looking like a total crackpot but I will also try to do this if I can. Anyone with any insight, info, etc, is more than welcome to comment/suggest things, etc. Thanks in advance...

BTW I will be using my Cream Legbar eggs as the test subjects. I have been getting a 90+% hatch rate with my flock.
 
anac1979 said:
I have bought hatching eggs online & have read the horror stories people have about buying hatching eggs. Mishandling, x rays, etc are supposed to kill hatch rate. I am curious to know, has anyone tried to handle their eggs roughly or maybe even have them x rayed & then tried to hatch said eggs? I have been doing some reading & according to what I have read, the USPS (which is what most people use to ship eggs), x rays few if any of their packages.So by that rational, most eggs should get to you in good shape for hatching. If this is the case, are the people selling the eggs at fault? Maybe shipped eggs have a poor hatch rate because the people selling them aren't checking fertility often enough or at all? I am going to attempt to hatch eggs I have mishandled as maybe they would be during shipping & see how many, if any hatch. I don't know where I could get them x rayed without looking like a total crackpot but I will also try to do this if I can. Anyone with any insight, info, etc, is more than welcome to comment/suggest things, etc. Thanks in advance...

BTW I will be using my Cream Legbar eggs as the test subjects. I have been getting a 90+% hatch rate with my flock.
Click to expand...

Make sure you have mishandled them roughly enough to cause detached and rolling air cells. I traded (not sold or bought) eggs with several other members last year and this was our most common problem. Now, I know the air cells were fine when I shipped and I believe the people who shipped to me also sent eggs with good air cells, however when they arrived they were not good, and I think this was a lot of the reason eggs didn't hatch, many didn't even start, but fertility here was very good.
 
Thanks for the response & info. Is there no way a chick can hatch if the air cell is detached? If not, is there a way to reattach an air cell? This is kind of a project for my 7 year old daughter & I for homeschooling, so i'm trying to get as much info as possible. thanks again! :)
 
I've had boxes come to me with boot prints on them and have seen them kicked and thrown by post office employees. You will have to really strive to mishandled those poor eggs if you want to match their level of ignorance!
 
anac1979 said:
Thanks for the response & info. Is there no way a chick can hatch if the air cell is detached? If not, is there a way to reattach an air cell? This is kind of a project for my 7 year old daughter & I for homeschooling, so i'm trying to get as much info as possible. thanks again! :)
Click to expand...

I think it depends on how "Bad" it is. Some will just be a little loose and move around a little, but stay in the wide end of the egg.Some will be completely loose and travel from one end to the other. And lastly there will be some where the air cell has been knocked loose and shaken to the point of looking frothy, like a bunch of little air bubbles, not just one big one, you need a very light colored egg to see this much detail, but I have seen it. If it is just a little loose there is a good chance you can hatch it, Completely loose or frothy and I've never had any luck. I did a lot of reading and I always sit shipped eggs point down for 24 hours before putting in the bator, I will also incubate point down for the first 2 weeks. I cut the bottoms off an egg carton and sit it in my bator, eggs go in point down, this keeps the air cell up in the wide end where you want it. Instead of actual turning, I will just gently tilt them back and forth, always keeping pointy end down. I have heard there can be some "reattachment" if you do this. If they develop and do not quit I will take them out of the carton a day or 2 before I expect to see a pip. Last year I sent a box of eggs to someone using Priority Express $35 to ship them, she sent eggs back to me in the same box, only when I got it back it looked like it got wedged under a tow motor and dragged across a floor. The eggs were unbroken, but not a single one developed at all and when I opened them at 10 days 4 of the 6 yolks were scrambled. That is what I call severe abuse. I have sold eggs and shipped them and I would never knowingly send someone an unfertilized egg, I know what that kind of disappointment is like. I like to think most folks feel the same, but I am sure there are some that do not care. We hear a lot of misinformation about shipped eggs, like if it is shipped by air the air pressure will rupture the egg, ever heard this one? Last year I shipped a box to CA they arrived in under 24 hours(miracle right there and obviously shipped by air) and they had iffy air cells, loose but not rolling, 4 of those 6 did successfully hatch, so the air travel thing is a myth.
 
No. None at al. They were demolished
1f622.png
 
DylansMom said:
I think it depends on how "Bad" it is. Some will just be a little loose and move around a little, but stay in the wide end of the egg.Some will be completely loose and travel from one end to the other. And lastly there will be some where the air cell has been knocked loose and shaken to the point of looking frothy, like a bunch of little air bubbles, not just one big one, you need a very light colored egg to see this much detail, but I have seen it. If it is just a little loose there is a good chance you can hatch it, Completely loose or frothy and I've never had any luck. I did a lot of reading and I always sit shipped eggs point down for 24 hours before putting in the bator, I will also incubate point down for the first 2 weeks. I cut the bottoms off an egg carton and sit it in my bator, eggs go in point down, this keeps the air cell up in the wide end where you want it. Instead of actual turning, I will just gently tilt them back and forth, always keeping pointy end down. I have heard there can be some "reattachment" if you do this. If they develop and do not quit I will take them out of the carton a day or 2 before I expect to see a pip. Last year I sent a box of eggs to someone using Priority Express $35 to ship them, she sent eggs back to me in the same box, only when I got it back it looked like it got wedged under a tow motor and dragged across a floor. The eggs were unbroken, but not a single one developed at all and when I opened them at 10 days 4 of the 6 yolks were scrambled. That is what I call severe abuse. I have sold eggs and shipped them and I would never knowingly send someone an unfertilized egg, I know what that kind of disappointment is like. I like to think most folks feel the same, but I am sure there are some that do not care. We hear a lot of misinformation about shipped eggs, like if it is shipped by air the air pressure will rupture the egg, ever heard this one? Last year I shipped a box to CA they arrived in under 24 hours(miracle right there and obviously shipped by air) and they had iffy air cells, loose but not rolling, 4 of those 6 did successfully hatch, so the air travel thing is a myth.
Click to expand...
Never heard the air travel thing. The x ray thing is pretty rampant though. I just don't think that that much mail actually gets x rayed, especially with what I have been reading. Even if the eggs were x rayed, I don't think that little bit of radiation would hurt the "chick". After all, the zygote isn't even "alive" until the egg is warmed up, right? Or have I read that wrong/gotten wrong info?
 
These may interest you, the first shows the air cell where it should be in the wide end of the egg. The second shows an air cell that is completely detached and rolls whenever you turn the egg.



 

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