Obviously, I'm a newbe at this but I did hatch a few eggs when I was a teenager (and read up on nothing) and thought I could do a handful again (and read up on everything). I candled at day 9 and didn't see anything but I thought that was just inexpirience. I was a nazi when it came to temperature control, moisture, turning, ect. I finally candled again today and saw nothing, then finally cracked one open, perfectly raw, potentially unfertilized egg. I thought, no way. Checked again and again. All of them looked like I could make scrambled eggs with them. Why?! I ordered 10 from McMurray Hatchery. Cost me 40 bucks! 40 bucks down the drain! What can I do? TIA Lov Liv Edited to add that the chicks in the avatar are ones that I broke down and bought at the Tractor Store.
They where likely banged around in shipping. That is one of the common risk with hatching eggs. It happens to all of us.
Unfortunatly that is the risk one takes buying shipped eggs. Sometimes they just get thrown around and totally damaged in the postal system. You might have done everything exactly right and if those eggs were damaged(obviously they were) they will not develop or hatch. I would not get discouraged, but try to find a local source for some fertile eggs, and try those. As far as what you can do about those eggs, nothing, I doubt if Mcmurray has a guarantee on eggs, so you are just out that money.
Thanks, I never thought about that. In fact, they sent me 12 and 2 were broken. They were packed too well to have broken ones, I thought, but if they were handled very roughly, that makes sense. I was beating myself up thinking what I could have done more. Thanks again. Lov Liv
Hmm I dont know all about that though. At least one could have made it-and like stopped forming for you or something. I would call them up to see what they say. Bummer try out marie_martin on here, I recieved eggs from her, shipped in all never an injury and highly fertile. Dont quit probably wasnt your fault.
I would say with breakage, they were probably scrambled which is why no development. Shake an egg hard enough and the yolk can break inside without even cracking the egg shell. So sorry it didn't turn out well this time. I agree..keep trying. Some go well and some don't. It is the way of shipped eggs. Jody
I just found out that there is a guy in my church who gets eggs from a coworker. And they have hatched quite a few. As far as the hatching process, I just wanted a few for my children to learn from. We homeschool. But I did want bantams for my backyard and gave up and bought 6 of those from the local country store. I've got my fingers crossed for pullets although I think one at least is a roo. Being in the burbs, he will have to go out to my friend's farm if that is what he turns out to be. Thanks again. And I will try to call McMurray and see what they say but like you said, they will probably do nothing. Lov Liv
Hi, We ordered the "rarest of the rare" chick eggs from Mcmurray Hatchery in March also, and we noticed they looked strange when we candled them, but I just couldn't give up on them...23 days later none hatched:-( When we opened them they were just large smelly yolks. I phoned McMurray Hatchery and it was concluded that the eggs must have froze in transit. McMurray sent replacements which we received today, but 2 of these eggs are cracked open and one is totally smashed in the carton! I guess it is chancy to order eggs to be shipped, but the box that the egg carton was in is in perfect condition, the only broken area is inside the egg carton..so they were cracked and smashed even before the top of the egg carton was closed..I took lots of pictures to show McMurray Hatchery how they arrived...... do you think it's safe to feed the cracked eggs to our cats? Thanks, Cheeky Chick