Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Morrigan]

My small town post master was so funny when I picked up my eggs, he was a great eggsitter today. The girl at the counter couldn’t find them on the self with the other packages. He had put them back by his desk closer to the AC so they wouldn’t over heated or get bumped by being on the shelf next to the other packages moving in and out all day. If only they all were like that.

Good man.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Waiting for the total price on my Lavender Ameraucana Bantam eggs... then I'll be getting back on the Shipped Eggs bandwagon.

After careful consideration, I'm pretty content with a 66% hatch rate on the local eggs that I got. The four that failed, one matched two other eggs that both hatched chicks with foot and leg problems that none of the dissimilar chicks had, indicating a vitamin deficiency in the hen - after a couple days of vitamins, those two chicks are doing just fine.

The other three were several grams over the maximum recommended weight of 65 grams for incubating eggs at setting. Two were 69 grams, one was 68 grams. To my understanding, that frequently results in failure... or in pipping at the wrong end. The fourth egg that was over the maximum recommendation pipped at the wrong end, and was the lightest of the three at 67 grams.

 

[Cerise1924]

Day 10. Only two eggs of 14 are still in the incubator. The rest have been discarded.

One Leghorn egg has a moving chick, so that's good. The other egg is very porous, but I can make out some veining. No sign of movement. I'll check again in a day or two.

I got mostly clear eggs. This will be one expensive Leghorn!

 

[Cerise1924]

I clearly need a better source for eggs. Papa's Poultry let me down this last shipment, and this eBay batch was not worth it. Can anyone recommend a good mail-order egg supplier who will sell small quantities?

 

[Rebel58]

Day 10. Only two eggs of 14 are still in the incubator. The rest have been discarded.

One Leghorn egg has a moving chick, so that's good. The other egg is very porous, but I can make out some veining. No sign of movement. I'll check again in a day or two.

I got mostly clear eggs. This will be one expensive Leghorn!

That sucks. So sorry. Hoping for the best.

 

[Morrigan]

Day 10. Only two eggs of 14 are still in the incubator. The rest have been discarded.

One Leghorn egg has a moving chick, so that's good. The other egg is very porous, but I can make out some veining. No sign of movement. I'll check again in a day or two.

I got mostly clear eggs. This will be one expensive Leghorn!

Let's hope its a hen.

I think I have a lot of roosters on my hands.

Two of the marans, I'm certain are roosters. One was making a screeching little crow this morning and both have big legs and noticeable red wattles. Of the remaining two, I think one is a hen, and the last one, the runt, I have no clue. It's now about 1/3rd the size of the roosters, but it's still chugging along. My husband calls it a "her", so there's that.

Of my 3 orpingtons (2 of them out of the 90% hen bin), there is only one that I feel confident is a hen. The other "90% hen" chick is starting to look awfully roostery to me. I would have called it a rooster already, but for the fact it was sexed as a hen. The last one, "Blondie", the one I hatched, I don't know. It has the size and legs of a rooster, but its comb and wattles aren't screaming rooster yet.

So maybe 2 hens out of 7 chicks? Then its going to be a rooster derby to see which one may have the honor of replacing Duke. I keep telling myself, that if I get a really good breeding rooster out of this whole thing, it will have been a big success. But, let's be honest, I was hoping for more hens.

 

[Knighstar679]

I did my 7 day candling on my shipped eggs from Texas and Maryland.

So I set 22 eggs as of today I have 5 confirmed clear/quiters- 4 maybes (I am really holding out hope for these little guys.) and 14 confirmed active little ducklings kicking around in eggs.

The 4 maybes are out of Texas and I feel they maybe got put in a bad spot in the incubator and am hoping that some miracle will happen. 5 other Texas eggs have good veining and I have even seen very active movement in them. But Texas has some very goofy air cells even though I rested them for several days after.

Maryland I pulled 5 clears, when i cracked them 4 where non-fertile. The other 9 out of this bunch have some strong looks to them and pretty active veining.

Feels like I got lucky so far. But 21 days to go. I am still really excited.

 

[Cerise1924]

Let's hope its a hen.

I think I have a lot of roosters on my hands.

Two of the marans, I'm certain are roosters. One was making a screeching little crow this morning and both have big legs and noticeable red wattles. Of the remaining two, I think one is a hen, and the last one, the runt, I have no clue. It's now about 1/3rd the size of the roosters, but it's still chugging along. My husband calls it a "her", so there's that.

Of my 3 orpingtons (2 of them out of the 90% hen bin), there is only one that I feel confident is a hen. The other "90% hen" chick is starting to look awfully roostery to me. I would have called it a rooster already, but for the fact it was sexed as a hen. The last one, "Blondie", the one I hatched, I don't know. It has the size and legs of a rooster, but its comb and wattles aren't screaming rooster yet.

So maybe 2 hens out of 7 chicks? Then its going to be a rooster derby to see which one may have the honor of replacing Duke. I keep telling myself, that if I get a really good breeding rooster out of this whole thing, it will have been a big success. But, let's be honest, I was hoping for more hens.

Wait - how old are these chicks now? Aren't they just 4 weeks? And one is trying to crow?
Really hope you don't end up with 5 roos out of that batch.
I'm looking at my chicks who hatched around June 1, and one (the Olandsk Dwarf-Cream Legbar Cross has thick legs, a pink comb and pink wattles). One of the Appenzellers is very tall and big, compared to the sibling, so I also think that's a roo. I still think it's way too early to tell, though. Let's hope for the best.

And yes, if I have one egg of 14 hatch, it really needs to be a hen!

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

Happy July!
I have 24/28 Blue/Black/Splash-Laced Red Wyandottes in Lockdown! First pip happened at 10 PM last night; technical hatch day is today, 7/1.
My bator is starting to peep! I will keep you all updated!
Also, I have 9/12 assorted color bearded silkies in lockdown, due to hatch on 7/4, and
a bigger batch of paint/buff paint/showgirl silkies due to hatch later in the month.
All are shipped eggs.

I do have very sad news to report: I have lost all my babies since my Jubilee hatch in May.

One thing I will suggest to everyone with low hatch rates is, check, check. and check again the accuracy of your incubator thermometers! I've found that even the high-end brands can have major thermostat issues and I have lost so many eggs due to this. I now have hygrometer-thermometers in each of my bators and they help a lot! Second, pay attention to altitude. If you live at high elevation, try and find high-elevation eggs! If you receive shipped eggs from lower elevations, make sure you have very good air circulation all around the eggs. It's harder for these chicks to make it up here.

 

[Rebel58]

14 day update on peafowl eggs I drove to pick up. Out of 6 eggs 3 for sure viable, 2 unfertile and 1 questionable.