Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Cerise1924]

Update: some info from Brinsea
"Short term temperature effects: Embryos up to 7 days old may well survive cooling to near freezing for 24 hours or more without damage. The cooling delays hatching but not by as much as the period of chilling - so there appears to be some degree of compensation. The older the embryo, the more likely it is to die as a result of chilling to below 27°C/80.6°F but the effect on surviving embryos is not detrimental."

It sounds like an early temp drop is not a big deal, so it's good that this happened at Day 5. I'm keeping that door closed, now.

 

[Morrigan]

They can definitely get cool and still hatch. I've had eggs roll out from broody hen and by the time I found them in the morning and tucked them back in they were cold to the touch. The eggs hatched, albeit a couple of days late.

 

[Knighstar679]

Update on my shipping eggs from Texas. I have three remaining from this ground of 10. The first one pipped this morning. We are in full lockdown now until the little egglets decide what we are doing but they are movand peeping.

I did loose one this morning it was malpositioned and didn’t look like it’s head finished completely coming together. It was sad but I learned to let them rest a good long time from this eggs air cell before turning. With this being my first hatch ever everything is a learning experience.

 

[Cerise1924]

I am pretty excited, because 11 of my 14 Belgian D’Uccles eggs have great webs and wiggly chicks on Day 8. And my big Brahma lady has gone broody! Can I give a big hen tiny bantams to hatch and brood, or will she squash them?

 

[Morrigan]

I don't think she'd squash them. Any chick would be squashable if Momma wasn't careful, right?

 

[Mrichard0930]

Hi everyone I really enjoyed reading about your incubating stories. My daughter bought me a incubator for Mother Day so I will be looking for some Serama Eggs to try hatching. I am also in Maryland and was thinking about finding someone local or seeing if I could order fertile eggs. My daughter got me the Brinsea Mini II advanced. It holds 7 eggs and is enough for me to enjoy raising a few more chicks. Last year for Mothers Day she gave me a small coop, thats been sitting empty all year long. My son has RR and Orps plus Easter Eggers and Welsummers that I have hand raised since they were a day old. So I guess in her own way she was telling me use my coop for more chickens. Ones I can play with and enjoy. So best of luck to everyone incubating eggs and hope soon I will be joining in.

Hey I have the same incubator and on batch three hoping I’ll finally get some eggs to hatch. Were you ever able to hatch any eggs out of your brinsea ? Thanks

 

[Knighstar679]

My first batch of shipped eggs hatched last night. I got 10, cracked one before setting, set 9, four had made it to lockdown, one died after lockdown and three ducklings hatched.

This was my first ever hatch. I had 3 out of the 4 that make it to lockdown be malpositioned. One hatched just fine.
My Texas shipped eggs have a 33% hatch rate. Not sure how good that is for a first time Hatcher like me but it felt good to see the babies.

And because who doesn’t love pictures here they are

 

[Morrigan]

33% was my hatch rate as well. I thought it was OK. There are so many variable when trying to hatch shipped eggs.

Your ducklings are absolutely adorable.

 

[Knighstar679]

33% was my hatch rate as well. I thought it was OK. There are so many variable when trying to hatch shipped eggs.

Your ducklings are absolutely adorable.

Thank you!

They are my first ever incubated eggs. So seeing them finally here after a failed shipment where my incubator had cooked them is nice to see.

 

[Knighstar679]

Update from my Maryland shipped eggs that I set with my Texas eggs. The first eggs on this set (2) pipped this evening. This set had 14 that shipped to me and 9 made it to lockdown yesterday. Now we will see what the weekend brings in a hatch rate as these eggs and Texas really had the same treatment on everything except for shipping time and heat during shipping.