Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[JohnEugene]

The mailman arrived about fifteen minutes ago with my eggs. It was a very fast delivery, all the way from Centralia Missouri to Panama City Florida in three days. The eggs came in very well packaged. They were individually wrapped in bubble wrap. I tried candling them, but all I could see was clear. One of my hens laid eggs this morning, and one looks very similar to the new arrivals when I candled it, except that on it I could see a small air sack near the rounder end. I put all of the eggs in an egg carton pointy end down, and I'm going to try candling them again tonight when it's darker. In any case I will leave them pointy and down when I put them in the incubator tomorrow. I would welcome any comments anyone may have. As I said before it's been a long long time since I've tried incubating eggs.

 

[NNYchick]

The mailman arrived about fifteen minutes ago with my eggs. It was a very fast delivery, all the way from Centralea Missouri to Panama City Florida in three days. The eggs came in very well packaged. They were individually wrapped in bubblewrap. I tried candling them, but all I could see was clear. One of my hens laid eggs this morning, and it looks very similar to the new arrivals when I candled it, except that on it I could see a small air sack near the rounder end. I put all of the eggs in an egg carton pointy and down, and I'm going to try candling them again tonight when his darker. In any case I will leave them pointy and down when I put them in the incubator tomorrow. I would welcome any comments anyone may have. As I said before it's been a long long time since I've tried incubating eggs.

They should be clear with a small air cell at the fat end, fresh eggs the air cell should be smaller than a dime (so I hear). When I candled before putting in the incubator I looked for air cells that moved around the egg when you gently tilt the egg, like a bubble in a level, air cells that are really large and any small cracks in the shell that you may want to monitor if they are in the incubator. I really didn't spend much time candling the biggest concern is cracks in the shell that cant be seen on the outside.

 

[ChickNanny13]

So exciting

 

[Morrigan]

The mailman arrived about fifteen minutes ago with my eggs. It was a very fast delivery, all the way from Centralea Missouri to Panama City Florida in three days. The eggs came in very well packaged. They were individually wrapped in bubblewrap. I tried candling them, but all I could see was clear. One of my hens laid eggs this morning, and it looks very similar to the new arrivals when I candled it, except that on it I could see a small air sack near the rounder end. I put all of the eggs in an egg carton pointy and down, and I'm going to try candling them again tonight when his darker. In any case I will leave them pointy and down when I put them in the incubator tomorrow. I would welcome any comments anyone may have. As I said before it's been a long long time since I've tried incubating eggs.

When candling new eggs, the things I look for are cracks or anything really funny looking going on with the air sacs. Other than that, there is not going to be much to see for awhile. Starting at around Day 3, you will start seeing some veining. Keep us posted!

 

[Colly1470]

Day 23 today.... The baby is egg 6 is now taking up so much space I can hardly see movement. The other 2 are smaller and I can still watch their little legs kick. I wonder if egg 6 will hatch sooner, or if it's just a bigger baby. (Maybe a dewlap toulouse?!)

 

[Cntry1958]

My original 2 silkie hens are ones I got from the mixed bantam bin from tsc 2 springs ago. One of them went broody last fall, so I gave her eggs to set on.... when it came to hatch time, she killed the first two babies that hatched and that was enough for me.. I quickly took the last egg away and put it in my bator to finish hatching.. that baby is now grown and is a fine addition to my layer flock (a barnyard mix from my cinnamon queen hen and australorpe roo) . After that, I said never again would I let them brood another clutch. Fast forward, I decided those two silkies were not good quality (they are huge for one thing, and their feathers are kindof stiff all in the wing areas, etc) . So I decided to order show quality silkie eggs to hatch. I ended up with smaller, perfectly cuddly silkies. 3 roos, and 2 hens. Well, one of those silkie hens has been broody for almost 2 months now, and has hatched out 3 wonderful babies and is still setting on eggs. Its like the other 3 silkie females have all decided to keep laying eggs for her to set. Im worried actually about her health. It cant be good for her to set so long, only getting up once daily. But she is a perfectly wonderful broody mama for me. Her name is Moana

Sounds like you have a great broodie there. But yes I would also take her off the nest and maybe place her else where for a bit till she 's not setting on everyones eggs. Let her now be the momma she wants to be give her the babies and see how good a mom she is.

 

[Turion1973]

We got 6 Silkie eggs in the mail and only 1 made it. Some have told me that about normal other had said I should at least got 3 to hatch out of the 6.

 

[Morrigan]

I did a full candling on my eggs today (Day 6)

I see good, solid development on 4 out of 9 orpington eggs. They look like this:

The veining was clearer to my naked eye, but I had a hard time capturing it on the phone.

Of the remain 5 orp. eggs, 2 are almost certainly clears (but I'm going to leave them in for a couple more days just to make dead sure). Here is one of them:

Of the remaining 3 orp. eggs, I couldn't be sure if I was seeing blood rings or circular veining. I was having trouble taking clear pictures, and I didn't want to keep fiddling with the eggs, so no pictures of these. I'll recheck those in a couple of days as well.

I still really can't tell with the Maran eggs. I thought I could see darker areas and maybe veining on all them, so I'm hopeful. Here is the porous one.

So, mixed results, but the good news is there are definitely viable eggs in there. I have the doubtful and maybes grouped together so I can check them easily in another couple of days.

 

[Kiki]

I did a full candling on my eggs today (Day 6)

I see good, solid development on 4 out of 9 orpington eggs. They look like this:

View attachment 1391306

The veining was clearer to my naked eye, but I had a hard time capturing it on the phone.

Of the remain 5 orp. eggs, 2 are almost certainly clears (but I'm going to leave them in for a couple more days just to make dead sure). Here is one of them:

View attachment 1391309

Of the remaining 3 orp. eggs, I couldn't be sure if I was seeing blood rings or circular veining. I was having trouble taking clear pictures, and I didn't want to keep fiddling with the eggs, so no pictures of these. I'll recheck those in a couple of days as well.

I still really can't tell with the Maran eggs. I thought I could see darker areas and maybe veining on all them, so I'm hopeful. Here is the porous one.

View attachment 1391311

So, mixed results, but the good news is there are definitely viable eggs in there. I have the doubtful and maybes grouped together so I can check them easily in another couple of days.

For the veining!

 

[Morrigan]

We got 6 Silkie eggs in the mail and only 1 made it. Some have told me that about normal other had said I should at least got 3 to hatch out of the 6.

How far were they shipped from? It could be the seller, or it could be a case of rough travels through the postal system.

For the veining!

I feel like a vampire, obsessed with prominent veining.