Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[TotallyShellyTurtle]

We are suppose to do what ever we want.
I think it is perfectly fine for newbies to candle daily.
It is fascinating to see the daily changes.

I figure letting some air flow in wouldn't hurt. I don't have a fan. May as well take a look at my babies while I am at it!

 

[Kiki]

Eww! I've never opened a hatching egg. You are braver than I am.

I have opened quite a few eggs.
But none that stunk.

 

[Kiki]

I figure letting some air flow in wouldn't hurt. I don't have a fan. May as well take a look at my babies while I am at it!

You don't need a fan...Do you not have vent holes?

 

[Morrigan]

I've not had rotten eggs in the incubator, but I have had them under broody hens who were brooding in some pretty hot weather. It's an unforgettable smell, that's for sure.

 

[WVduckchick]

They are horrible.
Who put the dang spots on them?

have you noticed that some shine orange, some blue and some green?

My sister had a male white pet rat growing up in Kenya and being a white rat he had pink eyes, a pink tail and BIG pink ..... things that boy rats have and we named him 'Bwana M'kubwa' which means BIG MAN in Swahili. He was incredibly smart and learned to do all kinds of tricks and my sister carried him around in the hood of a sweatshirt that she wore backwards! My mother was less than entertained when he joined us for dinner on most nights.

Love it!!
Um.... what's this "thing that boy rats have" ??

I just finished placing my seven shipped old English game fowl eggs that I received yesterday in the incubator. They spent the night in an egg carton pointy end down with no turning, as this is what I have been reading that others do with their shipped eggs to give the air sacs a chance to reattach themselves in case they have become unattached. I placed them in the incubator pointy end down with the automatic egg turner off. I will leave it turned off for a couple of days and then turn it on. I also placed a freshly laid topknot egg, from one of my own hens, in with them as a control, so that I can compare progress. I'm going to try to resist the temptation to handle the eggs any further until I candled them on day eight. I'm trying to do as I have read others, who have been having successful hatches with shipped eggs have done. If any of you have any suggestions or comments pointing out anything that I may have misunderstood, or what I might do better please let me know.

Sounds good, my only comment would be if the air cells look ok, I'd turn the turner on sooner. If they are very wobbly, then wait.

 

[TotallyShellyTurtle]

You don't need a fan...Do you not have vent holes?

I have vent holes. I open and close the two larger ones depending on humidity fluctuations within the incubator. I have a Hova Bator 1602N.

 

[Morrigan]

Day 8 update.

I carefully inspected my 5 maybe eggs and took a very quick peek at the others.

3 of the maybe eggs were removed. Of those 2 were clears, one was a blood ring. Egg-topsy showed they were all no-gos. All 3 were the Lemon Orp. eggs (kind of an fitting name for them, as it turns out) that I thought were quite old based on the air sacs. I fear the seller was just clearing inventory on these Next time I'm going to ask how old the eggs were.

1, I left in the maybe group. 90% sure I'm seeing a blood ring, but it didn't smell, so it gets another couple of day.

The last one was tentatively moved to the "good" pile -- My last of the Lemons. There is something that looks like a blood ring, but on close inspection, I could see a black dot with veining, so I think it still may be OK.

I took a very quick look at the rest. Sadly, I'm pretty sure I saw another blood ring, so that got moved to the maybe pile to check in a couple of days.

So that leaves me with 10 hopeful eggs left -- 5 orp. eggs and 5 maran eggs. The maran eggs I am still taking largely on faith, although in a couple of them I was able to see some clear movement.

This is a very different experience than hatching backyard eggs, where finding a clear or a quitter is very uncommon.

 

[Cerise1924]

Oh, my goodness! This is what happens when friends and family know you love chickens. I went out on my porch and found a big box (and my Dark Brahma) on my doorstep.

My brother sent me a 'mini' incubator as a birthday surprise. It holds 48 eggs! That's not a mini, and it's only going to encourage my hatching addiction. I looked up the reviews and people seem to think it's a good incubator (esp if you leave it in the styrofoam shell it was shipped in, for insulation), but a bad hatcher (when you remove the autoturner, there is a big gap around the under tray that chicks can fall through). The advice is to stuff toweling in the gap, or use a separate hatcher.

Do you use a different incubator for hatching? If so, why?

-Cerise

 

[Morrigan]

Oh, my goodness! This is what happens when friends and family know you love chickens. I went out on my porch and found a big box (and my Dark Brahma) on my doorstep.

My brother sent me a 'mini' incubator as a birthday surprise. It holds 48 eggs! That's not a mini, and it's only going to encourage my hatching addiction. I looked up the reviews and people seem to think it's a good incubator (esp if you leave it in the styrofoam shell it was shipped in, for insulation), but a bad hatcher (when you remove the autoturner, there is a big gap around the under tray that chicks can fall through). The advice is to stuff toweling in the gap, or use a separate hatcher.

Do you use a different incubator for hatching? If so, why?

-Cerise

What a generous brother you have! The Brahma clearly would like for you to hatch some eggs.

 

[Cerise1924]

What a generous brother you have! The Brahma clearly would like for you to hatch some eggs.

Haha, she does seem interested!