Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[NNYchick]

Hi everyone, I am going to join in with your shipped egg hatch a long. I just put in my 1st shipped eggs on Sunday. My eggs are gray silkies,I set 18. They traveled from Alabama to NY. They seemed to be packed well and very little air cells when I candled. I have set them in cut down egg carton and started to tilt them back and forth 3+ times a day. My question is am I turning them right, I have a Janoel 12 that rolls eggs on their side so I cant use my egg turner. Basically I am rotating them from fat end tilting south to fat end tilting north in egg carton, if that makes sense?

 

[NNYchick]

So the words of wisdom is to check not so much the distance travelled, but the route they will travel. Avoid big postal hubs if possible.
Almost every shipment I sent out this year had great hatch rates.

How do you find out the route they will travel or where the bi postal hubs are? I tried googling it but I got nowhere.

 

[cppeace]

Some people do it that way. It seems to work but I generally roll as I lay on side. I think laying down gets better hatch rates.
Good luck in either case!

 

[NNYchick]

Some people do it that way. It seems to work but I generally roll as I lay on side. I think laying down gets better hatch rates.
Good luck in either case!

On what day do you lay your shipped eggs down? I thought you wanted to keep them vertical to protect any damaged air cells?

 

[cppeace]

They recommend leaving them small end down and stationary for at least 12 hours to let them settle. I left mine for almost 48 hours before putting them in the incubator flat. As I left them that long before setting in incubator I didn't do the non turning the first couple days like some do. It's a learning process and everyone should do what they find works best for them.

 

[Morrigan]

The way my incubator works, you put the eggs, point side down, between little bars. It "turns" the eggs by tilting them back and forth, kind of like what you are describing @NNYchick. The only time they get laid on their sides and when they go into lock-down.

So, either tilting, or doing the more traditional thing of turning them over while laying flat, can work. For shipped eggs I think tilting and keeping the fat side oriented upwards might help with any detracted air sacs.

Right now, I have my turner off, as I read several people have reported good success on shipped eggs by not to start turning them until they've been in the bator for 3 days.

 

[Morrigan]

Hi everyone, I am going to join in with your shipped egg hatch a long. I just put in my 1st shipped eggs on Sunday. My eggs are gray silkies,I set 18. They traveled from Alabama to NY. They seemed to be packed well and very little air cells when I candled. I have set them in cut down egg carton and started to tilt them back and forth 3+ times a day. My question is am I turning them right, I have a Janoel 12 that rolls eggs on their side so I cant use my egg turner. Basically I am rotating them from fat end tilting south to fat end tilting north in egg carton, if that makes sense?

Glad to have another shipped egg hatcher on board! Excited to hear how your hatch goes.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Hi everyone, I am going to join in with your shipped egg hatch a long. I just put in my 1st shipped eggs on Sunday. My eggs are gray silkies,I set 18. They traveled from Alabama to NY. They seemed to be packed well and very little air cells when I candled. I have set them in cut down egg carton and started to tilt them back and forth 3+ times a day. My question is am I turning them right, I have a Janoel 12 that rolls eggs on their side so I cant use my egg turner. Basically I am rotating them from fat end tilting south to fat end tilting north in egg carton, if that makes sense?

Welcome This is going to be a fun and educational thread.

 

[Zinjifrah]

My incubator doesn't have a turner, but the shelves are grid, with about 1x1.5" holes. It works perfectly for the Serama eggs I'm incubating, since I can set them small end down, and tip them back and forth to turn them. Then I put a shelf liner or heavy washcloth down on the shelf when they go into lockdown, for them to sit on. I've got 13 eggs in right now, out of the original 22 I received. 1 went bad (Smelled like a dead, rotting animal, nothing like the 'bad egg' sulfur smell!) with no sign of development early on, 1 started to develop and failed with a clearly visible blood ring, the other 7 all candled clear and were removed once I was certain nothing was happening (using the remaining 13 as comparison, with clear signs of good development and strong veins).

 

[Morrigan]

My incubator doesn't have a turner, but the shelves are grid, with about 1x1.5" holes. It works perfectly for the Serama eggs I'm incubating, since I can set them small end down, and tip them back and forth to turn them. Then I put a shelf liner or heavy washcloth down on the shelf when they go into lockdown, for them to sit on. I've got 13 eggs in right now, out of the original 22 I received. 1 went bad (Smelled like a dead, rotting animal, nothing like the 'bad egg' sulfur smell!) with no sign of development early on, 1 started to develop and failed with a clearly visible blood ring, the other 7 all candled clear and were removed once I was certain nothing was happening (using the remaining 13 as comparison, with clear signs of good development and strong veins).

When are they due to hatch? I love pictures of Serama chicks.