Adventures in Incubating Shipped Eggs

[Morrigan]

We just lost one of the new ones for no apparent reason I hadn't check on them in a few hours and when I went back in they were on their back & gone everyone seems perfectly fine & healthy.... No pasty butt, eating & drinking. Praying the rest make it to morning!

Oh no! I hope the rest are OK.

 

[Morrigan]

I made a judgement call. Tiny's egg was just so small... when I checked to be sure the pip was good, there were no veins in the membrane. It was white. I decided to see if the chick needed help just a little bit ago, and the answer was yes. The egg was so small, it didn't have enough room to move to unzip. It seemed to be positioned right, but it was crammed in there like a sardine - that's the egg that was about 1/2 to 3/4ths the size of the next smallest egg in the bunch. Yolk fully absorbed - here's hoping I made the right choice!

View attachment 1397899

How is Tiny this morning?

 

[Zinjifrah]

How is Tiny this morning?

Tiny and #1 are doing great. Unfortunately, the rest of the news is bad. On a hunch, I started checking eggs this morning, and ten of them were dead. I had one small temperature spike, up to 101, right at the start of lockdown, and it looks like they died around then. One is still alive and in the incubator right now, working on hatching. Thirteen viable eggs at lockdown, three chicks.

 

[Mommaj89]

Oh no! I hope the rest are OK.

They seem to be so far!! He was on his back under the heat lamp so I'm wondering if maybe he go stuck on his back . I switched out the red light for a regular light bulb & threw some acv in their water in case of cocci....

 

[Morrigan]

Tiny and #1 are doing great. Unfortunately, the rest of the news is bad. On a hunch, I started checking eggs this morning, and ten of them were dead. I had one small temperature spike, up to 101, right at the start of lockdown, and it looks like they died around then. One is still alive and in the incubator right now, working on hatching. Thirteen viable eggs at lockdown, three chicks.

That's tough. At least you got Tiny out. It's funny how sometimes the smallest eggs are the ones that make it.

My fingers are crossed for #3.

 

[Zinjifrah]

#3 is out. A tiny bit of red on its umbilical, but no protrusion. Very disappointing with this hatch... it's just discouraging to have them get so close, and then fail to hatch.

 

[Kiki]

Tiny and #1 are doing great. Unfortunately, the rest of the news is bad. On a hunch, I started checking eggs this morning, and ten of them were dead. I had one small temperature spike, up to 101, right at the start of lockdown, and it looks like they died around then. One is still alive and in the incubator right now, working on hatching. Thirteen viable eggs at lockdown, three chicks.

 

[Kiki]

They seem to be so far!! He was on his back under the heat lamp so I'm wondering if maybe he go stuck on his back . I switched out the red light for a regular light bulb & threw some acv in their water in case of cocci....

Please double check the temperature under your lamp.
Heat lamps get really HOT.

 

[Josefina]

I'm hatching shipped eggs for the second time! First time was two years ago hatching 7 calico Cochin eggs I bought from My Pet Chicken. 2 were still clear after a week so I took them out, but the other 5 hatched! I love my broody hens! I tend to think they were part of why I got such an amazing hatch rate.

This year I'm hatching another 7 eggs--3 mottled Cochin and 4 mille fleur D'uccle (bought from the same place). Today is 20 days, and hatching is in progress already!! 1 D'uccle hatched early this morning and is drying off. 2 more D'uccles have pipped!! I'm pretty sure the fourth D'uccle is a day 10ish quitter, and I'm going to pull it after the rest hatch and do an eggtopsy to satisfy my curiosity. 2 of the Cochin eggs are cheeping up a storm to mama hen, but don't have external pips yet. The third Cochin is quiet but I'm fairly sure I heard some pecking sounds coming from it, so hopefully it will make it out okay. (I've left the eggs alone the past couple days, but when I candled on day 17 one Cochin had a definite saddle air sac, and genius me didn't mark that egg so I'm not sure if it's the quiet one. )

All in all, I've so far had excellent luck with hatching shipped eggs. Far better than I anticipated when I got my Cochin eggs two years ago!

FULL HATCH!!!
Well, 6 of 7 eggs actually; but I didn't really think the suspected quitter egg was going to hatch. I'll candle it again today and then open it up to see what's inside. Last night 2 D'uccles had hatched and everyone else (excluding quitter egg) had external pips! I'd been fretting over the quiet Cochin so feeling pips on all the eggs was a relief. This morning everyone was out of their shells and drying off! The Cochin egg with the saddle air sac had hatched, no sign of problems when I examined the membrane and shell after hatch. I haven't seen all the chicks yet, but mama hen let me grope around under her and I'm pretty sure I touched all the babies. They ran away from me so I'd say the chicks are all doing fine post hatch.

 

[Kiki]

FULL HATCH!!!
Well, 6 of 7 eggs actually; but I didn't really think the suspected quitter egg was going to hatch. I'll candle it again today and then open it up to see what's inside. Last night 2 D'uccles had hatched and everyone else (excluding quitter egg) had external pips! I'd been fretting over the quiet Cochin so feeling pips on all the eggs was a relief. This morning everyone was out of their shells and drying off! The Cochin egg with the saddle air sac had hatched, no sign of problems when I examined the membrane and shell after hatch. I haven't seen all the chicks yet, but mama hen let me grope around under her and I'm pretty sure I touched all the babies. They ran away from me so I'd say the chicks are all doing fine post hatch.