any advice thinking about incubating eggs for the first time

[chicken farmer2]

I'm planning on buy in incubator and hatching some eggs for the first in the late fall or early winter or early spring, haven't decided yet. but i want to know some tips for incubating please pass on your knowledge to me and i also want to know how you guys have had with fertilty from eggs you had ship from you that you either got from here or on eBay. Thanks

 

[craigHartland]

hi, im from the U.k and have bought eggs on ebay because I also have only been incubating a couple of months. Fertility is usually pretty good but learn from my mistake, dont put much humidity in the incubator because it drowns the chick and they wont hatch use this link and try it like this first because ever since ive used it my hatch rates have increased dramatically. Give me a thumbs up if you like my advice lol
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-incubate-hatch-eggs-using-the-dry-incubation-method

 

[gamebirdsonly]

The first thing I would do after you get your incubator is to test it on cheap eggs to get hang of it. As far as e-bay eggs with any shipped eggs your odds of hatching go down. I sell and buy eggs off of e-bay and here and do alot of swaps and I have had 100% hatch from shipped eggs and I have had 0% most of shipped eggs I get right around 25 to 40% hatch rate.

Just remember just because a egg doesn't develope it doesn't mean it wasn't fertile. Things happen during shipping that might cause damage and it won't develope.

Good luck and sure there will be others that can help explain things a little better then I have

 

[craigHartland]

yeah thats where i went wrong when i started, I was so excited and bought all these eggs online which cost a fortune and nothing hatched because my methods were wrong.

 

[bugglesmommy]

The biggest issue with shipped eggs is not fertility but postal handling and poor packaging. The eggs can get internally scrambled and the air cells often get damaged which can cause issues with or prevent chicks from positioning and hatching. You would be very lucky to get anything more then 50% to hatch. In my personal opinion it can be disheartening to lose so many eggs on the first try. I highly recommend finding a few local eggs to get a feel for incubating before trying on shipped eggs.