Can anybody please help me with detached aircells?!?!

[Lil Peeps]

I have been trying to hatch eggs with detached aircells from shipping and I haven't had good luck at all with them in the past. Their aircells are completely detached, not just loose. When you turn the egg they float all over the place. I have been very gentle handling them, and making sure they don't get jostled around, turned too fast or held roughly at all. I let them settle 24 hours before putting them in the incubator and have put them at a 45 degree angle in carton cups. I am now at day 4. I am going to candle them on day 8 and I hope and pray they will be developing! I have been trying to be as hands off as possible with these eggs to try and give them a better chance to hatch. Can somebody please tell me how I can get these things to actually develop and hatch out? Have I been doing anything wrong? Is there a better way to do it? Please share your insight because I hatch shipped eggs all the time and want to find a way to save the ones with detached aircells. And also please share if you have ever gotten an egg with a detached aircell to hatch and how you did it. Thanks so much ahead of time for ANY and ALL help, I really appreciate you guys! Thanks!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

The only thing I do differently from you is I don't turn my shipped eggs at all for the first 3 or 4 days. The extra rest give the air cells more time to settle and the embryos a chance to get established. Then I plug in my turner and

I haven't had the greatest luck with shipped eggs, but I've gotten some with floating air cells to hatch.

Good luck, they can be tricky! What breed(s) are you hatching?

 

[Tuhmu]

I do everything the same way you do from the sounds of it, except for setting them in an egg carton...mine are held up in the turner, so basically the same thing. One thing I have noticed, that's seemed to help, is once the egg is in the turner; it stays in the turner. No picking it up to candle it or anything, just let it sit in the rack and candle from that position.

I've also tried not turning them for the first 3-4 days, but have had mixed results, so not sure there. I have a very staggered batch going now, so I can't really further test it.

How did the eggs arrive in the box? What was the packaging? I've found that any eggs with the fat end up in the box, seem to have fewer detached air cells.

I've also noticed that from some parts of the country, there's just not getting around the rough handling of some USPS areas.

 

[Lil Peeps]

The only thing I do differently from you is I don't turn my shipped eggs at all for the first 3 or 4 days. The extra rest give the air cells more time to settle and the embryos a chance to get established. Then I plug in my turner and

I haven't had the greatest luck with shipped eggs, but I've gotten some with floating air cells to hatch.

Good luck, they can be tricky! What breed(s) are you hatching?

I tried last hatch not turning them for 4 days and then did the exact same thing I'm doing this hatch and not one of them with a detached air cell even developed, so then I read somewhere that you should turn them from like day 3 to day 8 three times a day then after day 8 only once a day, then stop turn it by day 16? Has anyone else heard or tried this? I also have another egg I just set from another batch and I am planning on not turning that one the first four days. That egg also has a free-floating, detached aircell. The breed I'm hatching is English Orpingtons on the first batch and barnyard mix on the second. The first batch I ordered 6 eggs and all came with detached air cells. Second batch 18 eggs and only one with a detached aircell. Thanks so much for your help! It makes me feel good that you have gotten them to hatch before!

 

[Lil Peeps]

I do everything the same way you do from the sounds of it, except for setting them in an egg carton...mine are held up in the turner, so basically the same thing. One thing I have noticed, that's seemed to help, is once the egg is in the turner; it stays in the turner. No picking it up to candle it or anything, just let it sit in the rack and candle from that position.

I've also tried not turning them for the first 3-4 days, but have had mixed results, so not sure there. I have a very staggered batch going now, so I can't really further test it.

How did the eggs arrive in the box? What was the packaging? I've found that any eggs with the fat end up in the box, seem to have fewer detached air cells. 

I've also noticed that from some parts of the country, there's just not getting around the rough handling of some USPS areas.

Yes, when I candle I'm going to wait till evening and just turn out the lights and candle them where they are sitting. I wish I could be more hands off than that but side I don't have a Turner I have to hand turn.

The first ones were packaged in a regular egg carton cut in half so it only holds six eggs and the eggs were wrapped with a piece of cloth wrapped around each individual egg in the carton, the whole box was full of shredded newspaper. All the eggs were positioned in the carton with the large end up. The second box each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap and the whole box was full of bubble wrap. They were large ends up too. I've ordered from the first breeder before and these were replacement eggs because the last time I ordered over half of the eggs were cracked, smashed, and scrambled. The second box only one egg arrived broken.

Our PO does have very rough carriers and handlers, we called them before ahead of time about both boxes of eggs for them to hopefully be gentler this time but I don't know if it made any difference.

Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it!

 

[Lil Peeps]

Yes, when I candle I'm going to wait till evening and just turn out the lights and candle them where they are sitting. I wish I could be more hands off than that but side I don't have a Turner I have to hand turn.

The first ones were packaged in a regular egg carton cut in half so it only holds six eggs and the eggs were wrapped with a piece of cloth wrapped around each individual egg in the carton, the whole box was full of shredded newspaper. I believe all the eggs were positioned in the carton with the large end up. The second box each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap and the whole box was full of bubble wrap. They were large ends up too. I've ordered from the first breeder before and these were replacement eggs because the last time I ordered over half of the eggs were cracked, smashed, and scrambled. The second box only one egg arrived broken.

Our PO does have very rough carriers and handlers, we called them before ahead of time about both boxes of eggs for them to hopefully be gentler this time but I don't know if it made any difference.

Thanks for your help! I really appreciate it!

 

[FridayYet]

Shipping rough enough to detach the air cell is also rough enough to break the chalaza and/or rupture the yolk itself. It's no surprise you aren't getting them to develop. Once the eggs have hit the point of no return, not much you can do. Sounds like your first breeder really doesn't know how to pack!

Only thing is to treat them gently like you are, and hope one or two aren't damaged beyond all hope.

I have tried turning, not turning, tilting, resting, whatever. Best shipped hatch I had I just let them rest for 12 hours and then treated them like normal eggs. It's really a gamble because you can't undo shipping damage.

 

[Lil Peeps]

Shipping rough enough to detach the air cell is also rough enough to break the chalaza and/or rupture the yolk itself.  It's no surprise you aren't getting them to develop.  Once the eggs have hit the point of no return, not much you can do.  Sounds like your first breeder really doesn't know how to pack!

Only thing is to treat them gently like you are, and hope one or two aren't damaged beyond all hope.  

I have tried turning, not turning, tilting, resting, whatever.  Best shipped hatch I had I just let them rest for 12 hours and then treated them like normal eggs.  It's really a gamble because you can't undo shipping damage.

Did the last hatch you mentioned include eggs with detached aircells?!

Yeah, the first one did not pack the eggs very safely at all, but that breeder actually wrote fragile on the box. The second breeder didn't even write fragile or that they were hatching eggs anywhere on the box. I'm betting that if she/he did there wouldn't even have been the one broken. The second one was packed much better!

Yes, I agree about the eggs getting messed up inside, the first eggs the first breeder sent half the eggs were all scramble up with the yolk an whites completely broken and all mixed together inside the eggs, obviously none of those ones started developing.

I know! It feels like I have tried every possible way to hatch eggs with detached aircells and nothing I have ever done has led one to even start developing. I've tried treating them exactly like regular eggs just laying on their sides and turning from the front, I've tried not turning for 3,4 and even 7 days, I've tried keeping them in carton cups and turning and not turning and almost flat and turning and not turning. I've heard of people actually hatch them out and I am dying to know how they do it. But I am sure what's going on is like you said it's not only the aircell that is damaged.

When my incubator hatches fresh eggs from our hens or a neighbors I get right around 100% hatches every time. But with shipped eggs 50% or less.

 

[FridayYet]

Last batch had only 2 totally detatched, most were loose and several were stable. I did have one totally detatched hatch, and some if the stable ones did not, go figure.

Some people say writing fragile on the box brings attention to it, and those boxes are sometimes treated worse. One person I know ordered 2 sets of eggs and the one marked fragile was much more beat up than the unmarked box.

 

[Lil Peeps]

Last batch had only 2 totally detatched, most were loose and several were stable. I did have one totally detatched hatch, and some if the stable ones did not, go figure.

Some people say writing fragile on the box brings attention to it, and those boxes are sometimes treated worse. One person I know ordered 2 sets of eggs and the one marked fragile was much more beat up than the unmarked box.

How did you set the egg that hatched with the detached aircell? When did you start and stop turning?

Huh, that's kinda the case with these boxes, except the second ones were also packed way better than the first. Ill have to ask my dad what he think just in case I ever sell and ship eggs, because he used to work in a post office for several years. If writing fragile causes them to notice it and not treat it gently that's definitely not what I want! But they still must have treated the second box poorly too for there have been a cracked egg in all that bubble wrap. But it wasn't as bad as the first box.... now you have really got me thinking! Lol

Thank you so much for your help!!!