Can you ship refrigerated eggs?

[Heather J]

I know you can incubate them out of the fridge, but if they've been in the fridge and then you ship them, will they hatch, or will they go bad? I had some ready to ship, and then my buyer asked me to hold off until the end of the week, so I refrigerated what I had. Then she changed her mind. Will it work, or do I need to start over with collecting? Anyone know?

 

[Nemo]

I've never done it, so I don't know for sure, but they could hatch. Everything you do to an egg (besides sticking it under a chicken or into an incubator) lowers its viability a bit, so the safest thing to do would be to collect new eggs. If you do offer those eggs for sale, it would behoove you to explicitly state the fact that they are a week old and have been in the fridge.

 

[Akane]

It shouldn't be any different than setting them yourself or shipping any not refrigerated egg. If they've only been in there a day or 2 I'd probably send them but then I refrigerated all my eggs whether I plan to incubate them or eat them. I do not refrigerated eggs I'm sell for incubation just because most people do not think that's proper storage and it's actually easier to keep track of what I'm sending if I collect them on the little piece of counter by the fridge instead.

If they've been in the fridge more than a day or 2 I would not send them simply because older eggs do not ship well. If you can't collect and send eggs within a few days you either need to send smaller amounts or make sure your buyers are aware of that because the first few eggs you collected probably aren't going to hatch after shipping. They suffer more air sac damage and overall damage easier when they aren't fresh.

 

[speckledhen]

I wouldn't personally do that, not unless you tell the buyer you're doing it. If you do, you need to remove them and allow them to come up to room temp slowly so there is not condensation on the eggs, wrapping cold eggs.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I have asked sellers to refrigerate the eggs while collecting, then pack and send them together and have had great hatches from them. Just my experience.

I also do this for my own eggs. I'll refrigerate them for up to about 10 days, then bring all to room temp before putting them in the incubator all at once. I've had 100% hatches like this.

 

[Weewanona]

Wow....

This is great to know

 

[babymakes6]

Check out this thread- https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=245943

That being said, I wouldn't ship refrigerated eggs unless asked.

 

[speckledhen]

I keep mine in a large cooler with an ice pack in it, which keeps them very cool, but not refrigerator temp. I think that some eggs' hatchability may be lessened by refrigeration, so it may mean a buyer has a less successful hatch. JMHO. I have pulled a cold egg from the fridge, warmed it up and put it under a broody and it hatched, but I dont do that normally.