Clot-looking veins in fertile egg on day 7

[Kiki]

I live in Australia, just finding bantams was very difficult, there are only maybe 4 breeders within reasonable distance

Sorry...I didn't realize you were overseas. I always assume most people on here are in the US.
My bad.

 

[Down Under]

Sorry Cheekychook I didn't realise that you had a question going. Getting someone to pick the eggs up is a better option than Oz Post but make sure they know not to shake the eggs up too much, our roads can be pretty bad in some areas and speed humps can send eggs flying. A cooler bag or esky (no ice ) also helps as car temps can get high here during breeding season.

As for your clot it looks like your incubator killed the egg at 98 degrees, I have had a few of those and unfortunately it is all part incubating eggs.

I had eggs posted from Qld to Melb and had a hatch rate of less than 25% even though the breeder used eggsafe cartons, didn't sign the express post declaration so that the eggs went by road instead of by air, plus marked which way was up and had "fragile fertile eggs inside" written all over it, it turned out to be the $99 incubator that I was using had different temperatures all over the place causing the low hatch rate.

The second lot to come via Oz Post that I hatched for a mate came from Tasmania but I had switched to a MaticoopX 30 incubator by then (which only the 4 corners don't run at the correct temperature so I just use foam in those egg positions) and I got over 55% hatch rate, which is pretty good for posted eggs.

I don't usually get eggs posted any more as I don't really need to but when I was getting them shipped Oz post were taking up to a week for express so I was tossing up wether to start a Sendle account so that I could get them reverse shipped quicker just by sending the breeder the ticket to print out and them taking the eggs down to a participating lotto outlet.

The other big thing is resting the eggs and checking that the air sacks are still intact before putting them in the incubator, if I pick them up myself and the trip is only a couple of hours I rest the eggs for 6 hours, if it is a long trip then I rest them for 12 hours. If someone else has carried them or they have been through the post then I rest them for a full 24 hours before putting them in the incubator.

I hope this helps.

 

[BDutch]

As I’m thinking likely none will hatch now, what can I do differently when I order some more eggs to hopefully get a better hatch rate?

If possible I would try to collect hatching eggs myself from a hobbyist nearby. I always find hatching eggs on a kind of Craigs list or through an breed association.
Picking them up yourself minimises shaking/ damage. Transport makes the outcome often very poor.

PS reading now you tried this. There is a thread of people from Australia. @Ribh @MaryJanet maybe they know more?

 

[Cheekychook11]

Thank you, I did rest them for about 24 hours before and most air cells looked fine

If possible I would try to collect hatching eggs myself from a hobbyist nearby. I always find hatching eggs on a kind of Craigs list or through an breed association.
Picking them up yourself minimises shaking/ damage. Transport makes the outcome often very poor.

Unfortunately I’ve searched pretty extensively and the closest place that sells the breed I want is four hours away

 

[Cheekychook11]

Sorry Cheekychook I didn't realise that you had a question going. Getting someone to pick the eggs up is a better option than Oz Post but make sure they know not to shake the eggs up too much, our roads can be pretty bad in some areas and speed humps can send eggs flying. A cooler bag or esky (no ice ) also helps as car temps can get high here during breeding season.

As for your clot it looks like your incubator killed the egg at 98 degrees, I have had a few of those and unfortunately it is all part incubating eggs.

I had eggs posted from Qld to Melb and had a hatch rate of less than 25% even though the breeder used eggsafe cartons, didn't sign the express post declaration so that the eggs went by road instead of by air, plus marked which way was up and had "fragile fertile eggs inside" written all over it, it turned out to be the $99 incubator that I was using had different temperatures all over the place causing the low hatch rate.

The second lot to come via Oz Post that I hatched for a mate came from Tasmania but I had switch to a MaticoopX 30 incubator by then (which only the 4 corners don't run at the correct temperature so I just use foam in those egg positions) and I got over 55% hatch rate, which is pretty good for posted eggs.

I don't usually get eggs posted any more as I don't really need to but when I was getting them shipped Oz post were taking up to a week for express so I was tossing up wether to start a Sendle account so that I could get them reverse shipped quicker just by sending the breeder the ticket to print out and them taking the eggs down to a participating lotto outlet.

The other big thing is resting the eggs and checking that the air sacks are still intact before putting them in the incubator, if I pick them up myself and the trip is only a couple of hours I rest the eggs for 6 hours, if it is a long trip then I rest them for 12 hours. If someone else has carried them or they have been through the post then I rest them for a full 24 hours before putting them in the incubator.

I hope this helps.

I did do the resting for 24 hours, and most air cells looked just fine after that

 

[BDutch]

Thank you, I did rest them for about 24 hours before and most air cells looked fine

Unfortunately I’ve searched pretty extensively and the closest place that sells the breed I want is four hours away

Sorry I was lazy and didnt read the whole thread.

@Down Under gave a much better reply.

 

[Down Under]

Thank you, I did rest them for about 24 hours before and most air cells looked fine

Unfortunately I’ve searched pretty extensively and the closest place that sells the breed I want is four hours away

It will be the temperature then, every egg that I had in spots in the $99 incubator that were not at the correct temperature had strange blood patterns in them.

I just did one of those trips, 7 and a half hours of driving to get eggs but at least I know that they were not handballed around in the lunchtime postal footy game .

As breeders can be long distances away here I usually fill one or two incubators to the max and hope for the best then if I end up with too many chicks I can either give any extras away or take them to the local poultry auction.

Another way of finding breeders is to go down to your local poultry club when one of their meetings are on, if someone there doesn't breed what you want they may know someone that doesn't advertise.

 

[Cheekychook11]

Thanks all for the advice, I will try this breeder one more time, but pick up them myself, as they are the best option so far, only one egg had that clotting, but I guess fingers crossed for the last three eggs

 

[Down Under]

Let us know how your last 3 eggs go.

 

[Cheekychook11]

Will do, don’t want to get my hopes up though