Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detatched SHIPPED Chicken Eggs for incubation and hatching

[jbher]

what does this mean? I got an egg today that had this

I have NO clue!! I was wondering the same thing!! Out of the 60 or so eggs I've candled since Wednesday we have 3 that have this small dark spot that you can see sometimes floating around.

 

[cochins1088]

Personally, I let shipped eggs sit at room temperature to rest for 24 hours prior to incubation. I then start turning them after about 12 hours of incubation.

Turning throughout the first week is important.

"Consideration of the arrangement of the egg contents suggests that a particularly critical time for turning the eggs might be the latter part of the first week of incubation. At this time a large area of chorion lies close to the shell membranes and the layer of albumen between the two has been greatly reduced by a loss of fluid from the albumen to the yolk."

What are everyone's thoughts on the frequency of turning? I've read multiple studies in which 96 turns per every 24 hours was found to be optimal. Who's up for turning eggs every 15 minutes?

According to this article, even broody hens may turn their eggs that often. "Eycleshymer (1906), Chattock (1925), and Olsen (1930) have all concluded from observations on the hen's nest that the hen frequently rotates the eggs during the incubation period; Olsen considers it occurs as often as 96 times in 24 hours."

http://dev.biologists.org/content/5/3/293.full.pdf

 

[jbher]

Personally, I let shipped eggs sit at room temperature to rest for 24 hours prior to incubation. I then start turning them after about 12 hours of incubation.

Turning throughout the first week is very important.

"Consideration of the arrangement of the egg contents suggests that a particularly critical time for turning the eggs might be the latter part of the first week of incubation. At this time a large area of chorion lies close to the shell membranes and the layer of albumen between the two has been greatly reduced by a loss of fluid from the albumen to the yolk."

What are everyone's thoughts on the frequency of turning? I've read multiple studies in which 96 turns per every 24 hours was found to be optimal. Who's up for turning eggs every 15 minutes?

According to this article, even broody hens may turn their eggs that often. "Eycleshymer (1906), Chattock (1925), and Olsen (1930) have all concluded from observations on the hen's nest that the hen frequently rotates the eggs during the incubation period; Olsen considers it occurs as often as 96 times in 24 hours."

http://dev.biologists.org/content/5/3/293.full.pdf

my hesitation for turning so soon is that my incubator is one where they eggs lay down in it and the auto-turner "rolls" them along... so they never are upright.

 

[cochins1088]

Quote:
Perhaps it's a "meat spot".

My older hens often lay eggs with them.

 

[jbher]

Perhaps it's a "meat spot".

My older hens often lay eggs with them.

lol well that sounds appetizing

 

[cochins1088]

my hesitation for turning so soon is that my incubator is one where they eggs lay down in it and the auto-turner "rolls" them along... so they never are upright.

What incubator are you using? Could you turn off the automatic turning function and put them in cartons for the first few days of incubation?

 

[jbher]

What incubator are you using? Could you turn off the automatic turning function and put them in cartons for the first few days of incubation?

I have the IncuView Incubator: http://incubatorwarehouse.com/incuview-egg-incubator.html

Yup I can turn the turner off manually and then turn it back on after so many days or whatever...

 

[ozexpat]

I will try on this phone but the thread is moving awfully fast with my current internet connection

It would be great to have some back up on the hatchalong

 

[ozexpat]

Without trying to beat a dead horse.

turn your eggs

If you choose not to follow the advice then that's ok. Just log how with the crappy air cells hatch. It won't be many. Then subtract the chicks that don't make it because they are stuck to the side of the shell. The benefit gained from trying to repair sure cells will bee lost in dead-in-shell chicks or those you will desperately try and save through assisting.

I may sound c old but I am really not. Of you read through the two years of this thread you will see an evolution of thoughts and practices.

I am not the perfect Hatcher by any means. I have however set over one thousand shipped chicken eggs, a thousand quail, a hundred guinea, and scores of Turkey and Chukar.

Every hatch has thorough records in an access data base. I can run statistics on humidity, turning and packaging material with p values that are statistically significant.

Every egg is precious to me. A batch that fails can mean a delay of a year in developing the breed. I abhor detached air cells and like everyone else I set them. Out of eighty three eggs with air cells that roll from one end to the other I have had zero hatch.

A saddled air cell decreases my hatch rate by twenty seven percent.

No turning for 12 hours does not effect my hatch rate. I get an increase of dead in shell chicks of twenty percent by not turning for two days

I hope this makes sense.

 

[subhanalah]

Without trying to beat a dead horse.

turn your eggs

If you choose not to follow the advice then that's ok. Just log how with the crappy air cells hatch. It won't be many. Then subtract the chicks that don't make it because they are stuck to the side of the shell. The benefit gained from trying to repair sure cells will bee lost in dead-in-shell chicks or those you will desperately try and save through assisting.

I may sound c old but I am really not. Of you read through the two years of this thread you will see an evolution of thoughts and practices.

I am not the perfect Hatcher by any means. I have however set over one thousand shipped chicken eggs, a thousand quail, a hundred guinea, and scores of Turkey and Chukar.

Every hatch has thorough records in an access data base. I can run statistics on humidity, turning and packaging material with p values that are statistically significant.

Every egg is precious to me. A batch that fails can mean a delay of a year in developing the breed. I abhor detached air cells and like everyone else I set them. Out of eighty three eggs with air cells that roll from one end to the other I have had zero hatch.

A saddled air cell decreases my hatch rate by twenty seven percent.

No turning for 12 hours does not effect my hatch rate. I get an increase of dead in shell chicks of twenty percent by not turning for two days

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks oz. Imnot sure if I said so here, but I set my eggs and a few other fresh mutt eggs. Three of my shipped eggs I dropped before I could set them. I marked than and will see how it goes with them. I'm almost positive that their yolks broke, but we'll see in a couple of days.