Dislocated Air Cells

[diamondsilkies]

The other day I ordered a dozen serama hatching eggs off of eBay. The seller had very good reviews, and I got them only a day after I ordered them, with three extras and no cracks! Needless to say, I was very pleased. I've only gotten hatching eggs shipped to me once before, and those were all the way from the East coast. There were some difficulties with them being held at the post office over the weekend and no one notifying me. Out of that hatch, I got 6/15 to hatch. Anyways, I am not super experienced with shipped eggs and could use some advice.

They arrived yesterday afternoon, at my house. I wasn't home, but one of my family members brought them inside and left them on the table for me. I unwrapped them about 3 hours after arrival, and put them in eggs cartons, big side up. I waited a couple hours before remembering to candle them, but was disappointed to find that only 5 of the 15 eggs had stable air cells. Of course, I know this is not the seller's fault, and was due to rough handling by the post office. I let them sit for another 24 hours, and just put them in the incubator about an hour ago. I'm using a Brinsea Maxi II Advance incubator. The seller advised for me not to turn them for the first three days, so that's what I'm doing.

I didn't want to bump them around too much, but candled one egg that I had marked as having a dislocated air cell yesterday, and it seemed to still be loose but more stable than before. I know that these dislocated air cells will have a negative effect on the hatch rate, but my question is, how much? Is it possible that some could still hatch even with loose air cells? And finally, is there anything else I can do to help, or anything that I should have done differently, so I know for next time? Thank you!

 

[oregonkat]

I think you did just fine. Shipped eggs can be such a difficult thing to deal with. Don't lose hope, incubate them upright if possible. It is early still for the air cells to settle down, sometimes they stabilize and sometimes they don't but you can still get some to hatch. Wait till day 7 - 10 to candle again, don't mess with them in between. You will get an idea of who is still viable and growing at that point in time. A 50% hatch rate for shipped eggs is considered 'good', with detached air cells the rate can be lower but not always, so think positive thoughts!

Good luck with the hatch. Keep your humidity at about 35-40% for the first 18 days and then don't increase the humidity until you have your first external pip. Keep posting through the incubation, there are lots of folks on here to help.