Do shipped eggs really hatch?

[twixerella]

Ive got 10 silkie eggs in the bator right now. I candled them a couple days ago(its day 8 today) and i couldn't see anything. Mine were shipped too and im hoping i get at least a 50% hatch rate.

 

[AHappychick]

your not doing anything wrong. when I buy eggs I have the seller put LIVE EMBRYOS on the box and I found hat they are less likely to get scrambled then when I have other things like hatching eggs or fragile on them.

 

[Chicken Woman]

In my experience I would rather get Hatchery chicks than take a chance with shipped eggs. If I find then local then I buy them . Not dealing with shipped eggs anymore.

 

[DANNY]

Well i tell you my hatches have been bad almost every time on shipped eggs. I can usually tell when i candle them before i set them if they have a decent chance of hatching and most don't. I think you are much better off to buy birds. The problem is some of the unusual birds i am interested in for some reason birds are not available only eggs. So dummy me keeps throwing money away trying.

 

[Stina]

I have serama eggs that should be hatching this weekend that were shipped from ~60 miles from here. There were 16 total; I did NOT let the eggs sit for more than a couple hours before starting incubation (didn't know...). Only 2 eggs did not develop anything and I have 8 that will hopefully hatch! Seramas are supposedly hard to hatch to begin with...so I'm pretty pleased that I've gotten this far with shipped eggs........that are my first chicken eggs ever, and first birds ever no less....though I've hatched reptile eggs before. I think alot of it depends on how they're packed and how far they have to go. I tried very hard to find someone as close as possible.

Oh forgot to mention...One of the eggs that will hopefully hatch does have a detached air cell from shipping.

 

[greathorse]

It can be very tough to hatch shipped eggs. There have been many threads on here about why etc. I have hatched as many as 70% and frequently like 20% and a few 2%. The most costly were the hardest to hatch.

It is my theory (it is only a theory) that one day the airlines will stop shipping live chicks. I think that animal activists will one day get their wish. I beleive when that happens someone will design a shipping container that will stabilize air pressrue and protect eggs from violent shaking and so forth. Invention is born of neccesity. Hatch on you will have some successes and some failures.

I am at high altitude and beleive that hatches up here are even worrse. My hatches from local eggs are in the 90+ % range.

IF there is any way to get your seller to hatch and send chicks you will be so far ahead at any price. I reckon I have a couple of birds that cost me upwards of 200 dollars each given the hatch rate.

Yikes

 

[Mrs MIA]

It is a huge gamble every time with shipped eggs. I've had many 0% hatches, but I've also had a few very good hatches from shipped eggs. It all depends on the shipping conditions. In my experience, I've found that cooler is better than hot, and for some reason eggs shipped south-east hatch better than eggs shipped north-west. Which sucks for me, but I keep trying. Chickens are one thing, but exotics (ducks, quail, pheasants, etc) are easier (read "cheaper") to buy as eggs and take my chances. I have also had better hatch rates with the smaller quail eggs than I have with chicken eggs.

If you can order chicks, that is probably a better way to go. If you can't do that, then you buy eggs and just keep trying.

 

[Bettacreek]

I had 1/10 develop, but it didn't hatch, then I had a shipment of 150, none hatched due to an incubator spike, then the rest have been ok. My hatch rate has doubled, if not tripled, since I started helping the slow pokes out of the eggs. I had a dozen coturnix eggs develop, three or four hatched, the rest I helped completely out of the eggs and they're all still alive, they're like four weeks old now and doing well. I won't go back to not helping... But, yeah, shipped eggs don't seem to do as well as homegrown eggs (so far, ALL of my eggs seem to be developing, though I only have 20 of my own in there).

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i agree that it can be hard to get shipped eggs to hatch. i have ordered/won eggs from many different places and have had poor hatches if any at all.

i'm still a newbie at this. only been doing it since mid February but found that the rarer the breed the harder to hatch. makes you wonder now why they are on the rare lists.

polish have been hard to get to hatch. they exhaust early when they have developed, and most of those that have developed but don't pip i've opened to find the airsack has dissapeared or they are deformed. i haven't had luck on them surviving to even develop.

i've had better hatch rates on faverolles, but i've heard they are easy to hatch.

the only problem with the egg turners i've come across is that toes or the talons may be missing or deformed.

 

[houndit]

Thanks everyone! I may have to get an eggturner. I have often thought the same thing about geting chicks rather than eggs but I do not like hatchery quality and it is hard to find a private breeder that ships chicks. I have a thermometer that claims to measure humidity. Another thing about the thermometer is I had to put the whole thing in there. It is one of those digital ones that shows humidity and has the in and out switch. Well it turns out that only the in setting shows humidity. So instead of running the cord in there I put the whole thermometer in. The two thermometers never aggree aas to what the temperature actually is. Sometimes one will say 101.5 perfect!! The other one will say in the exact same incubator 105.2
or something. Which do I believe?