Do shipped eggs take a little longer to develope?

[dianneS]

I know that shipped eggs can have a longer hatch time. I guess that would serve to reason that it may take a little longer to see any progress when candling the first few days?

I know I shouldn't candle until day seven, but I just got a new LED flashlight and I had to try it out! I only candled two. I just set them Friday. I can see the yolk and the air sac but no veins yet.

I know, I just need to leave them alone until at least day seven!

 

[Katy]

No, they should start to develop the same whether they're shipped or not.....as long as they're fertile and not scrambled in the mail. They also shouldn't take longer to hatch.

 

[betta_1]

oh, my duck eggs were also shipped, day 6 now and still no viens.

Really hope they were fertile to begin with.

 

[LastChanceRanch]

I set 14 shipped eggs on November 3rd and they are all developing nicely. Some had visible veins on day 3/4. I can see embryos developing nicely now.

I did have a shipped set of 7 a couple months ago that never started to develop at all, probably scrambled in the mail

Give 'em to day 6 or 7 to be sure, but you should start seeing something shortly.

Here's hoping for ya!

 

[dianneS]

They took a little longer to get here than they should have. They had all been laid the previous week, then shipped on Monday, didn't get here until Thursday. Some of them were probably going on ten days or so since they had been laid. If it was more than ten days since they were laid, that will impact the hatch rate won't it?? They were packaged well and didn't seem to have been roughed up too much in shipping. I gave them 12 hours to settle before I set them. They all had visible air sacs at the big end when I set them.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Yes, the older they are the more it lowers your hatch rate as a rule. If you could see air sacs when you set them that says they were not real fresh.....a fresh egg has basically no air sac that is visible.

 

[dianneS]

Yes, the older they are the more it lowers your hatch rate as a rule. If you could see air sacs when you set them that says they were not real fresh.....a fresh egg has basically no air sac that is visible.

Really? I thought you set them big end up before putting them in the incubator to get the air to the big end? Anyway, that is what I did before setting them, put them in a carton, big end up for 12 hours, then candled them to look for the yolk and the air sac. They didn't appear scrambled is all.

Anyway, I just broke down and candled all of them very quickly and at least 9 have definite veins

two are boarderline, not sure if I saw veins or not, and three are still just yolks, no veins at all, but still too early to be sure. So I'm happy now!

I will leave them alone until day seven, I swear I will!

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Really? I thought you set them big end up before putting them in the incubator to get the air to the big end? Anyway, that is what I did before setting them, put them in a carton, big end up for 12 hours, then candled them to look for the yolk and the air sac. They didn't appear scrambled is all.

Anyway, I just broke down and candled all of them very quickly and at least 9 have definite veins

two are boarderline, not sure if I saw veins or not, and three are still just yolks, no veins at all, but still too early to be sure. So I'm happy now!

I will leave them alone until day seven, I swear I will!

Yes, you should set them big end up.....but it's not really to get the air cell to the big end.....the air cell shouldn't be moving unless it's ruptered. The air cell is at the big end of the egg...it's just that in a fresh egg there is basically no visible air cell.

 

[dianneS]

Ah, okay I see what you mean. I checked the few again that don't seem to be doing anything yet. They do have an "old" appearance with a VERY visible air cell. The rest are just lighter at the big end and a visible dark spot with obvious veins! Yay!!

 

[hinkjc]

I don't think it's a good idea to be candling them at only 3 days. The first 3 days of incubation is when the vein network is starting to develop. You can cause some serious damage to this process by fussing with them. I always wait until day 7 or day 10 to do my first candling. This way I am sure they got a good consistent temperature for that first week and I will know what I'm seeing for sure when I candle.