Egg injury during shipping...can we do anything about it??

[BeardedChick]

Two egg eggsperiment:

Packaged two Faverolles eggs, laid one horizontally and placed one vertically with the aircell up. Made sure there were packing peanuts under each egg.

Boxed 'em up - peanuts to fill the airspace and a thin layer of bubble wrap on top. Taped up the box.

Dropped it 3x - it fell 19" each time, landed on the bottom of the box on a hard tile floor.

Results of chip-out -

I carefully chipped the shell from the side to open it then removed small pieces of shell up toward the aircell.

Both yolks were in tact. I was able to find a definite aircell on the egg that was in the vertical position. I was not able to find a definite aircell on the egg that was in the horizontal position. Need to repeat a few times to see if the initial results are repeatable.

The evidence has disappeared without a trace and the house smells like bacon. Foul play is suspected.

 

[WiseChicks]

Wouldn't that be "Fowl" play is suspected?? <duck!>

My son would absolutely DIE if we could get the Mythbusters to do this! Hey, they did the "Duck quacks don't echo" myth....

Katie..... wordsmithing a letter, since no one else is working for the Army this week, which means I can accomplish diddly-squat sitting at work......

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

OK...how do we get this on Mythbusters?? And what is the "myth" that we need to have busted?

I'm thinking breakfast for dinner tonight!! Right after another box tossing experiment...

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Couldn't you just candle them to check the air cell?

Merry Christmas!
Lisa

 

[BeardedChick]

I'll try candling next time. I did want to open them anyway to see if there was anything interesting to see.

The only possible thing I saw was the egg yolk that was set horizontally just looked more 'deflated' and flat. I don't know how to describe it, but I'll be looking for it again. It was like the margins of the yolk weren't as defined or something... I tried looking with my loupe magnifier, but couldn't see anything definitive.

 

[mirecipes]

I'm wondering if damage to the chalaza/chalazae would be something that happens during shipping that would cause an egg not to develop..
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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chalaza
Plural chalazae (kə-lā'zē) or chalazas
One of two spiral bands of tissue in an egg that connect the yolk to the lining membrane at either end of the shell.
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I know back when I was hand turning, I would be very careful not to twist the egg, just flip it..
And now when I candle..I'm very careful to try to keep the egg in the same upright position so it doesn't get twisted..

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Quote:
This is one reason I use the carton method since I don't have an automatic turner in my Miss Prissy bator. Just rock it from side to side several times a day. It also keeps me from cracking them while turning.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

OK...here is some interesting news...

1. I set 12 shipped silkie eggs from a breeder in Colorado (shipped way before the blizzard/cold weather. All but one of them were clear on day 7. The one is still alive and well in it's shell. They were packaged in polyester quilt batting inside a carton wrapped in bubblewrap and had packing peanuts on all sides. One was cracked, so I KNOW there had to be some rough handling...although the one that was cracked had a very thin shell and it was one of the eggs on the end of the carton.

2. Three days ago I set 15 silkie eggs from a breeder in Wisconsin. Today is day 3 and EVERYONE of them has veins already. This is how they were packed. Each egg was individually wrapped in some thin foam. They were grouped together inside a piece of newspaper. There was newspaper on the bottom, sides and top. None cracked and no bad aircells that I could see when I candled them before I put them in the bator.


The eggs that were individually wrapped and then grouped together had enough room to be able to move around a bit when the box was handled...instead of being rigidly held in one place. I think this has something to do with the shock absorption...don't you think Beardedchic??

 

[Kev]

I may be able to answer the "smothering" one from personal experience. As an experiment, a person in FL sent me 5 turkey eggs that were tightly wrapped in Saran Wrap/food sealant type material. His idea for this was wanting to see if this would help prevent broken/ruptured airspaces. Of course there's always a "but".......

He packed them in a very small box- just big enough to hold 5 turkey eggs.. NO peanuts or anything(not even newspaper), just plopped them in that box and taped it off.. (I was very shocked too)

Also shockingly, ALL of these eggs arrived unbroken and all also had airspaces still more or less intact(not broken).

Turkey eggs are slightly harder to hatch so I set 3 under hens and two in incubator. 3 developed(2 under hen and one in incubator) however the silkie hen got all silky headed and set in a different spot, letting the eggs chill so in the end only 2 hatched(1 incubator and one under hen).

Again my own experience- eggs sent in egg cartons tightly packed with sawdust then taped and set in newspaper lined boxes always had intact eggs but horrible problems with ruptured airspaces. I always managed to hatch only one or two out of a dozen out of eggs sent this way. Bubble wrapped eggs set in a crumpled newspaper lined boxes seemed to average close to 50%ish hatch rate, either sent to me or from me.

I suspect it helps a lot if the box is able to "breathe"- it seemed boxes that were packed well but with give, if pressed on the sides or top and not "sealed up" by tape had overall better hatches or fewer cracked/broken eggs. I also have wondered about setting eggs on sides vs aircell side up- I try to send them air cell side up but admittedly it's more of a "wild guess" than anything else.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Kev...the interesting correlation to what you mentioned about them being on their sides is this: The silkie eggs that were wrapped individually with thin foam were pretty much all on their sides, just grouped together inside a sheet of newspaper. The newspaper on top, sides and bottom was certainly adequate but not tightly packed...and they are ALL developing at this time with no rupture aircells or scrambled eggs.

I think the carton method does allow the eggs any "play" so the contents of the eggs are what really take the beating. Like jumping down from an object with stiff legs..ouch!!...or bending your knees when you hit the ground. Your innards don't take such a jolt that way.

OK...I'm switching the way I pack eggs.