Eggs infertile or just scrambled?

[Strange Hatter Farms]

So I bought shipped eggs, they came, but then Amazon lost my incubator in the mail. i reordered it and put the eggs in my makeshift cooler incubator for two days before I got a still heat incubator from the store.

btw, the reordered incubator from Amazon? That was apparently lost too!


my poor eggs. I didn’t want them in a cheap still air one. I’m new at hatching but I’m thinking they aren’t going to made it.

heres one at day 7. Thought?

 

[NatJ]

I'm not very good at candling, but to me that looks like an egg with no chick in it.

Given how many things have happened so far, I think there is no way to tell whether your eggs were fertile when the seller shipped them. Even perfectly good, fertile eggs can have trouble when shipped, and then the incubator issues make it that much harder.

You can try taking some eggs out of your refrigerator and candling them for comparison--sometimes it really helps me to make sense of what I'm seeing. (I trust that eggs from the store, stored in my refrigerator, will NOT have chicks inside.)

When I have eggs that I think are not developing, I do like to break them open before throwing them away. That way I can see if I was right about there being no chick. It's much easier to see once the shell is not in the way! (Of course, if I were to break an egg open and find a chick, I would keep incubating the rest of the batch. But so far that has not happened to me.)

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

Crack them open and take pictures.

Edited: Probably to late for that seeing the time stamp of your post.
Here's a reference guide for looking at an egg: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ion-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs.47879/

I opened 3 of them open and they had very thin yolks

 

[The Happster]

Duds.

Air sack is located at the end of the egg, at the rounded end. Third egg has a pale blood ring. Early death.

None are viable, but I always keep the eggs until at least ten days in.

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

Thank you friends. I thought so but wanted to get some opinions from others before I tossed them.

 

[Tonyroo]

Crack them open and take pictures.

Edited: Probably to late for that seeing the time stamp of your post.
Here's a reference guide for looking at an egg: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ion-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs.47879/

 

[ladybrasa]

Yeah, I’ve been having issues with shipped eggs all summer (and first summer incubating!). Quality and shipping stress have been all across the board. Have ordered a variety of breeds from a variety of sellers, mostly from eBay. Try your best to order from reputable people, first off. Ask to have eggs held at the post office and have the PO call you. This reduces at least a small portion of travel stress. When you open the box up, inspect for damage and candle to ascertain where, how big, and how loose the air cell is. Maybe even mark it. See if it is a little jiggly, shifts a little, or can free float around the egg. Candling can reveal little cracks, too - if seen, seal with wax or nail polish. Sometimes you may see other air bubbles - not good. Sometimes the egg shell looks kind of mottled or has too many thin spots - may be too porous.

Shipping can cause damage no matter how well packed. Things can be ‘scrambled’ inside and you wouldn’t know. Loose/detached air cells are not good - they are supposed to be small and sit unmoving in the blunt end of the egg. There’s still a chance they might hatch, just very reduced. I’d recommend letting shipped eggs ‘rest’ blunt end up at least overnight. Some people go as long as 2 days. I kind of suspect eggs shipped from certain regions of the US have a worse time in the PO system than others. Seems for me eggs from down South come in tougher shape. Ones from close by, ie the state next door, get bounced around to way more PO hubs that necessary IMO. Best shape eggs so far seem to come from northern Midwest, for me. I’m mid Atlantic. Also with everything going on with the PO and pandemic, shipped eggs might be having a worse time than usual ...

Sometimes you can suspect the quality of the egg wasn’t good to begin with even before shipping. Large air cells are suggestive of an old egg, or one that is too porous. Thin shells or too porousmight be because of poor hen nutrition. Eggs should not be wiped or washed. Expect some dirt but not a ton. A really dirty egg might mean the hens are not kept in the best conditions, someone slacked off on cleaning the nests! Oddly shaped eggs have decreased chances of hatching - too narrow, too small.

From what I understand, if you get about a 50% hatch rate from shipped eggs that’s pretty decent. Of course many people have much better hatch rates, but many others have worse, too.

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

Yeah, I’ve been having issues with shipped eggs all summer (and first summer incubating!). Quality and shipping stress have been all across the board. Have ordered a variety of breeds from a variety of sellers, mostly from eBay. Try your best to order from reputable people, first off. Ask to have eggs held at the post office and have the PO call you. This reduces at least a small portion of travel stress. When you open the box up, inspect for damage and candle to ascertain where, how big, and how loose the air cell is. Maybe even mark it. See if it is a little jiggly, shifts a little, or can free float around the egg. Candling can reveal little cracks, too - if seen, seal with wax or nail polish. Sometimes you may see other air bubbles - not good. Sometimes the egg shell looks kind of mottled or has too many thin spots - may be too porous.

Shipping can cause damage no matter how well packed. Things can be ‘scrambled’ inside and you wouldn’t know. Loose/detached air cells are not good - they are supposed to be small and sit unmoving in the blunt end of the egg. There’s still a chance they might hatch, just very reduced. I’d recommend letting shipped eggs ‘rest’ blunt end up at least overnight. Some people go as long as 2 days. I kind of suspect eggs shipped from certain regions of the US have a worse time in the PO system than others. Seems for me eggs from down South come in tougher shape. Ones from close by, ie the state next door, get bounced around to way more PO hubs that necessary IMO. Best shape eggs so far seem to come from northern Midwest, for me. I’m mid Atlantic. Also with everything going on with the PO and pandemic, shipped eggs might be having a worse time than usual ...

Sometimes you can suspect the quality of the egg wasn’t good to begin with even before shipping. Large air cells are suggestive of an old egg, or one that is too porous. Thin shells or too porousmight be because of poor hen nutrition. Eggs should not be wiped or washed. Expect some dirt but not a ton. A really dirty egg might mean the hens are not kept in the best conditions, someone slacked off on cleaning the nests! Oddly shaped eggs have decreased chances of hatching - too narrow, too small.

From what I understand, if you get about a 50% hatch rate from shipped eggs that’s pretty decent. Of course many people have much better hatch rates, but many others have worse, too.

Oh! I do have one question. If I let them sit, what temperature should they sit at?

 

[The Happster]

Oh! I do have one question. If I let them sit, what temperature should they sit at?

Room temp.
Hope you get some hatchlings next time.

 

[Strange Hatter Farms]

Room temp.
Hope you get some hatchlings next time.

Thank you! I’ll keep trying