eggs shipped at 30 degrees

[HappyHippyChick]

I'm a bit worried as I paid a lot of money for the good quality silkie eggs and they mailed the eggs to me and the temperature is about 30 *. Has anyone have a situation like this? It's up north in Wisconsin and I am in mid state and it is 30* Thay are also up north and I have no idea of their temperature but it must very cold.

 

[nuthatched]

Better cooler than hotter.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Hopefully the temp inside the box stays a few degrees above freezing as it moves along. If the shipper doesn’t scramble your eggs (if you get saddled or detached air cells expect 25% hatch rates) the cold might drop your hatch rate some but the eggs should be very hatchable. Hatching home eggs in midwinter that have been exposed to 20-30 degree temps usually results in 50% hatch rates on my quail (vs80-90% in 40-50 weather). I have also shipped eggs in March to the upper Midwest (ambient temps in the mid 20s-30s) here and from the shipper, those that didn’t come scrambled had 60-80% hatch rates. Cold isn’t great for eggs but scrambling in shipment is far worse.

 

[Ridgerunner]

At this point, what are your options? Not even try?

I've had 100% hatch rates with mailed eggs. I've had horrible hatch rates with mailed eggs, nothing to do with temperature. So you have that to contend with. I've had some pretty poor hatches with my own eggs collected in perfect conditions, you just never know when you incubate.

But your concern is specifically temperatures. The air outside was around 30 F. I don't know what the temperature was where the eggs actually were or how long they were at that temperature. The eggs themselves are fairly dense, it takes a while for the insides to cool off. Ice cubes do not freeze solid the instant you put the trays filled with water in the freezer, it takes a while.

I don't know if those eggs were cold enough long enough to affect the hatch. I've gathered eggs that were laid in temperatures well below freezing and had good hatches. I did gather them a few times during the day to limit exposure. So I'd give it a try and see what happens.