First time buying eggs online - Do they look right?

[Crayonsmom]

My Runner eggs came in the mail today! I bought from somebody with 100% positive feedback on ebay. I was only given 2 extras, and two were cracked. But I guess that's what extras are for. I just hope thee extras weren't cracked to begin with... I did cover the cracks with beeswax and put them in the bator anyway. I'm surprised, the box was not marked "Fragile" or anything.

Anyway, when I candled them, they kind of look funny to me. I could only readily see an air sac in one of them, and there are a few with air sacs that look qutie small. Then there's a "blob-ish" area that was visible when I candled. I tried to capture it in the pictures. I'm not sure if they look normal or not. My home grown ducks' eggs have always had large, clearly visible air sacs and no weird looking things. But maybe everything's fine? Please let me know what you think!

Pretty green ones! (No, they weren't shipped all on top like that.

Cracked one.

These next two show the "blob" in one egg. But most of the eggs looked like this. I hope you can tell where it is. It's the slightly darker area at the bottom.

Thanks for looking!

 

[mustangsaguaro]

I'm not expert by any means. But sometimes eggs crack and that is why extra are sent. I know if you order a dozen most people try to send anywhere from 3-5 extra in case of breakage. Some people don't send extras and that kind of sucks. I just got a bunch of eggs only got 13 as the person sending them her hens started to go broody and stopped laying. She wanted to send more but was worried about the heat where she lives and the eggs being fresh.

As for the cracked eggs I wouldn't even attempt to put those in the incubator. The likelihood of them hatching is pretty low in my opinon. Otherwise might say something different though.

 

[Crayonsmom]

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking I'd get a few more extras, but oh well. I'm just unsure of how long to wiat before leaving feedback though. I figure there's not much to lose by trying to hatch the cracked eggs, since they're already cracked anyway and it wasn't hard to seal them with wax. But my main concern is about the uncracked eggs. I've never bought shipped eggs before so I don't know if they look "healthy" or not. I've only hatched eggs once before and they were from my own ducks. But they looked different than these.

 

[Katy]

An aircell that is very small and hard to see is a sign of a fresh egg.

In the pictures you're holding the eggs upside down while you're candling them which isn't the best thing to do to hatching eggs.....especially once they start developing.

 

[Crayonsmom]

Thanks. I guess that's good to know!

I apologize, I was in a hurry to get them all set before the farrier came (I ended up waiting an extra hour anyway!

) and didn't pay close attention to the position of the eggs. I'll be more careful from now on.

I'm really excited! I hope I get at least ONE of these to hatch. lol. I can't wait to have a bunch of Runners again.

MY first hatch was a great success, so hopefully this one will go well too. I clearly still have a few things to learn/pay closer attention to.

 

[MobyQuail]

I purchased 5 different sets of shipped eggs from all over the country. Out of 56 shipped chicken eggs, I set 52. Of those 52, about 16 made it to lockdown. Some are pipping/zipping now.

At the same time, I collected and stored eggs from our barnyard birds, and set ~18 of them, at the same time, with the shipped eggs. 17 made it to lockdown, 7 have already hatched a day early.

My systems analyst mind, points towards "shipping and/or handling" as the issue to be addressed in the future. IMHO.

 

[Crayonsmom]

Wow. That doesn't make me feel very confident! lol. Shipping must be pretty hard on them. I would love for at least one to hatch.

All I can really do at this point is wait.