Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[yinepu]

Tonight I started an experiment on shipped eggs. I want to understand the impact on eggs from shipping, so in between my travels across the big pond, I will attempt to incubate a few batches of shipped and local eggs.

I have developed a hypothesis: The eggs orientation during shipping has a direct correlation on hatchability. I theorize that you will do better with eggs shipped big end up rather than on their side.

I ordered a dozen Delaware eggs from the south via ebay. They arrived amazingly well packed but on their side. 14 eggs came. The eggs are porous and difficult to candle but I have 3 wobbly and one rolling air sack. A fifth egg has the air sack in 3 pieces. They are incubating in an egg carton for now, time will tell.

To continue my experiment I will find someone I can get eggs shipped from who will ship them big end up.

Loose air cells are no biggie.. it's the scrambled egg yolk you have to worry about

I've had eggs arrived with tons of broken bubbly air cells (where you could see the air cell was nothing but bubbles) and they hatched just fine since as incubation progresses they do finally stabilize.

I have found position during shipping has little to no effect on hatchability, mainly due to the fact that boxes DO NOT remain right side up during shipping regardless of how they are marked. I have watched my mailman flip boxes clearly marked "this side up" sideways & even upside down & even dropping 1 of them onto the road next to his truck to stack a 2nd box of eggs just as unceremoniously on top of it, also on it's side. I can just imagine their treatment when I'm NOT standing there watching.

What has the greatest effect on hatchability is packing. LOTS of padding is required to get eggs from point A to point B successfully. They can even be placed entirely upside down as long as they have enough padding to absorb the shocks of being dropped & tumbled by USPS.

Yup.. and it seems with some postal hubs if you have the box marked "FRAGILE" it's an invitation to play soccer with it.

 

[yinepu]

I think those speak for themselves...

 

[CaraDD]

Did anyone else do the egg experiment in High school? We had to pack an egg in whatever way we could that would keep it from breaking at different heights. Maybe we need to experiment with hatching eggs in the same way, except pack them to be treated like Samsonite luggage being handled by a gorilla!

 

[joyous]

Wow, just found this thread today, cant stop reading. We have the same day job! sometimes it interferes with our important hobbies though! I work in a cardiac catheterization lab in Iowa, Where do you work??? Sorry Back to chicks! So excited for you!

 

[yinepu]

Did anyone else do the egg experiment in High school? We had to pack an egg in whatever way we could that would keep it from breaking at different heights. Maybe we need to experiment with hatching eggs in the same way, except pack them to be treated like Samsonite luggage being handled by a gorilla!

Lol.. i remember a commercial for Samsonite with a gorilla and eggs....

 

[ozexpat]

Wow, just found this thread today, cant stop reading. We have the same day job! sometimes it interferes with our important hobbies though! I work in a cardiac catheterization lab in Iowa, Where do you work??? Sorry Back to chicks! So excited for you!

welcome aboard joyous!

I work in Anaheim. Very close to the happiest place on earth.

I am the poo bah these days so I am not on call. I report to the CEO - probably one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Its a great job!!

 

[ozexpat]

I have found position during shipping has little to no effect on hatchability, mainly due to the fact that boxes DO NOT remain right side up during shipping regardless of how they are marked. I have watched my mailman flip boxes clearly marked "this side up" sideways & even upside down & even dropping 1 of them onto the road next to his truck to stack a 2nd box of eggs just as unceremoniously on top of it, also on it's side. I can just imagine their treatment when I'm NOT standing there watching.

What has the greatest effect on hatchability is packing. LOTS of padding is required to get eggs from point A to point B successfully. They can even be placed entirely upside down as long as they have enough padding to absorb the shocks of being dropped & tumbled by USPS.

oh well.

I am doing it because My eggs travel for 30 hours.I attempted to hatch 18 eggs from my control group in the Philippines. in LA I put 18 in lock down. In Phils i put 14 in and got 12 out - probably should have only put the 12 in to start with as the others were definite possible hopefuls at best that looked underdeveloped .

The eggs were a max of 6 days old when set. So why to I have 18 develop one hatch and 12 the next? Probably the travel.

 

[Concrete101]

If you keep posting I'll keep lurking!!!!!

 

[ozexpat]

If you keep posting I'll keep lurking!!!!!

Dont think I have not seen you here! I am glad you said hi. Thanks. I will keep posting

 

[ozexpat]

Mrs Oz may take a drive to the chicken ranch today - if the weather improves as its been blustering tropical rains for a few days. Our pregnant goat is no longer pregnant. She gave birth to a billy boy yesterday. Too bad its a boy - on the good side I get goat curry.

Hopefully chick and goat pics to follow.

If I was able to live in the Philippines full time I would work on goats next. When we first tormented with the Idea of adopting and living there, I decided that a goat dairy and cheese production could be fun. When I got to the Philippines I found the goats to be minature at best. There have since been some successful breeding programs in Northern Luzon island but those goats are a long way from me.

So if I start an artificial insemination program for goats - look out for my "Getting the sperm out of here thread"