Hatching Shipped Eggs Advice

[JewelBirds]

Yes, I may try that. I do want to give them the best chance to hatch, and I will be home over the weekend to turn them when they need to be.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do have a closet, which ranges from 60-70 degrees, so that should work

That should have worked fine. I know it's too late to help you on these eggs but maybe it will help someone else. The ideal temperature to store eggs for hatching is 55 degrees Fahrenheit. That mini fridge would be perfect as far as temperature goes. Most of our refrigerators are set a lot colder than that. That's one reason you read all the time to not refrigerate hatching eggs, they are usually set a lot colder than your mini fridge.

Ideally the eggs should be stored in a relatively high humidity. Refrigerators are usually at a very low humidity. The eggs can lose moisture before they go in the incubator, the lower the humidity where they are stored and the longer they are in that low humidity the more moisture they lose. The low humidity in a fridge is another reason to not store them in a fridge for very long. But with your wood heat your humidity in the house is probably pretty low too. Overnight in the fridge or your closet isn't going to have that much effect on the total amount of moisture they lose.

I do not think you hurt the eggs at all the way you managed them.

Not to refrigerate the eggs is one of those general guidelines we use because that fits most people. But you are not most people. Most of us don't have ideal conditions to store hatching eggs anyway, we need to do the best we can. You don't have total climate control where you can maintain a certain temperature. In the future, storing your eggs in that minifridge may be the best you can do. If you can maybe put a bowl of water in there to bring humidity up a bit.

 

[JewelBirds]

That should have worked fine. I know it's too late to help you on these eggs but maybe it will help someone else. The ideal temperature to store eggs for hatching is 55 degrees Fahrenheit. That mini fridge would be perfect as far as temperature goes. Most of our refrigerators are set a lot colder than that. That's one reason you read all the time to not refrigerate hatching eggs, they are usually set a lot colder than your mini fridge.

Ideally the eggs should be stored in a relatively high humidity. Refrigerators are usually at a very low humidity. The eggs can lose moisture before they go in the incubator, the lower the humidity where they are stored and the longer they are in that low humidity the more moisture they lose. The low humidity in a fridge is another reason to not store them in a fridge for very long. But with your wood heat your humidity in the house is probably pretty low too. Overnight in the fridge or your closet isn't going to have that much effect on the total amount of moisture they lose.

I do not think you hurt the eggs at all the way you managed them.

Not to refrigerate the eggs is one of those general guidelines we use because that fits most people. But you are not most people. Most of us don't have ideal conditions to store hatching eggs anyway, we need to do the best we can. You don't have total climate control where you can maintain a certain temperature. In the future, storing your eggs in that minifridge may be the best you can do. If you can maybe put a bowl of water in there to bring humidity up a bit.

Thank you, I appreciate the advice nonetheless and it will be good to refer to in the future, for myself and others. Yes, the wood heat makes the humidity quite low in the house, that's why I already have to use the second well in the incubator to keep humidity where it should be. I keep 2 thermometers/hygrometers in the mini fridge, which last time I checked was around 60%.

 

[JewelBirds]

First rainstorm of the season and the power went out early this morning at about 4am and came back on around 6am. Luckily power went in and out a couple times at first, so the incubator beeped a few times, which woke me up. I covered it with a few blankets. So glad I had my Govee thermometer and hygrometer which kept track of them throughout.

It went back to normal temp within an hour of power being back on.

Lowest temp was around 93, so not too bad, but the last thing my shipped eggs needed was another event working against their odds.