Hatching shipped eggs tips

[ChcknNurse]

I think the eggs really get knocked around during transit and i never expect a 50% hatch. Don't get discouraged, if i get a few good hatches out of shipped eggs...im happy. Even though i spent a few bucks on the eggs, getting one chick was cheaper than buying/shipping the seramas i wanted. It is more difficult to hatch shipped eggs. I Lowerd my expectations on hatches. Now im not so disappointed. I think the best you can do is minimize handling the eggs, keep them small end down...specially during early development, maintain temp/humidity.

I normally do 30% to start but make sure you test your hygrometer. But recently I've needed to hover around 40% due to horrible air cells and I can improve them.

I've never hatched Seramas. It may be a good idea to talk to someone who does it well. There may be some tips.

 

[ChcknNurse]

I opened them up and most of them hadn't developed. The ones that did made it to lockdown and just quit. All of them have hatched late also. I just had 8 out of 13 quail hatch from shipped eggs.

ChanLillie, What incubator are you using? Where are you measuring your temperature? Do you have your own separate thermometer? Did you salt test your hygrometer?

 

[formerchickenlass]

I always crack open the clears. I've received a larger number of infertile eggs lately. If they were clear, this may have been at least part of your problem. Crack the clears and look for the bullseyes. No blastoderm then it doesn't matter what you did right or wrong, nothing was happening with these eggs.

I purchased a dozen eggs locally a year ago. I put them in my very reliable Brinsea Octagon and 5 days later, 4 were developing. I waited until 10 days and no change. I pulled the 8 clears and cracked them, confirming infertility. I told the breeder who claimed it couldn't be. A week later she contacted me and confirmed her own infertility. These weren't even shipped.

Unfortunately, people have said that they were fertile when they left, but the X-rays that they likely experienced from USPS reversed the blastoderm
Please note-- this does not happen.

I've read that by day 10 you may not be able to tell any longer whether it was fertile or not. I've never cracked an old clear myself. Have you tried with your own eggs to see whether they all or mostly still show a bullseye at that age? I'm curious whether what I read was true or not.

 

[formerchickenlass]

I have been getting shipped eggs to for serama chickens...which aren't the best breed to pic for incubating. I've had a couple singke egg hatches to, dk did more resesrch and thjs is what i do now.So..i always ask shipper to pak eggs small end down & write fragile/this end up on box. When i unwrapped i am careful not to spin the eggs or flip them when i unwrap.i rest the eggs, small end down , room temp for 24hrs. I put them n incubator 24hrs later, small end down( i like foam egg carton trays) and do not turn for a couple days. I try to keep batod at 95.5 with 45/55 humidity. I keep them small end down and hand turn several times a day. Once they are ready for lockdown i then put them on thier sides. I raise humidity fir hatching when i put them into lockdown. Ive had better hatches this way. I also do not candle the eggs or mess with them much other than turning. If i do candle i still keep them small end down. I usually candle them when i put them in the hatcher for lockdown. After the ordeal eggs go through by shipping...i try not to handle them other than for turning. Even the 1st couple days...while the egg starts incubation...i dont even turn them when the embryo is in the early days of formation

Hatching my own eggs (I exclusively breed seramas), anything 5 days or older has a much higher fail rate. Some pairs are exceptions. I have one pairing whose eggs do better when they're a bit older (probably thicker shells). If I set them the day they were laid, they are heavily prone to a late death.

Given my own experience, it's hard to see how shipped serama eggs can do well if they aren't express shipped. 3 days in transit Priority shipped, atop however old they already were at time of shipping, and then another day of rest before beginning incubation... plus the extra handling. I recommend you request seller to ship express next time and to only give you eggs that are a day or two old. And then see whether they do any better.

I have a question. I should preface: I've never purchased shipped eggs. I clicked on the thread earlier because I'm getting prepared to start shipping eggs. Ok, question, what is the benefit to resting eggs at room temperature for 24 hours rather than set them immediately and not turning them for a day or two? I hear that the air cells settle back into place. Would that not also happen inside the incubator?

 

[nikkers390]

I think the eggs really get knocked around during transit and i never expect a 50% hatch. Don't get discouraged, if i get a few good hatches out of shipped eggs...im happy. Even though i spent a few bucks on the eggs, getting one chick was cheaper than buying/shipping the seramas i wanted. It is more difficult to hatch shipped eggs. I Lowerd my expectations on hatches. Now im not so disappointed. I think the best you can do is minimize handling the eggs, keep them small end down...specially during early development, maintain temp/humidity.

This year I had mixed results with shipped eggs. If I get a 50% hatch, I'm over the moon happy. I candle the eggs when I get them. The eggs may look great, but I have found some with hairline cracks. I seal those immediately with white (Elmers) glue. Some hatch, some don't. I also let them set in the room for 24 hours and after I put them in the incubator, I disable the turner for 5 days to allow air cells to heal. I bought eggs from reputable breeders also from Ebay. My results were comparable. Not much difference in hatch rate at all. I usually leave the eggs in the turner after disabling the turners on day 18. I'm in humid FL, so I dry hatch adding no water at all. I seem to get better hatches without increasing humidity during lockdown. My incubators are Janoel 8-48 and I am really pleased with them.
All in all I get terrific hatches from local eggs, but shipped eggs are a crapshoot.

 

[ChanLillie]

And did the air cells look like they were developing okay? Did you open up the ones that didn't hatch to try to figure out why they died? I ask because 45% humidity would be too high for my area and the embryos would have drowned in the shell. It seems like this might not just be a shipped egg issue since you didn't have good hatches with local eggs either.

100 is fine if the incubators are forced air. It's actually a little high, temp should be 99.5. If they're still air, with no fan, that's actually low because the temperature in a still air should be 101.5 degrees measured at the top of the eggs.

I took your advice and set my forced air at 99.5 and humidity at 60% and I had my first set of shipped eggs ever to hatch on time. So far 3 out of 6 today which is hatch day. Thank you SO much!

 

[livhatcher]

I have had extremely good luck with shipped eggs with one exception, and I believe the "breeder" (those are air quotes because I think he's a lousy breeder) was sending eggs from aging parent stock in a dirty yard...but I digress.

I wanted Polish eggs and they are hard to find (if not impossible) in my state. I have done three hatches with shipped eggs and have found that once I learned I can ask ALL THE QUESTIONS and make requests as to the methods of handling prior to shipping (please collect and ship on same day, put NO X-ray and hold at post office with my phone number) things have been better for me. I had 100% hatch rate on my last, and am crossing fingers for 80% this time although I know I've lost a couple to a malfunctioning incubator.

I typically incubate in a Brinsea Maxi II Advance but it's been acting up and not holding a temp correctly. I have it running side by side with a Brinsea Mini II Advance which is working perfectly. As soon as this hatch is over, I'm sending the Maxi in for service because 3 year warranty!

I think you really can have great success with shipped eggs, but I think you need to have an open line of communication with your breeder.

 

[ChanLillie]

Sadly, before I found this forum I was buying eggs off of ebay.. And those were the ones that weren't hatching right. Way too much money put in and not enough results.. But I have learned my lesson.

 

[livhatcher]

Sadly, before I found this forum I was buying eggs off of ebay.. And those were the ones that weren't hatching right. Way too much money put in and not enough results.. But I have learned my lesson.

What I have learned from eBay is that there are a lot of reputable breeders who don't know any other way to sell. My first mistake was from eBay, but since I read this thread: INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! come HATCH, LEARN, & Chat! w/hosts, Sally Sunshine & BantyChooks
things have gotten a lot better for me. I now really open a dialogue with sellers on eBay. A lot of them are just like us--that's just the method for selling that they understand. So, I find a listing I like, message back and forth with them a bit. If they seem annoyed by questions, I move on. If I get a sense that they really care, I hang in there. I think it really depends on what you're looking for, and I just don't deal in absolutes like "all of one thing is bad" or "all of another is good." I have gorgeous birds from a BYC member who shipped and I have beautiful eBay birds ;-)

 

[stricklandquail]

There are right ways and wrong ways to ship eggs. We've been in the business of shipping bobwhite eggs for over 30 years, and what we do is we have our own boxes that we've worked on with a local box manufacturer that can withstand the rigors of shipping. In addition, we wrap the eggs in bubble wrap. We ship through Fed Ex and have had nothing but great results with them. Hope this helps!