Hatching shipped eggs

[JacinLarkwell]

Thank you for your experience! I’m in WA and mine are getting shipped from Minnesota... it’s far away, but I know the chickens were raised in a climate similar to mine... in future years if I have to buy chicks or eggs, I may try picking them up from somewhere in my state.

That’s interesting about the double membrane! In that case, would it have been helpful to pierce the second membrane? Since it still would have done all the “hard work” of hatching, per say?

Thats also interesting about the quail! I only have chickens right now, but am definitely interested in adding both quail and Turkey to our homestead situation down the road.

It would have, but I don't candle after lock down and I had no clue that could happen

 

[Stephanie8806]

as to question 1, I turn eggs all around for candling. There is no harm doing it while candling, the thought is turning it with the large end down puts excessive pressure on the membrane holding the air cell but I have never found it to be a problem and it certainly would not cause a detached air cell or anything remotely to be worried about imo.
But what is better if you are worried about the air cell staying at the top is to use a torch and just move the torch. So leave the egg placed on a bottle cap or something and move the torch from having been underneath it to shine from above!

as to question 2 : let the eggs warm u to room temperature first. I have found a guide stating 6 hours to be good for this. I additionally then stick it into a slightly warmer box to warm up further but no I would never warm up eggs to warm up with the incubator.
In the first 24 hours the temps and humidity will fluctuate wildly, you need to set it to the right level - it will invariably heat up too much and then stabilize to start with. The first 5 days of incubation are the most crucial days and this is where (me included) people ususally haven't got things dialled in properly yet which they should be.
I can track the humidity and temperature readings throughout the whole incubation process and the first 3 days on this attempt were a disaster, humidity went up to 90% at one point. Temps dropped excessively when opening the incubator - vs small dips once the incubator is warmed.
It is not worth putting the eggs in to warm at the same time. Will you be there at the exact time the incubator overheats before it settles? Probably not and in most cases it should be fine but I know steady conditions will be better.

You want to warm the eggs up slowly, that much is very true. They will warm slowly even if the incubator is set to the right temp already - it will still take several hours to warm the eggs up. The main point is to avoid condensation forming on the eggs which happens if they are too cold before being added to incubator. So warming on a router or computer before adding them would help too and it might be tempting to warm them up with incubator if it were able to heat up perfectly, instanstly and then stay steady but that doesn't happen. It takes 24 hours for all surfaces to heat up evenly.

Oh yes, I certainly plan to rest them ahead of time. The breeder I ordered from recommends 24 hours and I will follow that. I will candle them when they arrive as well to check air cells, and make sure they’re big end up.

Something I just thought about, in this initial 24 hr rest period, where they come up to room temp before being place in the incubator, how much does humidity matter? I live in a very dry climate, and the humidity inside our home usually sits around 30% but most often closer to 25%... my selected breeder recommends dry incubation, at 30-35% up until lockdown. Is my ambient humidity okay or do I need to bump it up somehow?

Thats a good point, about the initial spikes and valleys in temp as the incubator warms up. To definitely plan to run it this week as soon as I get it so if I have time to return and replace it if something isn’t working right. I also have two small backup digital thermometers/hygrometers to place inside to make sur its calibrated

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Shipped eggs are fiddly but can be a wonderful experience. Bringing in varieties and genetics otherwise unaccessible. Here's a few pointers.

Buy eggs as close as possible to your location. I try to stick to seller under 1000 miles from my location. It sounds like you've already purchased your eggs but it's worth mentioning for next time.

Use the best incubator you can. I might have missed where you mentioned what you're using but shipped eggs really need a consist 99.5 temperature.

As for air cells I've taken to adding a 2-4 similar sized local fertile eggs into the hatch with the shipped eggs. These are the ones I monitor air cells on. I find it's easiest to make them while candling on their sides. I mark when they go in the incubator then days 7, 12-14, and 18/19. I adjust my humidity (a tool to affect weight loss) based on these local eggs.

Shipped eggs are prone to late quitters. For some reason new hatchers seem to miss this and think if they get development they're out of the woods. Not so. For me development= cautiously optimistic.

Incubating and hatching upright should be considered with shipped eggs. There are pros and cons of both methods. This is where hatching becomes more like art and less like science. You'll have to read about the nuances of both ways,which you're already doing, and decide what works for you. If air cells are wonky I've had slightly better hatch rates with upright incubating/hatching. Like an extra chick per dozen eggs I set. Not much but noticable to me since I hatch 2-4 batches of shipped eggs a year.

Depending on your location you'll want to add "call for pickup" on the egg package. Not all sellers do this automatically. Then you'll pick them up immediately when your post office opens. This saves the eggs that last leg of delivery. Which in my semi rural area is pretty rough.

If you haven't hatched any eggs before you're not doing yourself any favors by starting with shipped eggs. Ideally you'd do a test batch of local eggs to figure out your incubator and best humidity for your area. That said hatching eggs of any kind is always a exciting and worth doing. I'm excited for you to get your eggs and jump right in. Happy hatching!

 

[Stephanie8806]

Shipped eggs are fiddly but can be a wonderful experience. Bringing in varieties and genetics otherwise unaccessible. Here's a few pointers.

Buy eggs as close as possible to your location. I try to stick to seller under 1000 miles from my location. It sounds like you've already purchased your eggs but it's worth mentioning for next time.

Use the best incubator you can. I might have missed where you mentioned what you're using but shipped eggs really need a consist 99.5 temperature.

As for air cells I've taken to adding a 2-4 similar sized local fertile eggs into the hatch with the shipped eggs. These are the ones I monitor air cells on. I find it's easiest to make them while candling on their sides. I mark when they go in the incubator then days 7, 12-14, and 18/19. I adjust my humidity (a tool to affect weight loss) based on these local eggs.

Shipped eggs are prone to late quitters. For some reason new hatchers seem to miss this and think if they get development they're out of the woods. Not so. For me development= cautiously optimistic.

Incubating and hatching upright should be considered with shipped eggs. There are pros and cons of both methods. This is where hatching becomes more like art and less like science. You'll have to read about the nuances of both ways,which you're already doing, and decide what works for you. If air cells are wonky I've had slightly better hatch rates with upright incubating/hatching. Like an extra chick per dozen eggs I set. Not much but noticable to me since I hatch 2-4 batches of shipped eggs a year.

Depending on your location you'll want to add "call for pickup" on the egg package. Not all sellers do this automatically. Then you'll pick them up immediately when your post office opens. This saves the eggs that last leg of delivery. Which in my semi rural area is pretty rough.

If you haven't hatched any eggs before you're not doing yourself any favors by starting with shipped eggs. Ideally you'd do a test batch of local eggs to figure out your incubator and best humidity for your area. That said hatching eggs of any kind is always a exciting and worth doing. I'm excited for you to get your eggs and jump right in. Happy hatching!

Thank you for all your insight!

You’re right, I didn’t mention what type of incubator I’d be using... After a lot of research, I decided that a HF NR360 was going to be a good place to start.

I have definitely thought about the proximity to my breeder. I think in future years I will try to find people who are closer, but this seller was reputable and I saw a lot of good reviews on their shipped eggs. I was impressed with their breeds, and really liked how thoroughly they laid out hatching guidelines for shipped eggs on their site. I liked that they have set shipping days and always use 2-day shipping. I ordered from Highland Homestead.

Who knows, maybe if I’m at least moderately successful on this hatch AND get a roo from this batch, I will just think I’m some kind of wizard when I am finally able to hatch my own fresh eggs

that’s a good point about “call for pickup”. I live remote as well, USPS doesn’t deliver to our road, and the closest fedex/ups pickup shed is almost a mile away. I do know our postmaster well though, and have exchanged calls and texts with her before. I was going to tell her what was coming in and ask her to call me as soon as it does! We live in a very small town and I think she would be happy to do it.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thank you for all your insight!

You’re right, I didn’t mention what type of incubator I’d be using... After a lot of research, I decided that a HF NR360 was going to be a good place to start.

I have definitely thought about the proximity to my breeder. I think in future years I will try to find people who are closer, but this seller was reputable and I saw a lot of good reviews on their shipped eggs. I was impressed with their breeds, and really liked how thoroughly they laid out hatching guidelines for shipped eggs on their site. I liked that they have set shipping days and always use 2-day shipping. I ordered from Highland Homestead.

Who knows, maybe if I’m at least moderately successful on this hatch AND get a roo from this batch, I will just think I’m some kind of wizard when I am finally able to hatch my own fresh eggs

that’s a good point about “call for pickup”. I live remote as well, USPS doesn’t deliver to our road, and the closest fedex/ups pickup shed is almost a mile away. I do know our postmaster well though, and have exchanged calls and texts with her before. I was going to tell her what was coming in and ask her to call me as soon as it does! We live in a very small town and I think she would be happy to do it.

That's the incubator I used for my two batches I got

 

[gimmie birdies]

My shipped eggs currently are on day 9/10, hand turning/still air. I candled on day seven to make sure they were developing. If you want to candle before day 7, I would candle only a single one, and maybe only a single different one if you fell like you must, before day 7. Some people candle on day 14. I would not disturb them then, this is when they turn their bodies in the egg to hatch. I plan on candling on day 18 before lock down. Then don't open the incubator for 3 days once they start to hatch. I will not feel tempted to help either. After the 3 days are up, I will remove the fluff-ers and check the eggs of any left.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Thank you for all your insight!

You’re right, I didn’t mention what type of incubator I’d be using... After a lot of research, I decided that a HF NR360 was going to be a good place to start.

I have definitely thought about the proximity to my breeder. I think in future years I will try to find people who are closer, but this seller was reputable and I saw a lot of good reviews on their shipped eggs. I was impressed with their breeds, and really liked how thoroughly they laid out hatching guidelines for shipped eggs on their site. I liked that they have set shipping days and always use 2-day shipping. I ordered from Highland Homestead.

Who knows, maybe if I’m at least moderately successful on this hatch AND get a roo from this batch, I will just think I’m some kind of wizard when I am finally able to hatch my own fresh eggs

that’s a good point about “call for pickup”. I live remote as well, USPS doesn’t deliver to our road, and the closest fedex/ups pickup shed is almost a mile away. I do know our postmaster well though, and have exchanged calls and texts with her before. I was going to tell her what was coming in and ask her to call me as soon as it does! We live in a very small town and I think she would be happy to do it.

You are on your way to a successful hatch. Well done.