Help-- should I let sit overnight or put in bator now?

[Chickhick]

The Post Office was late (and very rough) with delivering my egg order.

They were gathered fresh 2 weeks ago tommorow, so they are losing viability as we speak, (if the uncracked ones weren't shaken to death already.) They have been sitting at room temperature since I got them mid morning today. Should I let them just sit out till tomorrow before puting them in the incubator, or because they are already so old would I have better chances by going ahead with the incubation now?

Also, I didn't wash them, just wiped the rotting egg goo off them with a towel and scratched off with my fingernail the semi-dried egg goo. Some off the worst ones still smell like rotten eggs, but I don't know if it is the egg, or just the remaining egg goo from the broken ones that wouldn't completely wipe off.

Any suggestions on proper protocol in such a circumstance? Thanks.

 

[klf73]

if they smell rotten then they probably are rotten. If I get a rotten one in my bator I put them all to my nose and the good ones don't smell. I would also candle, it should be clear with the yolk floating, nothing dark or settled to the small end of the egg.... sorry they got lost, that stinks

eta- to answer your original question...I let mine get to room temp and set them in the bator big end up for 24 hrs to settle, they seem to do better IMO instead of getting older on the counter...

 

[chickee]

Quote:
Mine arrived in the same condition!

I let them sit 24 hrs and only 4 of the 15 are growing on day 9!!

I have let my shipped eggs sit only 8 hours before setting and still had a good hatch. Because your eggs are older, I would go ahead and set them. Be sure you have gotten all the sticky egg goo off if you are using an egg turner, because I missed some egg white on one of the eggs and now it is stuck in the turner!!

and that is one of the only four developing!! I may have to let it hatch in the turner tray because I don't want to take a chance of it breaking! GOOD LUCK!

 

[Chickhick]

I just tried to candle them with my improvized candler (toilet paper tube and a LED flashlight.) I can't really tell much. I have Delaware, true Ameraucana, and Welsummer eggs. I can't see anything through the dark shells of the Welsummers. One of the Ameraucanas is just dark inside, but I don't trust my candling skills (or equipment) enough to throw it out yet. Some of the others seem to have a dark area, about the size of the yolk, but not settled to the bottom. Is that the yolk? I'm afraid of throwing out a good one.

About getting off the goo... How? I've heard that washing them is bad and removes the cuticle, but obviously leaving them with bacteria laden gunk is bad, too. Plus I never thought about the issue of it getting stuck in the incubator. I'm not using an auto turner; it is my first time using my new Brinsea Octogon Eco. I'll be hand tipping the whole unit to turn the eggs.

One does smell worse than the others, but it also is the one with the most stuck-on goo. The whole box was disgusting when it arrived. The post office had wrapped it in plastic wrap to keep its contents from leaking all over their other packages! I even had an apology letter from the Post Master attached. It was REALLY gross!

 

[klf73]

I got some broken eggs shipped to me, picked out the good ones, let them dry and just put them in the bator, I did not clean them off(only dry). I got an ok hatch. I just finished a hatch that my broody set on. Skunk chased her off and started eating them (were on day 6 or so), got egg stuff on the other eggs. I put them in the bator because she wouldn't go back and they all hatched, one was covered in yolk too. I would worry about smell most of all. If they have been sitting out a couple hours the good ones shouldn't smell THAT bad, even the one I had that was covered in yolk didn't smell.

 

[Chickhick]

Yeah, I've decided that the one (at least) is probably rotten. As soon as the kids are done eating I'm going to crack it open. (If I don't verify it, then it will drive me nuts, and I'll feel bad about possibly ditching a good one.) The others don't smell too bad, so I'm going set all the others in the incubator.

Thank you both for the help!

I've decided to go ahead and start the incubation tonight.

 

[klf73]

I will be setting some tonight too

mine were only in the mail 4 days....what happened to the days when they would get here in 2 days