Help with shipped hatching eggs

[PineHavenMama]

This will be my first experience with shipped eggs. They shipped from Cal to NC. My first concern is they’re arriving late and I worry about how that will affect hatch rate because I don’t know how old they are in addition to any damage from being shipped. I asked for advice on whether I should allow them to rest a bit before placing in the incubator and I am very confused at the response I received from the seller. I will paste it below in the hopes someone can clarify for me.

“Depends on the condition of the air sacs when they arrive and the temp of the eggs based on shipping. But generally yes I would say it’s good to let them rest for half a day or so up to 12 hours. Then sometimes if air cells are bad from shipping I don’t turn them for anywhere from a day or two to almost 5-7 days depending on how bad air cells are.”

How do I know what the temperature of the eggs is? Also, this is the first I’ve ever heard of not turning the eggs. I bought two Nurture Right 360s and I am not even sure if the turner can be disabled during the first days. Please advise as I really want this to go as well as possible. We’ve been waiting for these eggs for weeks.

 

[Chocolate_Chick]

Temperature wise, she means to let the eggs come up to room temperature before putting them into a warm incubator. Leave them between 12 and 24 hrs. You can't test the internal temperature of an egg. The reason for the 12-24 hour rest period is to allow the contents of the eggs to settle and come up to room temp. When they are resting, make sure the pointy end of the egg is down.

Shipped eggs may have detached air cells. After you've let them rest, candle them and look at the air cells. If the air cell is undamaged you may not be able to clear see it. If it is detached you will see a circular 'bubble' in the egg that moves as you move the egg. This is not the yolk, a mistake I first made with shipped eggs. Some of them may have saddle shaped air cells, this isn't necessarily a problem but it could affect the hatch rate. Mine have been 50/50 ish when they've had saddled air cells.

She's saying not to turn them as some eggs with detached air cells do re-attach in the first 7 days. I can't say I've experienced this happening but others say they have. Some people will cut up an egg carton so that each egg can go into the incubator upright in it's own little carton to keep the air cell roughly in the right place in the hope it will re-attach. Some will leave them like that until they hatch, turning them by hand 3-5 times a day at a 30-45 degree angle. Others will take them out the cartons and put them on their side and have the auto egg turner do the job if the air cells have re-attached or are now saddled.

Personally, I've never hatched an egg with a detached air cell successfully, though it's not impossible. There's a good article on here somewhere that advises on what to do with shipped eggs to up your chances. I followed that on the last lot I had shipped. In hind sight I over complicated things by trying to give each egg the best chance and had all on them upright in cartons. Unfortunately those with detached air cells never developed anyway, and those that would have been fine laying on the side with the auto turner on ended up getting stuck to the side of the shell as my turning clearly wasn't good enough and had none hatch.