How to give shipped eggs the best chance of hatching

[junior67]

Good to know! Do you go back to horizontal and auto turning after a few days or do you manually turn the whole time?

I honestly just start mine laying down in the incubator. I read from other threads some didn't feel it made a difference so I just laid them down and hoped. So far my hatch rates have been great.

 

[LAYAM]

We've been hatching eggs in different incubators for years ... quail eggs were very forgiving, whether they were shipped or from our own birds, they did very well in our first Styrofoam Incubator with a consistent 90% hatch rate for shipped eggs from a Seller in PA (kingshatchery2013)

We've received filthy Duck eggs which I cannot put in the incubator - sorry, that ain't happening ... we've received old Duck eggs, so old in fact that it took only 2 days in the incubator before they began to stink ... and we've received eggs that weren't fertile! I don't mean some of the eggs weren't fertile, I mean none of the eggs were fertile - the eggs had been packaged okay and appeared fresh, the air cells were intact and shipping wasn't delayed in any way, the eggs just weren't fertile ... ebay really doesn't let you leave bad reviews for their money making Sellers ($250+ for 6 eggs) or we would have been able to warn others from making the same mistake and buying from that Seller

Over the years we've gone from leaving the shipped eggs resting on the counter for 12-24 hours to simply allowing the eggs to warm up to room temperature before we set them in the incubator ...

We turn the eggs every 60-90 minutes, if the Air Cells are compromised, we turn the eggs only every 180-240 minutes for the first week (automatic egg turner),
Humidity is usually between 45%-55% but if the Air Cells are compromised we'll turn up the humidity to as high as 65% for the first week.

We've hatched Silver Appleyard Ducks from eggsotics (EBay), Grey Runners Ducks from cluckingtrucks (Ebay), Bielefelder Chicken from Skywalker2136 (Ebay), Cayuga Ducks and Crele Orpington Chicken from Vitoriafarms (Ebay) with 99% fertility and 90% hatch rate success ... we bought from others too but we bought from all these Sellers with absolute confidence, multiple times!

I agree though that one should first attempt to hatch 'local' eggs which tend to be less problematic as Saddlebag Air Cells and Temperature variants during shipping aren't factors and one must calibrate the incubator (Temp & Humidity) before the eggs are set, whether the eggs are fresh or shipped!

 

[sdm111]

Wow, thank you! That's terrible that they'd damage the eggs on purpose . I sure hope those people never come across any live ducklings or chicks being shipped.
That's an interesting shipping method you use, what is the dark foam stuff that the egg sits in?

Foam I got from a hobby store. It just happened to be the most bang for the buck

 

[junior67]

My shipped eggs are arriving tomorrow and I am sooo excited!!!!!

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

My shipped eggs are arriving tomorrow and I am sooo excited!!!!!

What kind of eggs did you order?

 

[LAYAM]

You’ll be checking on the progress of those eggs at least a million times between the time you get up until they are delivered, via the tracking number … longest ‘however many hours’ eeeeeverrrrrr

OMG, we can all relate to it!

My Grey Runner Duck eggs are arriving tomorrow as well …

 

[junior67]

What kind of eggs did you order?

A couple different color of Brahmas (one the breeder "made up" but so pretty), a couple colors of Orpingtons, and some mystery eggs, most being blue. I have ordered from this breeder twice before (both times got splash Cochins and project Cochins, cross of Cochin/EE that she has worked on for 3 years so they look just like Cochins but have a green egg gene).

 

[junior67]

You’ll be checking on the progress of those eggs at least a million times between the time you get up until they are delivered, via the tracking number … longest ‘however many hours’ eeeeeverrrrrr

OMG, we can all relate to it!

My Grey Runner Duck eggs are arriving tomorrow as well … View attachment 3413358

I have mine set to pick up at the P.O. They should, hopefully, be there first thing so I can get them before I go to work.

GL waiting for yours!!!! It is so hard!!

 

[junior67]

You’ll be checking on the progress of those eggs at least a million times between the time you get up until they are delivered, via the tracking number … longest ‘however many hours’ eeeeeverrrrrr

OMG, we can all relate to it!

My Grey Runner Duck eggs are arriving tomorrow as well … View attachment 3413358

And of course the other times I got shipped eggs I see they are delivered to the PO at like 5am. This time it says they are still in transit to next destination. They haven't even checked in anywhere since Tue night at the main po in the state they were shipped from.....

I got up early to head to the PO before work. They only have about an hour to get there so I can get them before. And after is going to be close to them closing.

 

[LAYAM]

I did receive my eggs (+2) today
were you able to take custody of your peeps today too?