How to give shipped eggs the best chance of hatching

[gimmie birdies]

with duck eggs, incubation i would treat it as lockdown the hatch. I had a duck egg day 8 that was cracked. I put it in with lockdown eggs until it hatched and it did. They say duck eggs can have a problem in incubator, regular.

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

ive ordered a dozen mixed barnyard eggs twice, cheapest i could find on ebay at a reasonable distance... unpacked them and straight into the bator, got like 8 out of one and 10 out of the other .. got to reiterate the distance factor, i wouldnt order eggs from california if your in newyork and make them get thrown on several planes and trucks to get to you, get them within a state or two if possible ...

One is coming from Indiana and one from Connecticut. So not terribly close but not California. 8 and 10 out of 12 isn't a bad hatch rate, I'd be happy with that!

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

with duck eggs, incubation i would treat it as lockdown the hatch. I had a duck egg day 8 that was cracked. I put it in with lockdown eggs until it hatched and it did. They say duck eggs can have a problem in incubator, regular.

So are you saying if there are cracks, the higher humidity helps? I've hatched duck eggs from my own flock in the incubator and gotten good hatches, I just haven't tried shipped ones.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I did nail polish the crack. But usually a crack after day ten, if nail polished will hatch, and before day 10 may not hatch. From experience. I always try though if it is an important egg.
If the crack is in air cell only.

 

[junior67]

I have hatched shipped eggs twice (with a good seller since I won't count the bad sellers) and I let them sit for 12-24 hrs on the counter with pointy side down then put them in the incubator normally and let them go. I will say I have ended up with some major saddled air cells on some but they have all hatched just fine with those and no issues. I had 28/34 hatch with the 2 combined.

I have seen some put them upright (you can in the NR360 it just takes some work so if you want to do that I can tell you how) for the first day, others the first week and not turn them...... Then others say they have tried both ways and it didn't make a difference. I was too nervous not to turn them at all for a week so didn't try that and figured I would see how it worked putting them right in and got 10/12 that time so figured it worked fine so did it again for the 2nd one and got 18/22.

 

[WhiteTreeOfGondor]

I have hatched shipped eggs twice (with a good seller since I won't count the bad sellers) and I let them sit for 12-24 hrs on the counter with pointy side down then put them in the incubator normally and let them go. I will say I have ended up with some major saddled air cells on some but they have all hatched just fine with those and no issues. I had 28/34 hatch with the 2 combined.

I have seen some put them upright (you can in the NR360 it just takes some work so if you want to do that I can tell you how) for the first day, others the first week and not turn them...... Then others say they have tried both ways and it didn't make a difference. I was too nervous not to turn them at all for a week so didn't try that and figured I would see how it worked putting them right in and got 10/12 that time so figured it worked fine so did it again for the 2nd one and got 18/22.

Thank you, that is encouraging to hear. You didn't need to do anything special to help the ones with saddled air cells?

 

[junior67]

Thank you, that is encouraging to hear. You didn't need to do anything special to help the ones with saddled air cells?

No. I was nervous because some were so bad but they hatched on their own and are now 6 and 7 mo old and still nice and healthy. I will post a couple pics of how bad they were.

 

[Mwhit]

I have hatched shipped eggs twice (with a good seller since I won't count the bad sellers) and I let them sit for 12-24 hrs on the counter with pointy side down then put them in the incubator normally and let them go. I will say I have ended up with some major saddled air cells on some but they have all hatched just fine with those and no issues. I had 28/34 hatch with the 2 combined.

I have seen some put them upright (you can in the NR360 it just takes some work so if you want to do that I can tell you how) for the first day, others the first week and not turn them...... Then others say they have tried both ways and it didn't make a difference. I was too nervous not to turn them at all for a week so didn't try that and figured I would see how it worked putting them right in and got 10/12 that time so figured it worked fine so did it again for the 2nd one and got 18/22.

I’m interested in how you set the eggs upright if you don’t mind to elaborate. Thank you!

 

[junior67]

I’m interested in how you set the eggs upright if you don’t mind to elaborate. Thank you!

What I have seen and I do if I have more than 22 eggs to start and need to stack some on top. Just take an egg carton and cut out each egg spot. Cut a whole in the bottom so air and humidity can get through. Then just set the egg in it. You will need to rotate the eggs a few times a day by hand and make sure the auto turner is off if you do it for all the eggs. But it will keep them upright if you want to incubate that way.

 

[Mwhit]

What I have seen and I do if I have more than 22 eggs to start and need to stack some on top. Just take an egg carton and cut out each egg spot. Cut a whole in the bottom so air and humidity can get through. Then just set the egg in it. You will need to rotate the eggs a few times a day by hand and make sure the auto turner is off if you do it for all the eggs. But it will keep them upright if you want to incubate that way.

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