I have no luck with shipped eggs!

[speckledhen]

Egg should not be shipped older than 2 days

Normally, that would be true, however, out of necessity, I have shipped eggs that were a week old due to only having two hens in one certain breed (with knowledge of the buyer, of course). Since each hen only lays at most, one egg per day, sometimes it cannot be helped. You can hatch eggs that are up to two weeks old with little difference in hatchability, as long as they are treated well by the P.O. and the breeder birds are healthy and the eggs good quality in the first place. It seems to have no real bearing on the hatches, as arabookworm's hatch seems to indicate.​

 

[terrif]

This summer I went through about 225 shipped eggs, and had 8 hatch. I've almost sworn off hatching out shipped eggs. But that's so depressing! Problem is, I can't get what I want here in mid-Missouri, so I don't have a choice. In one of the previous posts there was a comment about getting a better hatch rate in fall or spring. Have most of you experienced that?? I wasn't going to order anything through the winter, I figured being too cold was worse than being too hot.

Terri.

 

[Patchesnposies]

I don't know. Hatching shipped eggs is just weirdly difficult, so many variables come into play!

A week or so ago I hatched out 5 of 15 serama eggs. We were so happy! The little chicks are doing great too. These eggs were from Arkansas, we are in southern New Mexico.

I now have 48 or so serama eggs in the incubator now. Some are from Pennsylvania and some are from Alabama. Of all that we got from PA, I believe I have ONE egg that has a chick in it. These eggs were more difficult to candle, but it still seems that an inordinate number were clear and/or quit early. We did toss some after opening them, until we opened one that had a developing chick in it that we didn't see.

We left the rest in there in the hopes that there may be a chick or two in other eggs. But, I really don't think we'll get any.

We got a smaller number of eggs from Alabama and have 8 that have chicks for sure, and two that are maybe's. In the eight eggs I actually saw chicks moving in them, the other two I didn't see movement but the eggs were full of chicks.

These 11 are supposed to be hatching today and tomorrow. I have seen no pips and only one little egg rocking a bit. Haven't heard any chirps yet.

Who knows if we'll get any to hatch. We did have a 50% hatch rate with our very first chicken eggs-those were black Langshans.

This is a lot more difficult than we anticipated, but it is FUN! Nothing like seeing that little wet baby come out of that egg and turn into a little puff ball.

ETA: The Langshan's were shipped to us from NE Texas.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Really better to cool than to hot, as those days in the 90s can start the incubation.

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Normally, that would be true, however, out of necessity, I have shipped eggs that were a week old due to only having two hens in one certain breed (with knowledge of the buyer, of course). Since each hen only lays at most, one egg per day, sometimes it cannot be helped. You can hatch eggs that are up to two weeks old with little difference in hatchability, as long as they are treated well by the P.O. and the breeder birds are healthy and the eggs good quality in the first place. It seems to have no real bearing on the hatches, as arabookworm's hatch seems to indicate.

I alway found the hatch rate drops after 10 days. Some type store better also like the guineas.

True even week old eggs can be shipped, but best if not older than 2 orr 3 days. Just in case they take to long in shipping.

 

[terrif]

Quote:
Really better to cool than to hot, as those days in the 90s can start the incubation.

But don't they freeze??

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Being too hot is way worse than being too cold IMO. I had quail eggs shipped the end of the summer. Some from AL, some from MS. Out of 38 eggs, I got 3 chicks. I had quail eggs sent last month, from AK to KY. out of 48 eggs, I have 19 chicks, and of the remaining eggs there were 18 clear and 11 that quit at hatch time. Absorbed yolks and everything for the most part.
Plus these eggs I got from JMajors were sent 2 weeks ago, from MO to KY. All 5 duck eggs started developing, and 2 for sure of the goose eggs. It was maybe 40 degrees when they got here.
I would much rather get eggs when it is cold. As long as they don't freeze, I think they have a better chance. I have more eggs coming from JMajors, and some duck eggs coming from SC. I will be getting some quail eggs today most likely from someone else here in KY, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
Normally, that would be true, however, out of necessity, I have shipped eggs that were a week old due to only having two hens in one certain breed (with knowledge of the buyer, of course). Since each hen only lays at most, one egg per day, sometimes it cannot be helped. You can hatch eggs that are up to two weeks old with little difference in hatchability, as long as they are treated well by the P.O. and the breeder birds are healthy and the eggs good quality in the first place. It seems to have no real bearing on the hatches, as arabookworm's hatch seems to indicate.

I alway found the hatch rate drops after 10 days. Some type store better also like the guineas.

True even week old eggs can be shipped, but best if not older than 2 orr 3 days. Just in case they take to long in shipping.

I agree, always better fresh. Never know what the P.O. is going to do!

 

[magsrags]

I really think everything considered it is shipping that makes the difference. In a near perfect hatch I sat 16 silkie eggs and 13 hatched out beautifull. Boy was I surprised. (and overwhelmed)

Then out of 8 eggs shortly after....only 2 hatched and the rest were clear. Go figure..........it is a gamble each time I think.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I shipped 6 Light Brahma eggs to Equibling in WA a couple of months ago to help test fertility. Of those 6, 4 hatched. I set 10 eggs the first round, got 1 to hatch. I couldn't believe that I couldn't hatch my own eggs at that point! The second set none hatched. One by one I watched them quit. But there are so many variables that it really is a gamble, sometimes even with your own eggs. We had a 7 hour power outage and I think I waited too long to get out the generator. Unfortunately, hatching eggs is one way that many of us in "remote" areas have to resort to in order to get the breeds we want. I have one Red Dorking that cost me about $75 in eggs to get, and one Silver Grey Dorking that was 4 batches and $150 later. If I can get chicks, I will, but I didn't want to wait on a hatchery waiting list until 2009 to get chicks because they were sold out for 2008. So I had to try to hatch eggs. Early Spring or late Fall seem to be the best times, because the temps are just right all around.