Incubating Eggs before Shipping

[shelleyd2008]

One thing I've noted in this thread that directly conflicts with WhiteConfections's listing is that s/he says the eggs are 'cooled rapidly' to below room temperature to stall the development of the embryo. So it sounds to me like you'd need to put them in the freezer or a very cold refrigerator for a while to cool them quickly, rather than just sitting them on the table to cool.

Taken from WhiteConfections's auction (https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=456087):

*Heat Treated Eggs are eggs that have been 'heat treated', or put through a special process to further increase hatch-ability by advancing the embryo to a certain stage, then quickly cooled down to below room temperature to capture the embryo in that stage of development, so that when it is shipped, the more mature embryo is more able to grow because it is more hardy than it's counterparts.

Someone needs to experiment on how long to keep the eggs in the fridge/freezer to get them below room temp. Maybe WC will post on this thread and share his/her knowledge

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

I'm excited for you. Can't wait to hear how it goes.

 

[RioLindoAz]

Don't eggs remain dormant when the aren't being incubated? E.I., They don't develop when no heat is applied?
Also, It would be interesting to find out how long a 3-5 day old incubated egg could last "dormantly"

 

[flower]

Once while shopping on-line, I found a site that preheated their quail eggs before sending them out to customers to be incubated and the results of the incubation were very good. If this can be true of quail why not chickens ?

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
So eggs are sitting in a nest ... at say seventy degrees an no development is happening until the hen boost the temp to one hundred degrees.
What about all the Trader Joe eggs that have been hatched after 1-2 weeks of refrigeration?

 

[jmagill]

"Storage of hatching eggs
Effects of storage and early incubation conditions on egg characteristics, embryonic
development, hatchability, and chick quality."

http://www.hatchtech.net/html/pdf/articles/Storage of hatching eggs_summary PhD Inge Reijrink.pdf

Another article.

http://ps.fass.org/cgi/reprint/80/10/1406.pdf

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

I am trying to hatch eggs that were incubated almost three days and then chilled to around 50 degrees (power outage

).

I started incubation, again, after 53 hours of reduced temps.

It has been nearly a week since power was restored. I will know more when I candle.

Eggs that were two weeks into incubation died in the power outage.

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
Great articles, thanks for sharing them.

 

[jmagill]

Here is another good article.

"Pre-Storage Incubation
In both chickens and turkeys, research on incubation of freshly laid eggs prior to any storage has helped to reduce the negative effects of extended storage. Research has shown that incubating turkey eggs for 12 hours, at normal incubation temperatures, prior to storage for 14 days improved the hatchability of these eggs from 64.4% (no pre-storage incubation) to 70.9% (Fasenko, et al., 2001). This positive effect of pre-storage incubation on hatchability of long-term stored eggs has also been demonstrated in broiler breeders (Fasenko, et al. 2001b). Although broiler breeders require less pre-storage incubation time (6 hours), the same stage of embryonic development is reached as that of the turkey embryo from an egg incubated for 12 hours. These research studies indicate that the embryonic stage of development that is best able to withstand storage is the same in both turkeys and chickens.

As there are logistical problems with incubating eggs prior to any storage (no incubators are housed on farm), a similar research project in my lab was conducted on broiler eggs to determine if incubation after on-farm storage but before hatchery storage would provide the same beneficial effects on hatchability of stored eggs. Unfortunately, post-farm, pre-hatchery storage incubation was not as effective as incubating eggs prior to any storage. This indicates that there is something about a freshly laid egg that responds better to pre-storage incubation treatments."

http://www.zootecnicainternational....ment/745-optimal-egg-storage-conditions-.html

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Wow thats interesting. Thanks for sharing that!