Incubating Eggs before Shipping

[There a chick...]

I can hatch eggs, and will pay related costs.

I cannot take more than 20 at a time though (two Brinsea Mini incubators).

 

[thebirdguy]

I have heard of people incubating eggs for 3 hours and then able to store those eggs up to a month before resuming incubation with minimal reductions in hatch rates. I plan on doing some experiments this spring and summer... I would be interested in participating with you all as well..

As a side note, did you know that cuckoos and domestic pigeons "incubate" their eggs internally for an extra 24 hours in the case of the cuckoos. It has been shown that this internal incubation at 40 degrees celsius advances the development and results in the cuckoo chick hatching sooner than the eggs in the victim nest allowing it to push the other eggs out of the nest. researchers were able to duplicate this by incubating zebra finch eggs at 40 degrees for the first 24 hours and showed advanced development and earlier hatching..

In a related topic, scientists documented a case in artic terns (if I remember right) where a nest was taken over by a rival pair. The exisiting pair of eggs was pushed to the side but were "added" back into the nest 14 days later the first egg pipped but died, the second hatched along with the new pairs own egg. These two eggs were incubated for 7 days, then exposed to near freezing temperatures for 2 weeks before incubation resumed and still hatched...

Mother nature is pretty amazing huh?

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I'm going to try this with some of my own eggs (being set this afternoon).
To be honest, I'm skeptical --- but you never know til you try. I'll try some bubblewrapped like I always ship eggs, some in newspaper, and some just sitting out (unwrapped).

Lisa

I got mine in December from CA and they were shipped to me in WA state. I'm guessing it was a 2 day thing. They were wrapped in newspaper. I let them sit on the counter for 24 hours before I put them in the bator. I suspect shipping them in winter put them in arrested development mode (though it is doubtful they got below 35F in our milder climates). The guy instructed me they needed a full 21 days incubation...the 3 day fertility incubation did not factor into their hatch time. Actually, I think they hatched around day 22.​

 

[pride&joy]

Very interesting thread I have been thinking about this for a while, before I ever saw the thread. I would have thought not possible but who knows. I am very tempted to try this what is the worst thing that could happen?

 

[muddstopper]

My recent experience is that this doesnt work. I recently lost three trays of eggs, (48per tray) due to forgetting to plug my incubator back in. On a sunday, I always refresh the humidity trays because I am away from home for 4 nights a wk. I unplug the bator when doing this to prevent the fans from blowing out all the heat and humidity while I have the incubator door open. I had added eggs the previous friday. I set eggs on fridays so I can be there when they start to hatch. I also had two more trays of eggs due to hatch one wk apart. Being it was thanksgiving, I arrived back home on Wednsday and of course went to check on the incubator and discovered my mistake. I plugged the bator back in and let all the eggs go to term. I had a zero hatch rate on all the eggs in the incubator, some where even due 2 days after finding my mistake. You can try this if you want to, but I wouldnt use any expensive eggs with this experiment.

 

[BlueBirdChick]

what does that have to do with sending eggs that are already Incubated in the mail?

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
I think muddstopper's point was "I had added eggs the previous friday....Being it was thanksgiving, I arrived back home on Wednsday and of course went to check on the incubator and discovered my mistake."

So the eggs put in on Friday were in the incubator ~5 days when muddstopper discovered the incubator was off. So incubated three days plus travel time equals at least five days.
Joe

 

[muddstopper]

The eggs where put in the incubator friday morning, the incubator was unplugged on Sunday evening, I equate that to 3 days. I arrive home on Wendsday evening and discovered the incubator unplugged. Again, another three days. I know from experience, that if I mail eggs on monday, they usually arrive on wendsday, so pretty much what you could expect if you incubate for three days and then mail, except my eggs didnt go thru the bumpy ride with the PO. I also incubate in my basement where we have a wood heater, adverage basement temp ranges between 72* and 80* during the winter. Temp inside incubator when I found my mistake was 76*F. I dont know how long it took my incubator to cool down from 99.5 to 76, but since the bator is made of wood and is insulated, I suspect several hours.

I'm not saying not to try it, I just wouldnt use expensive eggs for this experiment.

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
I wonder if the slow cool down had a huge impact? Instead of being removed, experiencing rapid cool down and stabilization the embryos died in the process of slowly cooling down.
My EE mutts lay ten eggs over ten + days but always hatch within 12-18 hours not over ten days, how does that happen?
Joe

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I can see this as a useful 'tool' for folks that have poor fertility in their flock/s (haha, but I see mostly they prefer to blame non-viability on rough handling by USPS).
For everyone thinking of pre-incubating and shipping eggs --- are you confident enough in your candling skills to be able to tell whether 'Day 3' eggs are growing or not? That's the point after all, to only send developing eggs.

Lisa