Incubating Eggs from Road-side Stall?

[DemeterAD9]

Seeing as my last hatch from shipped eggs was only 8/17 of those that made it to lock down I kind of want to compare to non-shipped eggs. I've been contemplating incubating eggs from roadside stalls for a while now after noticing the fertility was pretty good in the last few dozen my dad brought home. Well, as fate would have it 3 dozen fresh eggs were sitting on top of the fridge (not inside) when I got home from work. After inspecting and candling I set aside a baker's dozen of the best looking ones. I am still on the fence about starting them as I had other plans kicking around in my head. I wanted to buy some eggs a state away that are from a mixed flock of large breeds like Jersey giants, bresse, brahma etc. and start them to hatch on or very near the arrival date of my Meyer order which should arrive ~May 21-22. But now that these much cheaper, and far less scrambled eggs have appeared I kind of want to use them instead...

Anyone else ever try this? I am unsure what breeds they come from so if anyone can possibly make a best guess based on egg color that would be nice. I chose based on egg size/shape and then color (dark browns, 2 green EE/OE, a white and a few light brown ones so I can be sure of development). The 4 on the top left are experimental, eggs kept in the fridge from the last dozen. Not concerned about them but would be eggstatic if they hatched because they are beautiful.

Here are some photos of the samples I cracked open to check fertility. Do at least some look fertile or am I just seeing things?

I'm thinking I'll wait a few days before starting incubation so if they do hatch they will only be a week older than the Meyer chicks.

 

[Sally PB]

Can you stop at that location (I'm assuming it's someone's house?) and ask questions about what breeds they have and if the eggs might be fertile?

If the eggs were from my chickens, I'd be flattered if someone wanted to hatch them.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Can you stop at that location (I'm assuming it's someone's house?) and ask questions about what breeds they have and if the eggs might be fertile?

If the eggs were from my chickens, I'd be flattered if someone wanted to hatch them.

I'll probably buy another dozen on Monday and leave a note in their money box with my # and some questions. Less uncomfortable than knocking on their door

After chatting with a friend who said she would likely take any extra chicks, I've made plans to use the full capacity of my incubator (about 24 eggs). 10 eggs will be the barnyard mix of large breeds I mentioned in the first post, and the rest will be these roadside eggs. Shipped eggs should arrive by Wednesday, they just shipped today. If all goes as planned I'll set the eggs the day after the shipped eggs arrive. I'll keep updating this thread as things progress.

 

[Emmaloveschickens9156]

They appear fertile, I’m going to bed so I will be offline until tomorrow afternoon possibly, bye everyone

 

[16 and me]

Hard to tell on the first 2 pics. #2 doesn't look like it. #'s 3-5 do look fertile though. I've considered doing the same in the past, but I was leery, not knowing the health or history of the hens that laid them. I have a few friends with chickens, so if I want to add some fresh DNA to my flock, I'll probably just get eggs from them

 

[DemeterAD9]

Well, I just set 34 eggs down in the incubator! 10 of the large breed mix and 24 from a roadside stall (some had been in the fridge for a while).



I decided to dry incubate them vertically which also allowed me to fit several more than if I did it horizontally. They will be turned simply by tilting the entire incubator this way or that, rotating at a 3/6/9/12 clockwise order. They are in there pretty snuggly so they shouldn't get jostled around much at all. I do not expect a huge fertility rate so I'll be checking them at day 7. Depending on how many are developing I may or may not switch them to horizontal with the automatic turner going.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Humidity is staying at a stable 40ish% and temp is between 99.5 and 100. I've been tilting the incubator several times a day.

It's been a week or so now and admittedly I've been candling them since day 2. I saw development as early as 3 days! Looks like at least 8/10 of the large breed shipped eggs are developing and the air cells seem to of stabilized really well.

Of the roadside stall eggs there is at least 5 for sure, one being a green egg (can't see through the shell of the other one). I removed 2 that were clearly not developing (one had cracks I hadn't noticed) and there's a few more that need to go as well. One may have already quite early on, I'll know for sure in a few more days. One of the developing eggs appeared to have some floaties inside before I saw development, not sure if they were meat spots are what but I'm surprised it's doing okay.

There's about 8 brown eggs I just cannot see through very well. Guess I'll have to wait another week and see if the eggs becomes mostly dark inside. The darkest egg, the bottom left corner, is impossible to see though at all so it'll be staying till hatch day (May 15th).

 

[DemeterAD9]

10 more days! I've just finished candling and sorting out all the quitters/duds. 10 for sure are kicking around inside and I left 4 others that I just can't tell.

4 of the 10 shipped eggs are still going, at least 4 were quitters after about a week in. Of the road side stall eggs that were not refrigerated (at least in our fridge) there are 6 alive plus the 4 others I can't candle, of the ones I took out it seems none developed but I will know more when I open them up tomorrow. None of the refrigerated eggs developed.

 

[DemeterAD9]

Locked down today with 14 eggs at 65% humidity. 12 I know for sure are developing, 2 were removed, one being from the road side stand which ended up being a quitter (blood ring, no notable embryo).

The 4 shipped eggs are looking good for the most part. One does have a huge air cell, about 1/3 of the egg. 2 seem to have relatively small air cells but there is movement and veins so we'll see. I'll be keeping the eggs vertical but checking them often for pips, I hear dry hatches tend to hatch a day early.

 

[DemeterAD9]

One of the brown eggs is internally pipped! Saw a shadow while candling and got it to respond with some chirps.

As for the other eggs, I feel like the veins and fluids are starting to recede a bit. The few big veins I could see around the air cells are looking less apparent and it's a bit lighter around the membrane, like it is deflating? Hard to describe and too impatient to take decent photos.