Incubating Shipped Eggs for the First Time

[Hughes Wildlife Farm]

We just hatched 22 mail ordered eggs on Sunday... We had them sitting up, fat side up, at a slight tilt for 12hrs at room temp. Then layed them down in the incubator and let the turning wheel, turn the eggs right off the bat for 18 days.. 99.5 and 53% humidity.. We only candles once at day 6, and saw all air sacs and vains and even a moving chicks in some.. We discarded eggs with no sign of fertility. We never openned the incubator after that... Be sure you have the air vent open at all times.. We increased humidity to 70 on day 18 (stop turning them) and left temp at 99.5... I do think we needed more humidity by last day, as most chicks couldnt get out of their shell because the thin membrain got dried out... Definatly watch a video on how to help a chick out of the shell. As we didn't know the chick WILL be attached by an umbilical cord and if you pull it off, you can split a chicks gut.. We had to watch a YouTube video to see how to use a qtip and warm water to help a chick break out. Some chicks flapped around a while with the shell following behind them attached by umbilical cord, but eventually, broke completely free naturally, or by bumping into another chicks eggs shells... This is very exhusting for them, and the all started drinking the water in the incubator and they could finally relax and dry off

 

[ValerieJ]

I wouldn’t know what to do if the airsack is floating, maybe leave it at 55-65degrees ish for a little while with big side up and no turning? From what I understand it’s pretty rare, so if it happens I would store it in a cool closet then ask on here what to do. I couldn’t tell you LOL!​

Not rare at all with shipped eggs. Depends on the way the post office handles them more than the packaging. I was told to put them on the turner after the 24 hours of rest.

 

[Hughes Wildlife Farm]

aoffand controlling humidity is hard.. I would wake up at 6am... Humidity at 50%... Do morning chores, and suddenly humid in 40%, in just an hour. I would leave for work at 55%humidity, and get home 8hrs later and humidity is at 65%... Room temperature and the temp of the water you add, are just as important... We had a harder time controlling humidity when we did a test run of 2 eggs... But it was easier when the incubator was full with 22 eggs. And keep the incubator on a table or dresser.. Not on the ground or close to ground level..

 

[floppysquirrel04]

 

[BullChick]

If the air cell is detached, wait to turn as you thought. While your initial humidity goal is too high (35 is good for even the BCM), you are weighing them, and will know firsthand if you indeed need it higher. Be sure you do weigh the BCM eggs separately IMO since they are supposed to be fussier. I incubated BCM my first few hatches, and had success. Others can’t hatch them for anything. That being said, I never ever ever got a blue or green egg to hatch in an incubator. I gave them to the broodies, and stole their brown eggs.

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

If the air cell is detached, wait to turn as you thought. While your initial humidity goal is too high (35 is good for even the BCM), you are weighing them, and will know firsthand if you indeed need it higher. Be sure you do weigh the BCM eggs separately IMO since they are supposed to be fussier. I incubated BCM my first few hatches, and had success. Others can’t hatch them for anything. That being said, I never ever ever got a blue or green egg to hatch in an incubator. I gave them to the broodies, and stole their brown eggs.

Haha oh no! I better get a couple blue or green ones to hatch or I’ll be miffed!!! So 35% humidity even at high altitude?? That seems so low but I’ve read people having success with dry incubation but then also read high altitude needs high humidity so basically that’s why weighing them will be helpful for my peace of mind lol

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

aoffand controlling humidity is hard.. I would wake up at 6am... Humidity at 50%... Do morning chores, and suddenly humid in 40%, in just an hour. I would leave for work at 55%humidity, and get home 8hrs later and humidity is at 65%... Room temperature and the temp of the water you add, are just as important... We had a harder time controlling humidity when we did a test run of 2 eggs... But it was easier when the incubator was full with 22 eggs. And keep the incubator on a table or dresser.. Not on the ground or close to ground level..

Good to know all of this. I’m going to put the incubator on a card table in our guest room.
What kind of incubator do you have?

 

[BluebirdHomestead]

We just hatched 22 mail ordered eggs on Sunday... We had them sitting up, fat side up, at a slight tilt for 12hrs at room temp. Then layed them down in the incubator and let the turning wheel, turn the eggs right off the bat for 18 days.. 99.5 and 53% humidity.. We only candles once at day 6, and saw all air sacs and vains and even a moving chicks in some.. We discarded eggs with no sign of fertility. We never openned the incubator after that... Be sure you have the air vent open at all times.. We increased humidity to 70 on day 18 (stop turning them) and left temp at 99.5... I do think we needed more humidity by last day, as most chicks couldnt get out of their shell because the thin membrain got dried out... Definatly watch a video on how to help a chick out of the shell. As we didn't know the chick WILL be attached by an umbilical cord and if you pull it off, you can split a chicks gut.. We had to watch a YouTube video to see how to use a qtip and warm water to help a chick break out. Some chicks flapped around a while with the shell following behind them attached by umbilical cord, but eventually, broke completely free naturally, or by bumping into another chicks eggs shells... This is very exhusting for them, and the all started drinking the water in the incubator and they could finally relax and dry off

Off to watch videos of helping chicks out of their shells just in case. Thanks!

 

[BullChick]

I’m not at that high, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are watching the air cells. You are totally prepared, and I applaud you.

 

[BullChick]

By the way, dry incubating means natural humidity only (aprx 25%). I can only do that on the fourth Saturday of May after a leap year if there is a full moon.