Incubating shipped eggs soon

[shandy]

Hi there!
I have incubated eggs before, but this is my first experience with hatching shipped eggs. I have a couple questions... I have the egg turner in which the eggs lay on their side and I understand that is not the way to go for shipped eggs. I will keep them upright somehow. I read about using a paper egg carton cut down. I have a couple of questions about that.

1. What is the best way to make sure you use an egg carton that is as free as bacteria as possible?
2. Do you turn all the eggs by hand the same careful way, or do you separate the ones with questionable air cells?
3. Is there another better (easier) way to do this?

I'm not thrilled about turning them by hand since my egg turned isn't set up for this, but I'll do what I need to do!
Thanks!!

 

[diamondsilkies]

I've only hatched two batches of shipped eggs, but my advice is this:
-For turning, don't turn for the first two days. It will help them settle. I just continued turning as normal after that, but I'm not sure if there's a better way.
-Let them rest, upside down, for 24 hours before incubation.

Best of luck to you!

 

[RollTideChicken]

You'll get various opinions on this. So here's mine...
I had the best hatch rate ever off shipped eggs by loading them up in the incubator right away but leaving the egg turner off for the first 24 hours. I got 80% hatch.

 

[RollTideChicken]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ia-incubators-anonymous-september-hatches.1268500/
This is a thread that a few of us documented one of our shipped egg hatchings.

 

[AltonaAcres]

I think letting them rest outside of the incubator after shipping is the best idea. However if people have gotten good hatch rates otherwise, it probably doesn't matter. Speaking of shipped eggs, does anyone know if West Knoll Farm has an account on BYC? I got eggs from them and it went great.