Mailing hatching eggs- the secret?

[DawnSuiter]

I am shipping like this:
tucked into a napkin or two

nestled into the carton (larger carton than the egg size)

carton wrapped with foil for protection

damp cloth in warm/hot weather (nothing if cold)

wrapped in a grocery sack

nestled in a box

I'm using the big box pictured for long distance travels and a Priority Mail SHOEBOX for local (within a few hundred miles) travel

With every layer I put on the carton, I use a Sharpie to write TOP on it several times so everyone knows which way is up.

So far so good, and I'm really happy sending in cartons, it makes me feel better and it's SO MUCH easier to unwrap.

 

[ozark hen]

Ok, can someone help me out here? How do I tell if the airsack is broken? I assume by candling? When do I candle? What am I looking for? Sorry, but having problems with shipped eggs and can't figure out what is wrong. The eggs are wrapped in bubble wrap, then separated by bubble wrap and lots of bubble wrap around the outside of the eggs. Not a wrapping problem at all.
Sorry if this is a dumb question.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

I always candle right after I unpack them.
Candle from thw big end as usual. Now roll the eggs side to side,
Does the membrain in the big end move with you?
If so, it had a ruff trip and is just LOOSE, these will still usually hatch.
However, if you cant really see the air cell but notice tiny bubbles all there the egg, (it will be very apparent) Then the cell is ruptured and these never hatch, you will be wasting time to even try them.
And that's it.
Hope that helped,
Aubrey

 

[ozark hen]

Quote:
Thank you so much! This is the first I was ever aware of broken air sacks and this is my third year raising chickens. You never stop learning now do you? I cannot thank you enough.

 

[geareduplyn]

Quote:
There were pictures of my pack on another thread last week. I guess Alaska would be the farthest that I have sent eggs. The biggest pack I ever created was a reusable one for the Polaris Missile.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
There were pictures of my pack on another thread last week. I guess Alaska would be the farthest that I have sent eggs. The biggest pack I ever created was a reusable one for the Polaris Missile.



Must say I'm glad THAT was well packed!

ETA- are you a chitlin eater?

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
Inquiring minds want to know, how'd the turnout go?

 

[Clay In Iowa]

I got 12 of those, marked "live"

All 12 had disrupted but intact air cells. The previous batch of 18 from Melissa had 14 broken air cells and 4 disrupted. All 4 disrupted are developing.

 

[ShadyGlade]

Quote:
There were pictures of my pack on another thread last week. I guess Alaska would be the farthest that I have sent eggs. The biggest pack I ever created was a reusable one for the Polaris Missile.



Must say I'm glad THAT was well packed!

ETA- are you a chitlin eater?

 

[pasofinofarm]

Quote:
Inquiring minds want to know, how'd the turnout go?

Clay reported a much better arrival on his.. the other folks do not candle on arrival. I am now marking all boxes as live and hope to collect enough data to be able to say if it is working soon.

With 12-15 sets of hatching eggs a week going out of here now it shouldn't be long. Overall hatches were going great even without the LIVE marking but I really want to do ALL I can to give someone the best chance of a hatch.

I am not sure we can ever completely eradicate disrupted air cells as just the jaring of travel can loosen the membrane but I am hoping that completely ruptured air cells and broken yolks will be a thing of the past with the new markings.

I do not believe that postal employees even have time to deliberately mess with packages but machine handled mail sustains an unacceptable amount of damage sometimes... so I really want mine being handled by a PERSON if there is any way to get that done. I have not had a broken or cracked egg all year that I am aware of but am still trying to improve.