- Jan 26, 2014
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I have been selling eggs on ebay for several years and shipped over a thousand eggs last spring. I have never heard of waiting 5 days after arrival to start incubation. I recommend no more then 24 hours and only if the eggs are under 6 days old when the arrive. If older then 6 days old, I recommend incubating them immediately and just leaving the turner (if using one) off for the first few days. The fact the the chicks were candy wrapped (caught in membrane), indicates that there was a low humidity problem. Was the person doing the incubation using a home built bator?
Here are some basic you may already know about incubation and buying eggs off of ebay. Eggs are the best (for incubation) from laid to 7 days old. They are still good up to 14 days, but viabilty goes down after day 7. Never buy eggs from a seller that will ship once the day time temps are reaching 95 degrees. Once temps reach 95 degrees eggs CANNOT be shipped through the mail. Never buy from a seller that does not offer a "No Zero Hatch" guarantee. 99% of ebay egg seller pride themselves on declaring that they hold no responsibilty for your hatch. This is not true. There are dozens of factors that effect the hatchibility of eggs BEFORE and after they are put in the mail that only the seller has control over. A seller that does not have the confidence to offer a guarentee, is not doing his best to give you the best eggs he can, or they are assuming everyone is a dishonest crook that would only lie about their hatch to get their money back and that's how they are treating everyone (which is kind of insulting).
Honestly, it is best if you can find eggs or bird locally.
I don't know about the homemade incubator... and I'm proabably not going to ask. It is a co-worker, one of the "I know everything about everything types" and I really just should not have had them do it. I agree with the humidity thing... I'm guessing they just really don't know what to do. This is the same person who later had disease come in and wipe out most of their flock.. fortunately I knew to segregate them for awhile first, and no illness ever showed up at my place. It was just a bad very expensive experience and I am now much smarter for it.
I would love to find them locally, but the closest "local" option is 3 hours away, and no one seems to have what I'm looking for, lol. No one is selling hatching eggs or chicks really. So.... my choices are limited.
P.S. Your siggy is just fantastic, I love it!
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