I did a quick candling last night to see if I could remove any eggs. Two had blood rings and they are now gone. I have eggs from 2 different breeders in the 'bator. One set, from a friend's sis, is doing well. There is veining in all of the light eggs and I can't see in to the EE or Marans, but one of the Marans is more translucent so I thinks its going to be clear. So 7/8 look ok or unknown. I was skeptical on this one because 4 of the eggs were badly damaged in transit so I figured they were gonners.
Unfortunately, the other eggs look terrible. I left most of them in, but I don't see veins and most look clear or like early quitters but no blood ring yet. There were several detached air cells and one where the air cell was at the pointy end despite being set fat-end up. I will be surprised if I get any chicks from these eggs, which really bums me out.
One thought that occurred to me is the altitude difference--I am at about 5,000 feet. The breeder with the developing eggs is from Montana which is going to be over 3,000 feet. The breeder from the unhappy eggs is from Georgia which has gotta be around 1,000. Could altitude be a factor? Has anyone had good luck with eggs from a low altitude hatching in a high altitude incubator?
Montana is also much closer to Colorado than Georgia so it could be jostling in transit.