Orienting shipped eggs upright for lockdown

[jj555333111]

Lockdown for my California quail eggs begins tomorrow. I've read about how shipped eggs sometimes survive until lockdown but still fail to hatch. Is this true, and is it because of damaged or detached air cells?

Should I cut out pieces of the egg carton they were shipped in to make little egg-holders, such that I can have each egg sitting upright, pointy-side down, for hatching? That way the air cell (even if detached) will be in the correct place? Is there any disadvantage to this?

Thanks!

 

[Uff Da]

Have you been incubating them with the air cells up? If they have been incubated with the air cells up, they can either be left upright to hatch, or put on their sides. If any air cells are so loose that they float away when being laid down, it is very unlikely the chick would have developed at all. So it is your preference.

If they haven't been incubated upright all along, it won't make any difference at this point whether they are upright or not.

 

[cmfarm]

Usually loose air cells re-attach during incubation, or like the post above said they probably won't develop at all. So if they have made it this far in development the air cell should be attached. Now where problems can arise is in misshapen air sacks. Sometimes they can form a saddle shape or be on the side of the egg and that is when you can run into problems if they aren't able to pip into the air cell.

 

[jj555333111]

Usually loose air cells re-attach during incubation, or like the post above said they probably won't develop at all. So if they have made it this far in development the air cell should be attached. Now where problems can arise is in misshapen air sacks. Sometimes they can form a saddle shape or be on the side of the egg and that is when you can run into problems if they aren't able to pip into the air cell.

They were incubated pointy-side down 7 days, then on their side (with an automatic turner) for 10 days.

Given the potential for misshapen air sacks, should I hatch them pointy-side down just to be safe? Or does it not matter?

 

[cmfarm]

A lot of people will hatch shipped eggs pointy side down in a carton instead of on their side.