Poorly shipped eggs, no air cell!?

[Phillisy]

My mum had eggs shipped to her that arrived today; they were collected between the 17th & 21st, and travelled about 500km. This is only her second time getting shipped eggs, and the first didn't go too well for a few reasons - mainly being poor quality stock (which she found out after buying them), rough shipping, and temps being a bit low (which has been corrected).

These new eggs (blue partridge brahma) were shipped wrapped in toilet paper, in individual bubble wrap baggies, but they were just sandwiched between bigger bubble wrap and news paper, with nothing keeping them upright, so they were all on their sides . None are broken, one is slightly cracked, but the problem is she can't find their air cells... at all. Not even floaters.

I got her to set them in an egg carton, blunt end up, for the next 24hrs before she puts them in her incubator (24-48 hours no turning once in there as well). But I'm wondering if this is a bad sign? I know fresh eggs have smaller cells, but they oldest of the eggs are 8 days today, so there should be something there... right?

Her last hatch broke my heart, I don't think either of us are ready to go through that again.

 

[WickedChicksNH]

By day 8 you should more than likely see some development. I am always one that will still hold on to hope. But it seems like you might have infertile eggs.
Sorry you have to go through this. It is very hard. I would find a different place to order your eggs or find a local place that you can pick them up.

 

[Phillisy]

These eggs are from a different place than the first, and a reputable breeder at that, so hopefully...

Oddly enough the first batch of eggs were packed really well, but the person selling them had very poor quality sick birds, which we were unaware of until it was too late, so most of the chicks didn't fare well. I'm the type that holds hope too, so I have my fingers crossed that these eggs will be the reverse of the last ones; poor packaging but lots of healthy babies .

Brahmas aren't terribly common around here, so she took her chances on shipped because buying local wasn't an option unfortunately. Joys of living rural.