Question about a hatching eggs

[PineHavenMama]

Hello,
I finally received my hatching eggs. They were delivered late and so I immediately unpacked them to place them pointy end down to rest for a bit. One egg has a crack in it and as well as they were packaged, I feel like it was probably like that when packed. My husband said there must be a reason why the seller sent it. Maybe he feels like it is viable? I don’t know and am wondering if I should even try to incubate it.

Also, any idea what the numbers on the eggs mean? I’m hoping not the date collected or else they’re really old.

Should I be concerned about eggs that are dirty? Forgive the questions. First time with shipped eggs. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Pyxis]

I doubt the seller sent a cracked egg. The post office is just rough with them sometimes, and sometimes they manage to crack or crush an egg or two in even the best packaging.

You can try sealing the crack with candle wax or tape and give incubating it a shot, if you want.

The numbers could be all manner of things. Maybe it's the way the seller tells their pens apart and he marks the pen number on the eggs so he knows which pen each egg is from. Only way to know is to ask the seller.

Dirty eggs hatch just fine. Often people don't want their hatching eggs washed because they feel it removes the bloom. If the dirt bothers you and you aren't worried about that, then feel free to gently wash them.

You take a chance when you order shipped eggs. Sometimes the PO cracks them. Sometimes they shake them up so badly they're no longer viable. Sometimes, like right now when the post office is experiencing high volume, they are delayed. The seller can't control any of this. And sometimes you get lucky and have a really great hatch. It's all up to chance.

 

[PineHavenMama]

Thank you. I am not worried about the dirt myself. I thought I’d read something about it posing a potential problem in the incubator, but the mother hen doesn’t wash the eggs so it shouldn’t be an issue.