"Settling" Shipped Eggs: Necessary? With Auto-Turner?

[angusb]

An update on my eggs: of the shipped eggs that arrived in good condition, and which went directly into the incubator without settling, about half hatched. The other eggs, that were abused in transit, and which DID settle before going into the incubator, NONE hatched. Today was day 21 for them. The other eggs were two days older, and they hatched out two days ago. I'm not going to give up entirely for one more day, but I don't have a lot of hope for them.

 

[SierraView]

I had 2 shipments of silkie eggs from different people, both were 24 eggs and arrived the same day. They were in the same size boxes but packaged differently. Box 1 the eggs were in great condition. Box 2 every egg had a detached air cell. I let them both settle for 24 hours.

I put box 1 right in the turner and box 2 wasn't turned for 7 days. I candled at day 7 and box 1 had one clear I tossed, 23 eggs in box 1 made it to lock down. Box 2 had 6 eggs start to develop and when I candled at lock down 5 look like they quit around day 14. 1 egg from box 2 went to lock down and the air cell looked wrong but I could see red veins so think it was alive.

Today is day 21 and the one egg from box 2 hasn't hatched, I got 19 chicks out of 23 eggs from box 1.

I believe the way the eggs are handled and packaged plays a huge part on the success.

 

[chkinut]

I had 2 shipments of silkie eggs from different people, both were 24 eggs and arrived the same day. They were in the same size boxes but packaged differently. Box 1 the eggs were in great condition. Box 2 every egg had a detached air cell. I let them both settle for 24 hours.

I put box 1 right in the turner and box 2 wasn't turned for 7 days. I candled at day 7 and box 1 had one clear I tossed, 23 eggs in box 1 made it to lock down. Box 2 had 6 eggs start to develop and when I candled at lock down 5 look like they quit around day 14. 1 egg from box 2 went to lock down and the air cell looked wrong but I could see red veins so think it was alive.

Today is day 21 and the one egg from box 2 hasn't hatched, I got 19 chicks out of 23 eggs from box 1.

I believe the way the eggs are handled and packaged plays a huge part on the success.

wow! that was very very informative! i'm in lockdown now with 2 sets of eggs that were in bad shape when they got here. out of my 15 EE eggs that were sent to me (in which 2 were demolished and 2 had cracks) only 2 made it to lockdown, one of which was one of the eggs with the crack in which i had put wax over the crack. glad i didn't throw that away. i let them rest for 3 days without turning. the silkies.....3 made it to lockdown, but 10 never developed anyway (MPC "fertile" hatching eggs.....fertile? lol) anyway, tomorrow or sunday or monday they should hatch.

 

[Habibs Hens]

I have 6 Buffs that where shipped to me in my bator

i was also told let them settle for 24 hours i allowed 12 hours before setting

today is day 5 and after candling 2 are devoloping and 4 look like the airsacs may have ruptured in transit

my next batch i will collect but i wont rule out shipped eggs

i see alot of successfull reports on them

and where as if you got 100% hatch rate on your own or collected eggs there are people claiming 80% on shipped

for me looks like a measly 20% and that all depends on if they hatch

 

[SierraView]

I had 2 shipments of silkie eggs from different people, both were 24 eggs and arrived the same day. They were in the same size boxes but packaged differently. Box 1 the eggs were in great condition. Box 2 every egg had a detached air cell. I let them both settle for 24 hours.

I put box 1 right in the turner and box 2 wasn't turned for 7 days. I candled at day 7 and box 1 had one clear I tossed, 23 eggs in box 1 made it to lock down. Box 2 had 6 eggs start to develop and when I candled at lock down 5 look like they quit around day 14. 1 egg from box 2 went to lock down and the air cell looked wrong but I could see red veins so think it was alive.

Today is day 21 and the one egg from box 2 hasn't hatched, I got 19 chicks out of 23 eggs from box 1.

I believe the way the eggs are handled and packaged plays a huge part on the success.

Today is day 22, couldn't see any pips on the unhatched eggs so I opened the only egg from box 2 it had pipped internally and was dead. Maybe it was unable to position itself due to the weird shaped air cell.

In box 1 a egg was pipped on the wrong end and had some dried yolk leaking out, the chick was dead. So I opened another egg and the darn chick was alive! So put it back in there and left the other 2 eggs alone.

I had a very good hatch from box 1 So I ordered more silkie eggs from the same person. If I have another good hatch from these eggs a second time, I would believe that the way the seller packages eggs is the key factor in a successful hatch. If they eggs can shake or rattle they are likely doomed even if the USPS handles the box with care.

I have ordered shipped eggs many times over the last few years and had many with detached air sells. This was the first time I left them out of the turner for a full 7 days normally I would go only 3 days. Going 7 days didn't make any difference in the eggs from box 2. I've seen people say they hatched eggs with detached air cells many times but for me I hatch maybe 1% of detached air cells. Hope to find a way to improve those odds.

 

[Zootopia]

I had just about given up on some BLRW I had in the hatcher, only 5 made it to lock down and yesterday was day 21 , nothing. This morning I had 2 pipped but they were upside down, I made sure they could breath, set them on there side so they wouldn't be standing on their heads and I'll check on them later, really hoping the other 3 will get around to it too.
I got 2 boxes yesterday, one with guinea eggs, they are fine, the broodys will be happy. The other you could see the top and side were dented, the PO gave me one of those plastic office mail baskets to carry it in since it was leaking. I have ordered for them before and the packing was great, same this time. There were a total of 9 crunched eggs, 28 of them were fine, only 2 of the good eggs had alittle goo on them. At least I didn't have to wash them all. I got a box earlier in the month with one broken egg and had to wash most of the eggs in the box.
The air cells were predictably loose, I only looked at a couple of the white eggs in the box, everything else is either blue/green or dark brown. The air cells are small anyway and almost impossible to see. I'll just let them set.

 

[Habibs Hens]

you talk of cracking the eggs open

i am presumming you open them carefully and zip them

do you know of a video or something that i can see this being done as i am worried that my 2 devoloping eggs may have pipping issues

 

[SierraView]

you talk of cracking the eggs open

i am presumming you open them carefully and zip them

do you know of a video or something that i can see this being done as i am worried that my 2 devoloping eggs may have pipping issues

I didn't open the eggs as careful as I could of, I thought they would be dead. I tapped the top where the air cell is with a knife and peeled open the top of the shell where the air cell is. When I discovered a live chick I put the opened egg back in and the 2 others I hadn't opened yet. The whole top where the air cell was is peeled open and the chick is exposed. It's been over 2 hours and it's still alive so guess it might make it but odds are slim.

 

[Habibs Hens]

I didn't open the eggs as careful as I could of, I thought they would be dead. I tapped the top where the air cell is with a knife and peeled open the top of the shell where the air cell is. When I discovered a live chick I put the opened egg back in and the 2 others I hadn't opened yet. The whole top where the air cell was is peeled open and the chick is exposed. It's been over 2 hours and it's still alive so guess it might make it but odds are slim.

thanks for the info

i just looked at a few zipping vids and see that its important to make sure the membrane is not broken when assisting a zip

fingers crossed and all prayers to god that i wont have to interveine and i will get natural hatches

 

[chickee35]

Update on my shipped eggs. Out of my six showgirls, I ended up with three. (All shrink wrapped) My little frizzled naked necks hatched today. Once again, serious shrink wrapping! But I managed to save six of them. I am getting pretty good at getting these little guys out with no damage. Definately not going to hatch for a while until I figure out this humidity issue. I follow Bill Worrels (sp) advice to a t and still having major issues. Very frustrating. Altough for shipped eggs, I have to say these faired pretty well. I think letting them sit a couple days did help as I had 16 viable chicks up until last night. Unfortunate that I lost so many right at the end to a glitch in my system (ugghhh that is frustrating ...and sad ) Here is a pic of one of my little guys that hatched today. (others on my profile) I have to say, these are most definately my favorite chicks! They are crazy cute! I love naked necks! Good luck to everyone!