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

[angusb]

I have seen many recommendations to let shipped eggs "sit" with the big end up for 12-24 hours before incubating, with the rationale that this allows the egg to settle, and the air pocket to get back to the right place (I guess). I can see how this might be helpful if you turn your eggs by hand, where the eggs pretty much lie in the bottom of the incubator on their sides, but I'm wondering if this is necessary if you're using an auto-turner, where the eggs are positioned with the big side up? They may be moving back and forth slowly, but they are pretty much sitting upright the whole time. Is there a benefit to letting them sit at room temperature, unmoving, before placing them in the incubator?

Thanks for any help.

Angus

 

[chickmashnoon]

ooh! I'm waiting for the answer too! Getting my first batch of shipped eggs (hopefully today) and was curious about this myself.

 

[elrn50]

I'm anxious to hear what others think. I found a breeder of "show quality" Ameraucanas and paid dearly for the eggs to be shipped to me. I let the eggs sit for 12 hours before incubating them, then waited 21 days to...nothing! Not a single egg hatched. I'm so disappointed!

I am wondering where in the world can I find show-quality birds?

 

[angusb]

Sorry about your eggs, elrn50. I'm going to attempt the "dry incubation" method with these eggs that arriving tomorrow. I hope somebody with experience will chime in on the "settling" issue.

 

[ReikiStar]

I don't know if this is helpful but...

Recently on another thread someone had posted there was a study done with shipped eggs. They let them "settle" for 24 hours and then placed them in the auto-tuner TURNED OFF, but set so the eggs sat perfectly upright in the incubator. Essentially the study found if you let them sit for the first 5-7 days in the incubator but not moving in the auto-turner (or egg carton), you will have a better hatch rate from shipped eggs. This "stillness" gives the air cells a better chance of re-establishing themselves in the proper position.

I tried that with the hatch I have now, but call it conditioning...I just couldn't let the eggs sit still for more than two days. I know!

The study concluded better hatch rates -- up to 70% hatch rate I believe, but I still worried about the embryo sticking (although how does that happen when everything inside the egg is wet and slick?) or the embryo not developing properly from being in one position.

Here is the other thing. The auto-tuner is constantly ticking which means there is minute but constant movement of the contents of the egg. And if you have a forced-air, the whir of the motor also contributes vibration...

I think with shipped eggs there are so many factors you can't control from how the eggs were handled or what conditions they experience before they reach you, to the nutrition the parents received which contributes strongly to egg fertility and embryo viability.

Some people don't let the eggs settle at all as a practice. I suppose they must get something to hatch if they continue to do that. It can't hurt...or does it?!

Hahahah.

(Edited to fix the hatch rate percentage. It was 70 not 50)

 

[angusb]

That is helpful, ReikiStar. I was just reading through some old threads, and I found several threads debating the practice of letting the eggs sit. Some old-timers argued that, if the egg is getting older, the time spent out of the incubator could do more damage than just getting it into the incubator. Others said they always let their eggs sit for anywhere from 4 to 48 hours before putting them into the bator. Some people let them sit on the counter, some people put them in the incubator, but don't turn on the turner for one or two days. There's certainly no lack of opinions...just no overall agreement, it seems.

 

[curranchickens]

I don't know if this is helpful but...

Recently on another thread someone had posted there was a study done with shipped eggs. They let them "settle" for 24 hours and then placed them in the auto-tuner TURNED OFF, but set so the eggs sat perfectly upright in the incubator. Essentially the study found if you let them sit for the first 5-7 days in the incubator but not moving in the auto-turner (or egg carton), you will have a better hatch rate from shipped eggs. This "stillness" gives the air cells a better chance of re-establishing themselves in the proper position.

I tried that with the hatch I have now, but call it conditioning...I just couldn't let the eggs sit still for more than two days. I know!

The study concluded better hatch rates -- up to 70% hatch rate I believe, but I still worried about the embryo sticking (although how does that happen when everything inside the egg is wet and slick?) or the embryo not developing properly from being in one position.

Here is the other thing. The auto-tuner is constantly ticking which means there is minute but constant movement of the contents of the egg. And if you have a forced-air, the whir of the motor also contributes vibration...

I think with shipped eggs there are so many factors you can't control from how the eggs were handled or what conditions they experience before they reach you, to the nutrition the parents received which contributes strongly to egg fertility and embryo viability.

Some people don't let the eggs settle at all as a practice. I suppose they must get something to hatch if they continue to do that. It can't hurt...or does it?!

Hahahah.

(Edited to fix the hatch rate percentage. It was 70 not 50)

I have never hatched before in my life. I ordered eggs here on byc. I ordered 6 blue wheaten amerucanas, 6 salmon favorelles and 6 golden cuckuu marans. I knew it was a risk but I needed eggs and really wanted these breeds. The eggs were delayed at the PO. They were collected on the 14 th and I received them on the 19th. When I received them, I was devestated. First of all, I found them laying sideways on my son's atv out in the front yard.... Nice place for a mail man to leave a package very clearly marked FRAGILE not once but 2x on EACH side of the box in black sharpie marker in large letters with the words "live hatching eggs" on the top. The box was tied in a see through tinted grey garbage bag that I think was put on by the PO. Inside the bage, the box was smashed up. I ran inside and candles the eggs. I could not see anything in the maran eggs and pretty much nothing in the salmon faverolles eggs (light brown) but in some of them i could faintly see a bubble running down the side. I could see into the blue wheaten amerucana eggs very well and saw that every egg had a detached air sac that rolled around the entire egg from one end to the other. I started reading and based on many threads came up with a plan! I placed the eggs in the room in an egg carton for 12 hours so they could acclimate to room temp and not go into shock. I then put the in the egg turner straight up and down (took me hours of running it to just happen to catch the turner in the right position so I could turn it off) and unplugged. I am going to let the eggs sit without turning for 7 days. I am running the incubator at 30 to 35% humidity. I am not candling as tempted as I am until day 7 (I am on day 3). If any of them make it to lockdown, I will hatch upright in a cut down egg carton. Based on everything I have read this seems to be the hail Mary way of trying to hatch these eggs. We will see.

 

[angusb]

No turning for 7 days, huh? Did you see a recommendation to wait that long somewhere?

 

[DirtCreature]

wow! it seems you have put a lot of thought into this thing! i cant wait to see how many hatch! i will be watching this thread good luck to you and babies! i too, just got hatching eggs yesterday and kind of did the same thing, just not as technical... have you contacted the usps to make an official complaint about the way the eggs where treated?

I have never hatched before in my life. I ordered eggs here on byc. I ordered 6 blue wheaten amerucanas, 6 salmon favorelles and 6 golden cuckuu marans. I knew it was a risk but I needed eggs and really wanted these breeds. The eggs were delayed at the PO. They were collected on the 14 th and I received them on the 19th. When I received them, I was devestated. First of all, I found them laying sideways on my son's atv out in the front yard.... Nice place for a mail man to leave a package very clearly marked FRAGILE not once but 2x on EACH side of the box in black sharpie marker in large letters with the words "live hatching eggs" on the top. The box was tied in a see through tinted grey garbage bag that I think was put on by the PO. Inside the bage, the box was smashed up.
I ran inside and candles the eggs. I could not see anything in the maran eggs and pretty much nothing in the salmon faverolles eggs (light brown) but in some of them i could faintly see a bubble running down the side. I could see into the blue wheaten amerucana eggs very well and saw that every egg had a detached air sac that rolled around the entire egg from one end to the other.
I started reading and based on many threads came up with a plan! I placed the eggs in the room in an egg carton for 12 hours so they could acclimate to room temp and not go into shock. I then put the in the egg turner straight up and down (took me hours of running it to just happen to catch the turner in the right position so I could turn it off) and unplugged. I am going to let the eggs sit without turning for 7 days. I am running the incubator at 30 to 35% humidity. I am not candling as tempted as I am until day 7 (I am on day 3). If any of them make it to lockdown, I will hatch upright in a cut down egg carton.
Based on everything I have read this seems to be the hail Mary way of trying to hatch these eggs. We will see.

 

[curranchickens]

No turning for 7 days, huh? Did you see a recommendation to wait that long somewhere?

I have read so many opinions that my head is spinning... Over 10 hours of research into it. I read a few that said to wait three days but the most said 5 to 7 days. I might end up caving by day 5. I want to handle them as LITTLE AS POSSIBLE so I do not want to do anything till I can candle and see what is going on before I turn on the turner. When the eggs came and the bubbles were swooshing around I lost hope that they would hatch at all... At this point I have myself convinced that they will not hatch so why not give it a try? If others have had success with these methods, maybe there is a chance I will. Candling is still new to me though so I hope when I do candle, I know what I am doing. I have two incubators and I set some of my own eggs three days befor these and have been candling them and have a lot of questions... Going to go start a thread about that now.