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

[curranchickens]

No, I have not put in a complaint and more than likely will not... When looking for eggs to buy, I noticed that a lot of people specifically said, no shipping to Virginia, Alaska and Hawii. AFTER I ordered my eggs, I searched to see why Virginia was on that list as I live in VA. I saw that many people posted that in order to ship to VA you have to be an NPIP flock that applies to VA dept. of agriculture for a license to ship into VA EVERY year. Then the permit number is to be clearly written on the box or, if caught, you can insure a fine. There was no permit number on the box do I am NOT going to rock that boat. For my sake as well as the seller.

I am hoping that since those threads were older then possibly something changed in the law. Since I got eggs instead of a fine....

 

[angusb]

I certainly won't wait longer than one day to let them settle. I am following the cheat sheet from ChooksChick, and she recommends allowing them to settle for 4 to 12 hours or so: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ipped-eggs-sit-before-incubating#post_5807838

 

[Mahonri]

I've never let mine sit still for more than 48 hours.

I've tried it both ways.

1. Put the eggs directly in to the turners and incubate the second they arrive.

2. Let them sit for 24 to 48 hours and then put them in the incubator. (this was suggested by one of the breeders)

No difference in hatch rate for me. With all shipped eggs a little under 50% hatched.

But that's just me.

 

[NYRIR]

I am interested in this thread as well. I just bought my first shipped eggs from another BYC'r on here. I hope to get them next week as she is still collecting.They are BLRW's. I have 24 ordered so I am hoping to get at least 10 chicks from them!

I have only ever hatched from local or my own eggs and these will be coming from Ca to NY....so a long way!


I plan on letting them sit if they are cool for 12 hours, if they are warm( which I doubt coming through NY) i will put them straight into the incubator. I have an LG with a fan and auto-turner. I plan on leaving the turner off for 3 days to help them settle longer.I am trying to follow a fellow BYC'rs advice on shipped eggs so we shall see!

I would love to have this thread keep going so we can compare notes. I will update conditions of mine when I get them and throughout.

Happy hatching everyone!!

 

[ReikiStar]

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.

I'm sorry your eggs had such a rough trip. Did you at least candle to see how the air cells looked before you put them in the 'bator?
Keep us posted! So glad you have the patience to let them sit in the incubator for the first 7 days. Crossing my fingers for you!

 

[SierraView]

When I receive shipped eggs and they look packaged well, the box doesn't have any damage and the air cells look good, I will put them right into the incubator with the turner on. I did this with some olive eggs and every egg is developing.

I just received some silkie eggs none broken but almost every egg had a detached air cell. These I let sit for 12 to 24 hrs and they are in a egg carton not being turned. I will put them in the turner after day or 2. I feel turning is important in the beginning. 5 to 7 days not turning I think is to long.

 

[chkinut]

i just received 16 silkie eggs from MPC and most of them have air cells that float all over the egg. they are in the egg turner now with some local eggs.....as i await 12 EE eggs that should come in the mail tomorrow. and i agree, lets keep this thread going so we can compare notes. letting them just stand there, without turning, do they repair themselves? i am in agreement with letting them sit still for a few days. i can see where it can't hurt. but i think what i'll do is keep them in the turner and i should be getting my other eggs tomorrow. if so, i will set mine tomorrow night before bed. then we'll have some different variations of what people are going to do here on this thread and we can see what happens. should be interesting. i kinda feel like mine won't hatch, and i'm normally an optimistic person, but i kinda WANT to feel that way so i wont be dissapointed. lol.

 

[angusb]

I'm new to candling, so what do people mean when they say the egg cell is floating? I can't see ANY air bubble in any of these eggs. What am I looking for?

 

[chickmashnoon]

I've got a mix of local eggs and shipped eggs. I am picking up the shipped eggs today and will probably put them in the incubator late tonite or early tommorrow. My local eggs are going in at the same time. If I do not rotate them for the first day in the incubator, will this harm my non-shipped eggs? I haven't seen my shipped eggs so I have no idea how bad off the air cells are but I know they have been packaged well.

I don't want my locally collected eggs to be harmed by sitting still for too long, but my shipped eggs are priority

Anyone else have experience with this?

 

[chkinut]

I'm new to candling, so what do people mean when they say the egg cell is floating? I can't see ANY air bubble in any of these eggs. What am I looking for?

well, if you can't see anything, that's a good sign and most likely means your air cells are intact. a floating air cell looks like a bubble moving around in water when you candle and gently turn the egg in your hand to see if the air cell moves. eggs can also get irregular air cells during shipping.....they don't move around like a bubble, but are VERY oddly shaped, like a kidney for example.