Shipped egg ?s

[CrazyChickens09]

Received my shipped eggs today. I candled the eggs and saw zero air cells in all but two eggs but the yolk would float to the big end. I have them sitting and settling in the egg carton. The questions I have is will letting them sit for longer than 24 have any impact on hatching, when should you start to turn ( I have heard two days to as long as 8 days) and do shipping eggs have different humidity requirements then on farm eggs( as I have always incubated on farm personal eggs and do the dry hatch method). I am sorry if this has been asked a million times I just really want to give these eggs the best shot possible. Thank you.

 

[Henny]

Here is a very comprehensive article on incubating eggs which should answer many of your questions--http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
The shipped eggs that appear normal on candling should be treated like any other egg and put into the incubator and turned as soon as they come to room temp. The care of the ones with abnormal air cells are different and that article above describes it best. Being that it takes a couple of days for shipped eggs to get to you and it is unknown how many days old they are before they are shipped, the sooner they get into the incubator with turning the better. Turning is very crucial esp. for the first 7 days of incubation,
I got shipped eggs last week. 2 of mine had funny air cells. The normal looking eggs I should have let sit till room temp and then put in the incubator and turned, treating like normal eggs. Instead, as I had not read the article, I let the eggs sit for 24 hrs. then put the normal ones in the incubator with the turner on. The funny air cells I put in the incubator on the side of the turner so they did not turn for an additional 24 hrs. I haven't candled them yet as it is only 5-6 days and I don't want to disturb them till day 7. I think right now is a crucial stage of development and esp since they are shipped eggs I feel the less trauma the better.
Read the article above--it will help you alot!

 

[ThaJuicyJuice]

Letting shipped eggs for 12-24 hours is sometimes essential . An egg without an aircell means there is something wrong with the hen, as the anatomy of the egg requires that an air cell be present. Now eggs that have had a rough ride and is sometimes evidenced by the condition of the box that they were received in, have scattered air particles, but not to the level where there is no visible air pockets. The viability of any egg relies on the condition of the yolk, blastoderm, and density of materials within the egg.

Eggs are their most viable in the first 7-9 days, after this initial period the viability only goes down incrementally every week. Even old 7-8 week old eggs have a viability of 20-30 percent.