Shipped eggs & blood rings?

[Irajoe]

Tonight, I candled 17 shipped eggs. 9 were set on 2/10 and 8 were set on 2/12.

The eggs set on 2/10 got lost in the mail for 7 days and may have traveled through some very cold weather. Of these 9 eggs:
- 5 had blood rings

- 3 were cloudy

- 1 had an embryo that was visibly moving and had a well-developed network of veins

The eggs set on 2/12 were placed in the incubator within 4 days of being laid. Of these 8 eggs:
- 2 had blood rings

- 3 had loose air sacs

- 1 had a bubbly air sac

- 2 were dense in the area of the egg that I'd look for the embryo

Temps and humidity have been perfect. I allowed time for settling and rising to room temperature when they arrived in the mail.

I've never attempted to incubate shipped eggs before. The eggs were very well packaged...of the 18 shipped to me, only one arrived broken.

My hunch is that the first batch struggled from a combination of being at least 7 days old (without being turned while shipped) and cold weather (possibly freezing temps).

I think the 2nd batch just got handled to roughly by the mail service (the 2nd batch included the cracked egg).

Would these conditions have resulted in blood rings, though? I understand blood rings to indicate a quitter...I guess I was thinking the impact of the conditions would affect whether or not the embryo would begin to develop...not its chances after development had begun.

I'd appreciate learning from your experience with shipped eggs.

Thanks!

 

[Lollipop]

Shipped eggs are just too risky for me. Dollar for dollar, chicks are cheaper. I have tried shipped eggs several times. Very poor hatch rates no matter how well they are packed.

 

[Akane]

If any arrived broken I would assume very rough handling or not as great of packing as you think. I've had no broken eggs yet and I have talked to people who have shipped hundreds if not thousands with rarely a broken egg. It actually doesn't happen that often if they are packed right. If one got broken the others probably got shook up badly. Even under good conditions 50% is a good hatch for shipped eggs.

For hatchery chicks it's cheaper for the equivalent chicks hatched from those eggs it's not even close. To buy and ship chicks from a breeder with the breeds and quality you can get from shipped eggs it would take a lot more money. After seeing hatchery japanese bantams compared to quality japs I will never buy hatchery chicks if I don't have to. I also don't find it as stressful to get eggs or as bad if they do get frozen/damaged as if I had chicks shipped to me and got half or better dead.

 

[shelleyd2008]

There are many reasons for early embryo death, shipping being one of them. If they get too cold during shipping, or handled to roughly, that can cause the embryo to start developing and quit.

 

[Irajoe]

Helpful information - thank you.

 

[Chickapooh23]

I am hatching my first batch of my chicken laid eggs. I am very hopeful. I have always had shipped eggs before this and most of the time I have gotten about 1/3 hatch rate. Only 1x I got 67% and I think that is what most people get.

Occassionally you'll hear someone hatch 11 of 12 from shipped eggs but it's not the norm.