shipped eggs question

[Blake]

i just had a group of eggs shipped from a breeder and this is my first experience with shipped eggs.this breeder told he was getting near 100% fertility at his farm. 7 days in and i have tossed about 50% of the eggs.whats wierd is that there are 4 different colors of cochin eggs and of the two dozen about half were partridge cochin.the partridge eggs are all good except one.the rest had poor fertility.none of the four whites were good,one columbian was good.long story short its just confusing as shipping shouldnt make certain colors good and others bad.also, i am very pleased with my dealings with the breeder.super nice and very helpful but im just hesitant to fool with shipped eggs but given i am in the market for show quality birds i dont hav emuch other option besides expensive grown stock.

 

[silkiechicken]

It could be that some eggs just hold up better than other during shipping. Good luck with your hatch.

 

[TheBigWRanch]

I don't think I would give up on an egg at 7 days, usually ten days is the earliest, and some people have said to wait till day 18 to be absolutely certain. Shipping eggs is always risky, getting bounced around so much damages them. There is also a lower fertility rate this time of year compared to summer. Your right, fertility would have nothing to do with egg color. Maybe the Partridge Cochins do their job better, or it just happens to be that the whites were more damaged during shipping.

 

[Smoky73]

Were the air cells damaged is shipping? Because if you candle them after they are received, you can see if the air cell moves around the eggs as you turn it, or if it stays where it is supposed to, at the top of the egg. If it floats around and you see air bubbles, it is my experience those never do anything. I have 12 setting still now for the next (at least) 8 hours to try to get the air cells to reset themselves to the top. I am going to try to set them in the bator, but moving air cells are not usually a good sign.
I would certainly not give up on the shipping eggs. Sometimes you get good shipments sometimes you dont. Its trial and error finding a state you can get from with little damage to the eggs. I had a shipment last year of 26 eggs, and of the 16 that were viable (had obvious growth) 15 hatched.