Shipped eggs, received FOUR eggs-tras! :) The only problem is....

[yinepu]

it really doesn't matter if you turn them three times or six or twelve or fifteen.. so long as they are turned (never matters if it's odd or even)

also i have had quail eggs stacked as high as I could get them in my incubator.. removed the clears when I candled and it helped thin down the eggs a bit so they finally fit in the bator "properly".. so yup.. it can be done!

i've even had quail chicks on the bottom of a pile hatch out just fine and make their way to the top through the eggs .. so even if it's not ideal.. it can still work

 

[misslady]

Quote:
Thanks, good info to know for now and future reference.

How long do you let shipped eggs sit before you put them in the incubator?

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
Thanks, good info to know for now and future reference.

How long do you let shipped eggs sit before you put them in the incubator?

I don't.. I unwrap them.. candle for hairline cracks and to check the air cells.. make any notations on the eggs if they have any issues and put them right into the incubator with the auto turner turned on

the only time I let an egg sit is if it comes in from the cold and needs to get to room temperature inside.. otherwise the egg will form condensation which can cause bacteria to grow and cause the egg to rot.. but as soon as the egg is up to room temp it goes straight into the bator

I have tried letting eggs sit for 24 hours and never found any difference in air cells or any increase in hatch rate.. if anything I would worry that I would lose a few due to declining fertility since I don't know for sure when the seller collected them or if they had been exposed to high enough temps in route to start incubation

 

[mstricer]

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I'm not trying to be a kill joy or change your thread but, I hope you aren't expecting extremely dark or even semi dark Marans eggs, I'm pretty sure My Pet Chicken and Meyer are some what the same business (Nothing against either I get all my layers for Meyer) but I was excited when Meyer got Marans and order 15 of them, I have none today got rid of them shortly after they started laying regular brown eggs, no really they were the same color as the Orpingtons eggs. Now I'm going to

Michele

 

[Cherstin]

I received my dozen Mille Fleur d'Uccle eggs yesterday thru the mail around noon, and let them sit point-down in the egg carton overnight. I started them at 6am. I'd always heard to let them settle anywhere from 8-24 hours, but I agree with worrying about the fertility part. The seller was nice enough to have penciled the collection dates on the eggs themselves, so since I was only collecting three, I picked two that were collected the 26th and one that had been collected the 25th. The oldest she'd shipped was one from the 23rd.

I definitely feel you on the "over-thinking" part. I cannot tell you how long, exactly, I spent looking at the eggs this morning and considering my best option before giving the others away! I initially wanted to put the most recent in there and leave the others, but then I did a search to see how many days the eggs remain fertile after the hen did the deed, so I started thinking, "Well shoot, what if she wasn't still throwing fertile eggs by then?" I ended up going with two from the 26th and one which was collected the 25th.

Maybe you're luckier in that your eggs didn't come with dates, too.

 

[misslady]

Quote:
I'm not trying to be a kill joy or change your thread but, I hope you aren't expecting extremely dark or even semi dark Marans eggs, I'm pretty sure My Pet Chicken and Meyer are some what the same business (Nothing against either I get all my layers for Meyer) but I was excited when Meyer got Marans and order 15 of them, I have none today got rid of them shortly after they started laying regular brown eggs, no really they were the same color as the Orpingtons eggs. Now I'm going to

Michele

I know they get their day-old chicks from Meyer, but I believe their hatching eggs come from Gabbard Farms, they shipped out of Arkansas, so I am fairly sure thats where they came from. If I had known that before I ordered, I would have just skipped the middle man entirely and ordered straight from Gabbard Farms.

The nice thing about ordering the eggs is that I can see the color before hand. The Blue Splash's weren't incredibly dark, but I was not surprised since they advertised it as such, saying that the egg color was a "work in progress." I was pleasantly surprised with two of the Black Copper eggs, as they are both very dark. The other two Black copper eggs were not as dark, but still had nice color. The Black Coppers were sent as my extras, as I originally had ordered only the 6 Blue Splash eggs, but in order to ship my order sooner they offered me a choice of other breeds. I already have 5 Black Copper Hen's that lay some beautiful dark eggs from a local breeder, but they do not sell hatching eggs, and my hens have only just begun to lay and I am not comfortable hatching their little eggs yet. Althought I hope to in the future! My hope was to someday try a hatch with the Black Coppers and the Blue Splash's to see if I can get myself some blue birds.

And no need to

I know you are just trying to help me be informed.

 

[misslady]

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Oh how precious. If I had a lot more incubator space I would have taken those extra eggs off your hands!

Nice choice! That is nice that the seller wrote the collection dates on the eggs for you, but I can see how that would just add another factor to the decision making! It's so hard to decide when there are no obvious flaws. I was half expecting a few of my eggs to come cracked or something, but none of them were at all, and while I was expecting one or two extras, I found myself with four! It was then that I realized I had to figure out what to do with the three extra eggs! Well, looks like I will be trying my hand at hand turning them, since it was so nice to receive more extra's than expected. (And the fact that no one else I personally know would even have a clue as to what to do with fertilized eggs other than fry them up in a pan!)

I have had my eggs "resting" since about 1 o'clock this afternoon, So I think I might pop them in the incubator tonight before I go to bed and set my alarm to get up to flip them. Otherwise I will wait until tomorrow morning, I just can't stop worrying about that fertility rate dropping.