Shipped eggs...wait time?

[ki4got]

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agreed. i always set within 24 hours of receiving the eggs, depending what other eggs i have or will be receiving, and some homegrown eggs as well for comparisons. tho it helps to know the fertility of your birds prior to setting their eggs LOL. i set 12 dorking eggs, only 2 of which hatched a couple days ago. then again of the 12, 9 were clear from the get-go - the roo has improved his technique since

... with 2 more due in 5 days, 7 2 days later, and 11 more set today. 8)

this time around though, i'll be setting quail eggs without any homegrown quail eggs to compare, since i've never had them before...

 

[Jeffross1968]

Let's put it this way...going to order eggs to set for the New Year's Day hatch contest. If I MUST order early, what happens if I have to let them sit for 5 days. Is there something I can do to increase the likelihood of hatching, with that kind of wait time?

 

[ki4got]

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the cooler the eggs are stored the better, but after 10 days from lay the chances of development go down each day you wait.

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

I'll chime in. The longest I've let shipped eggs sit around was for three days. That was so that I could put in a few of my own to calibrate whether any potential hatching problems were due to shipping or to incubator conditions. That also happens to be my current batch in the incubator, due to hatch overnight on Sunday. I put them in an egg carton, air cell up, and put them in a cool, dark place where they're not liable to be jostled around. Our kitchen is on the north side of our house, so the lower cabinet where I store wine bottles works fine for storing eggs, too. Even in summer that cabinet stays about 60 degrees at most. When it's 95 degrees outside, that's considerably cool! If you do store them for a few days to coordinate setting a batch of eggs, you can gently rotate them in the carton while they wait. Supposedly that helps keep the yolk floating and not sticking to the side, but I don't know whether there's any truth in it.

When my shipped eggs hatch, I'll repost to say how it turned out. Of 14 shipped eggs, I had one dud and two questionable ones development-wise on day 10. I also had 4 "test" eggs from my mixed flock and all four candled with development at 10 days, so at least I can say that the incubator conditions are good enough to get that far. I wouldn't worry about waiting a few days to set your eggs. Who knows, you might get the strongest ones to hatch by waiting a bit.

Edited to include: The best results I've ever had with shipped eggs were with Jersey Giants. I let them rest for about a day and a half before putting them in the incubator. I hatched 11 of 14 in that group.

 

[Shayna]

I haven't read all the replies, so I'm sorry if this has been said, but the main reason to let them sit a couple days or so is if the air cell is detached or broken. This gives it time to try to heal it. If the eggs arrive in good condition, as long as they're room temp, they should be able to go right in the bator.

 

[bikerchic]

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Does not turning them the first day or two effect the hatch date?

I let mine rest for 8-12 hours and don't turn for the first 3 days. It seems to really help with detached aircells. I have had great results with this method. A lot of detached cells have went on to hatch beautiful babies, with no problems.

 

[Tracydr]

How do you recognize detached air cells? I've never shipped eggs before and will be trying for the first time this spring.

 

[bikerchic]

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When you candle the egg, if you move it from side to side the aircell will also move. If its not detached it doesn't move.

 

[Shayna]

When you shine light into the egg (candling) instead of a large air bubble being attached to the large round end, it'll float around the egg or appear broken into pieces.

 

[Faerytalefarm]

I got eggs in yesterday midday but really want to wait to set them until early tomorrow, think it will hurt?