So there isn't really anything I CAN do, really. The money has been spent, and I've been shipped many batches of eggs before, I understand the risk. Shipping is rough on eggs that are viable from the start. That doesn't keep me from being disappointed in getting so many infertile (never were viable) eggs. I am looking for your thoughts on the matter, on whether my assumption is valid or not, too.
I got these eggs in the mail about a week ago. I unpacked them promptly. One thing I noticed was that they smelled odd. Like, pond water, that is the only thing I can describe it as. And most of them were misshaped, bullet shaped or very small like pullet eggs. I didn't think much of it, and let the eggs rest for 24 hours, big end up. My incubator has been up and running, temps and humidity checked out. It had also been cleaned with bleach before I fired it up (I clean it with a weak solution of bleach, or white vinegar between hatches).
In the eggs went! I don't like candling until day 10 anymore. I once killed a developing egg when it slipped from my butterfingers during a candle. But I still give the eggs the 'whiff test'. And today, the eggs failed the whiff test. I smelled something very rotten indeed. A few of these eggs were leaking a nasty ooze. So I took ALL of them out, and got out my surefire to candle the ones who weren't foul.
...needless to say, the candling left me incredibly disappointed. Only two out of fifteen eggs had any development. All eggs were very porous. Here are some pictures. The two porous eggs are two of the shipped eggs. The third is one of MY eggs (same shell color and breed as the shipped) exposed to the same light. Notice how hardly any light makes it through the shell.
Continuing on, the next logical step is to perform egg topsies. I always want to see what is wrong. Is the inside of the egg scrambled from rough shipping? Is the egg fertile or infertile?
Well, I found all but two of the non developed eggs to be infertile. The blastodisks were plainly obvious, and ones belonging to infertile eggs. Attached are two pictures that the shine didn't wash out too badly, with arrows to the blastidisks.
So basically, I got a box of mostly infertile eggs.
Oh, this a comparison of how the eggs were shaped. On the left, is one of mine. On the left, one of the shipped eggs.
Kinda...lumpy.
All the non developed + rotten eggs (which got carefully thrown out in a field after this picture, no egg bombs in this house!).
I guess I am glad I was sent extras (paid for 12, got 15 in total). Or else I might not even have the two that are developing in the incubator.
I got these eggs in the mail about a week ago. I unpacked them promptly. One thing I noticed was that they smelled odd. Like, pond water, that is the only thing I can describe it as. And most of them were misshaped, bullet shaped or very small like pullet eggs. I didn't think much of it, and let the eggs rest for 24 hours, big end up. My incubator has been up and running, temps and humidity checked out. It had also been cleaned with bleach before I fired it up (I clean it with a weak solution of bleach, or white vinegar between hatches).
In the eggs went! I don't like candling until day 10 anymore. I once killed a developing egg when it slipped from my butterfingers during a candle. But I still give the eggs the 'whiff test'. And today, the eggs failed the whiff test. I smelled something very rotten indeed. A few of these eggs were leaking a nasty ooze. So I took ALL of them out, and got out my surefire to candle the ones who weren't foul.
...needless to say, the candling left me incredibly disappointed. Only two out of fifteen eggs had any development. All eggs were very porous. Here are some pictures. The two porous eggs are two of the shipped eggs. The third is one of MY eggs (same shell color and breed as the shipped) exposed to the same light. Notice how hardly any light makes it through the shell.
Continuing on, the next logical step is to perform egg topsies. I always want to see what is wrong. Is the inside of the egg scrambled from rough shipping? Is the egg fertile or infertile?
Well, I found all but two of the non developed eggs to be infertile. The blastodisks were plainly obvious, and ones belonging to infertile eggs. Attached are two pictures that the shine didn't wash out too badly, with arrows to the blastidisks.
So basically, I got a box of mostly infertile eggs.
Oh, this a comparison of how the eggs were shaped. On the left, is one of mine. On the left, one of the shipped eggs.
Kinda...lumpy.
All the non developed + rotten eggs (which got carefully thrown out in a field after this picture, no egg bombs in this house!).
I guess I am glad I was sent extras (paid for 12, got 15 in total). Or else I might not even have the two that are developing in the incubator.
