Should I hatch my shipped eggs upright or on their side?

[Slothinc]

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Oh how adorable!!! How many eggs made it to lockdown? 5+ is a great result for shipped eggs!!

 

[Pigeony]

Oh how adorable!!! How many eggs made it to lockdown? 5+ is a great result for shipped eggs!!

So there was 24 eggs in this incubator and 16 made it to lockdown! Been very pleased with the numbers, over 60% of the eggs made it to lockdown and even if no more hatch, I'm already at a 20% hatch rate.

 

[Pigeony]

So there was 24 eggs in this incubator and 16 made it to lockdown! Been very pleased with the numbers, over 60% of the eggs made it to lockdown and even if no more hatch, I'm already at a 20% hatch rate.

2 more popped out overnight! Up to 30% hatch rate. Still holding out hope for some stragglers.

 

[Pigeony]

2 more popped out overnight! Up to 30% hatch rate. Still holding out hope for some stragglers.

Final count ended up being 8! There were two separate breeds in this hatch and one had 10 eggs with 5 hatching, so that's a 50% hatch rate for that breed! The other had 14 eggs with 3 hatching. So overall a 30% hatch rate and I'm absolutely ecstatic, the hatchlings are perfect.

 

[Revkimberlysflock]

Chickens hatch the eggs on their sides. I have seen my chickens sway back and forth to roll them. Smart birds. I always incubate them on their sides if hatching many eggs and need the room upright you get more room.

I've recently had an issue with my shipped eggs despite letting them rest for 24 hours before I put them in the incubator, sticking to the side and then of course they stop growing somewhere along the way. This time between 5 and 8 days in, a bunch of them were fertile but they were growing on the side. I used the little foamy things that they were packed in and I stood them up with the big end up for a few days and just put them back in the incubator. I was hoping it would make a difference and it did. When I checked them again 5 days later every single one of them had a air pocket in the right place and the chicks were in the right place. I do turn them and I lay them on the side normally but I've had a lot that were growing on the side and it concerned me so I tried it just for 4 days 5 days and then when they righted themselves, I laid them back down and let them be with everybody else the normal way. Out of 18 that went into lockdown, seven have hatched so far and two more have pipped and are on their way out! I started with 20 eggs this time. My first hatching I had 26 eggs and I only got eight babies. This time I started with 20 and already have seven. It makes a difference if you see it on the side when you candle it the first time check them again 3 or 4 days later and make sure they're not on the side. If they are, try that.. if all 18 of these guys come out that's a super high rate and I haven't even gotten out my calculator yet but I know it's really good compared to last time. .

 

[Rosedale1811]

Just hatched two batches of shipped eggs (I've only ever incubated ones from my own flock before!). The first batch I received 8 eggs from Oklahoma to Kentucky. 6 made it to lockdown, and all 6 hatched! The second batch was 7 from Florida, and even though they spent 8 days being lugged around by USPS - all 7 hatched!


Here is what I did! Unwrapped all the eggs as soon as I got them, and set them pointy end down in a carton for 24ish hours. I put them on their side in a cheapy Incubator from Amazon with an automatic turner. I didn't calibrate the humidity/temp - just had blind faith in the incubator. Kept my humidity at 45% during incubation, and upped to 65-70% during lockdown. 100 degrees. I ordered two more of the same incubators because I don't trust my old Farm Innovations (from Tractor Supply). - plus I like spreading the eggs out into several different incubators in case anything does go wrong during incubation, all my eggs aren't in one basket (pun intended).

 

[Zenmonkey]

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but I see that @Pigeony is still looking at it, so...

The request was specifically regarding shipped eggs, and I definitely handle those differently.

As @Revkimberlysflock stated, I also allow shipped eggs to rest in the same room as the incubator for at least 12 hours, usually for 24 hours. This is done in an egg tray, point down, air cell up.

The purpose here is to give the air cell and the embryo an opportunity to rest and reset as best as possible before asking it to commit to growing.

I also incubate without turning, though I typically I do 72 hours rather than 24. Given in hours rather than days, because I'm looking to have the switch to turning happen at 72 hours, but at 3.5 days, if you follow. Egg trays are used to keep the same orientation as above.

The purpose here is the same as the above, the air cell has had enough jostling, same for the embryo. Unfortunately we're walking a line here. Those eggs were usually collected over a period of a couple days, usually at least a couple in transit, and possibly both of those times were close to weeks rather than a day or two. Hatch rate drops quickly after about 14-ish days. Depending on who is looking at that graph, I've heard 10 days, 14 days, and probably a couple other numbers. But time is not our friend here. So I typically let the eggs sit a day un-incubated, but also try to let them continue to rest for the 1st three days of incubation.

Then I treat shipped eggs the same as local eggs until lock down. At this point we've made a heroic effort to ease the eggs into developing, but after the first couple days of development the risk of damage from not turning feels like it is greater than the benefit of additional settling. I use a sportsman 1602, so the eggs are incubated and turned more or less in the same upright position.

At lock down I put the eggs in an egg tray to keep them point down, air cell up, until they hatch.

The purpose here is that I feel shipped eggs may produce a weaker chick, and regardless of how closely you monitored the humidity, I don't fully trust that things are working 100% correctly with that egg shell and membrane after having been bounced around by the post office. No insult intended to our postal employees, I'm grateful to be able to receive breed that aren't locally available. But the shipping process is not gentle.

I also do not hesitate to assist a shipped egg in hatching (if it appears stalled for 24+ hours), for the same reason mentioned above. These eggs are often dryer (and get shrink wrapped or stuck) or wetter (and are prone to drowning in the shell) than locally produced eggs under exactly the same conditions. A key point with assisting a hatch is that if you see fresh blood, that chick is not ready for assistance. The blood needs to be withdrawn into the body, and those external vessels sealed off. This begins after the chick has pipped and is drawing its oxygen through its lungs rather than from the shell. This is why there's often a delay bergen pipping and hatching.

I've even occasionally pipped the egg shell, using directions that I believe I found here on BYC, for shipped eggs. Though I'm unclear that an egg that required that has even done well for me. A key point with deliberately opening a shell that isn't externally pipped is to be absolutely certain that it is internally pipped. This generally will require some confidence in knowing when to expect the hatch and some good candling skills.

Hatching upright seems to prevent the scenario where the chick drains its amniotic fluid out of the egg while it's beak is pointed straight down into the resulting puddle. So you're not saving a lot of chicks this way. But if you paid to ship in an egg, that egg is valuable to you, and even just a chick or two is going to improve that investment.

Side note, someone mentioned quail eggs with an 80% hatch rate. I'm assuming this is coturnix Quail. I actually treat shipped coturnix and local coturnix identically. I'm not sure what God did when he designed those birds, but they are amazing. Absolutely beautiful to handle, eggs ship incredibly well, just fantastic birds and an excellent starting point for just about anyone. If you're a generic engineer and you're looking to improve on coturnix, be aware that they're already perfect. However done bright red, blue, and yellow colors would be cool, and it would be OK if they lived a few years longer.

But if they were longer lived, then we probably wouldn't be able to see 4+ generations a year. So maybe just the colors. And maybe splice in that glow in the dark gene from jellyfish like they did for tetras and axolotls. Thanks.

My apologies for the typos. If something is unclear because of my terrible typing / auto correct, I'll try to clarify.

Many thank yous in advance to those who will correct me or add points that I forgot. It is bound to happen, because much of my approach stems from what I've read here at BYC, and the odds of me having stated it as clearly and eloquently as the original poster is pretty slim.