Stinky Box?????

[laughaha]

Due to miscommunication (I'm not here to slam anyone- just a question) a box of hatching eggs was shipped last week tuesday but I wasn't told about it until an email on wed or thursday and I was not home till yesterday after PO closed. I picked the box up at the PO and it REEKS. It's so bad that my postmistress sealed it up in a plastic bag. The box looks fine- no real damage to it. I haven't opened it up yet, waiting for my camera to charge....

The questions- is there any chance that any of the eggs will hatch? Could the extremely smelly egg have contaminated the rest by smell alone? I really wanted to try out these chicks. The eggs should be extremely dark and I don't know if I will be able to candle them- if they are as dark as my maran's eggs I won't be able to.

 

[LarryPQ]

You don't know until you try.

But you should probably re-evaluate your thread title

Might attract the wrong kind of attention :lol

 

[laughaha]

lol- thanks for replying so fast.

 

[Southernbelle]

That doesn't sound good. Fresh, intact eggs wouldn't stink, so I'm thinking the inside of that box is going to be very messy. There might be chance that intact eggs would be viable; I like to think on the positive, but there's a high chance of contamination if the icky stuff got on them.

 

[laughaha]

I opened the stinky box......

The sender did a heck of a job packing them- all individually wrapped in bubble wrap in a nest of shredded paper in a plastic bag with peanuts surrounding the bag. I don't think I could have asked for her to have done a better job. I'm not sure why the 4 cracked- 2 were really cracked and two had tiny cracks and nothing seeping but they got burned too. I have 11 left that I'm gonna incubate. It's not anywhere near as bad as I was thinking it would be. The 11 don't have any of the goopiness on them. 11 is more than I thought I would get safely (First time receiving hatching eggs via mail and I'm not naturally a lucky person).

The marans eggs aren't as dark as my maran's egg but they are pretty good and definitely got color. One is a really pretty speckled and the speckles are WAY dark- reminds me of my welsummer's first eggs. I really hope that one hatches into a hen that lays eggs just like it- my egg customers love the speckled eggs more than anything else.

Overall I'm vastly relieved and quite happy.

Since they were in my post office sitting since saturday, do I need to still let them sit for a few days or can I toss them right into the incubator?

 

[MelissaA]

I would let them sit near the incubator so that they can settle at room temp for at least 1/2 a day (the post office could have been pretty chilly with no one there). Several sources recommend letting them settle for 24 hours. I figure anything I can do to help my hatch rate the better!