Taking eggs to the Philippines - am I nuts?

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm sure if you emptied the contents you could get it through without an x-ray, especially if you have the supporting documentation of the exportation.
All it would contain is the eggs, padding/insulation and a container for ice.

 

[ozexpat]

HI - I am not sure where here is in your comments. The TSA - an American nationwide controller of security will absolutely permit eggs on without being xrayed.

There are numerous threads on it here including:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/airplane-eggs

My research tells me to get there early which I always do.

I am guilty of taking all sorts of things on airplanes. I have brought numerous frozen turkeys and hams to the Philippines in my luggage without declaring them. I know its a flagrant violation but we are talking Christmas dinner here - a bit of smuggling is ok for a good cause. TSA just laughs at me. The only thing they get edgy with is powdered baby formula and cheese. I guess the consistencies look like explosives. These days I remove them and let them scan them separately and then run there residue sniffer over them and put them back in my carry on.

In the case of my eggs - I will have all the export paperwork.

 

[ozexpat]

My "proof of concept" eggs are in the bator for 24 hrs. I was pleased when the auto turner arrived today. I work a hectic schedule so this will take the pressure of turning them in a timely fashion. I weighed each egg as i shifted them from the wire floor to there new home for 17 more days. i cranked up the heat in my room with a fan heater during the process.total process took less than 3 mins. bator temp (not egg temp) dropped to 85. 10 mins later back to 99.3 and 46% sweet. H-17 and counting

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Something else that's widely recommended is to place the incubator in a location that doesn't have big temperature swings. Especially for LG and other table top types.

 

[ozexpat]

Indeed.

I run my "bator - room" AKA my bedroom at 72 degrees. I raised it to 80 for the opening of the bator. I figure the broody will get of the eggs for a pee every now and then for 5 mins so I should be able to do it once. In doing so I installed the turner so now I wont open the lid till H-11. I am very pleased with my Meade TM005X-M Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Thermo Hygrometer. I use the outdoor component in my bator and have the indoor component on the outside. I can view the max and min temps and humidity for each day without having to open the bator.

 

[ozexpat]

my eggs - a mottly cluch of mutts temp 99.5 hum 48% H-19


Egg ID Initial Wt 10 day 14 day 18 day Expected Disposition Comments

1​

63.1​

54.9​

2​

50.1​

43.6​

3​

49.2​

42.8​

4​

70.2​

61.1​

5​

62.3​

54.2​

6​

55.9​

48.6​

7​

61.2​

53.2​

8​

54.2​

47.2​

9​

54.6​

47.5​

10​

59.2​

51.5​

11​

51.7​

45.0​

12​

63.0​

54.8​

13​

49.6​

43.2​

14​

48.9​

42.5​

15​

59.0​

51.3​

16​

63.1​

54.9​

17​

56.7​

49.3​

18​

61.0​

53.1​

Average

56.4​

49.1​

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Indeed.
.... I figure the broody will get of the eggs for a pee every now and then for 5 mins so I should be able to do it once. In doing so I installed the turner so now I wont open the lid till H-11. .

A broody will get off once a day for up to an hour, depending on temperature, to eat, drink, stretch and defecate. They seem to stay off much longer when it's hot..
Some incubator manufacturers are now building in an automatic daily cooling cycle as an option to replicate nature.
I've noticed that brief times of too cool is way better than too hot.

I just don't know how a broody can regulate humidity. Sure if it is arid they can cause it to go higher but if the ambient humidity is sky high, what happens then. It's normally quite humid here and broodies don't seem to have much trouble. I did have 7 birds go broody within a few days of each other this spring. They were in 3 different buildings and their hatch rate wasn't good. I got 2 chicks from one building and 1 each from the other 2. I should go back and see what the humidity was during that period.

 

[ozexpat]

I am hoping the bator will drop the humidity there. Although my local breed hens are constantly broody, Except in the short dry spell from jan - april, the success of the broodies is not good.












.
The humidity seems to fair worse on the turkey egg

 

[luvmychixandducks]

Why not skip the incubator completely ? Or at least hedge your bet ?
If your native birds go broody so often, switch the carried eggs for the native laid eggs and let your local girls do all the work.
Save a few imports for breeding only- keep them apart from the locals to provide fertile eggs of known heritage, but put the eggs under the locals for hatching. That way you can choose breeds without regard for whether or not that breed tends to go broody- you've got the built in workers already.
Briing enough eggs to split the hatching chore- put half under broody hens and try incubating the rest. If you fail in the mechanical process, chances are your girls will bail you out. And you can get a local hen to adopt the newbees and raise them along with her own.
Good luck.

 

[ozexpat]

luvmychixandducks Thats why I am here - to get suggestions and thoughts from others so a big thank you.

I had not thought about that until this week and reading the threads here. I will experiment with it. I am going over for christmas so I will take a dozen eggs from a nearby producer and see if i can get them under a hen.

If I swap out a hens eggs for another set, how close to they have to be to the same set date? Will she quit on the new eggs if they are fresher?