The Great Egg Shipping Experiment!

[MeanV2]

Thanks for all the tips guys! I am sure it will all help. Rough shipment (scrambled eggs) and shrink wrapping seems to be my biggest problem so far. This is fun and stressful all at the same time. The main thing is if I can learn and improve.

Dan

 

[clfromok]

Resistance is futile! Warning, Warning! Motherly instincts will ruin us all!

LOL!
Story of my life!

 

[BunnyMomma]

Thanks for all the tips guys! I am sure it will all help. Rough shipment (scrambled eggs) and shrink wrapping seems to be my biggest problem so far. This is fun and stressful all at the same time. The main thing is if I can learn and improve.

Dan

Hi Dan! Don't get discouraged. It takes a while to tweak all of the settings and get your incubator just right. Even if everything is perfect it is still easy to have problems. I sometimes have wonderful hatches and other times really poor ones. Go figure! It is a mystery. I wonder if it is a good idea to set eggs by the moon according to the Almanac. I have looked at the "best times to set eggs" on there and I believe it make a difference. It is stressful, especially when you hatch shipped eggs. I don't get as stressed out hatching my own eggs. I'm letting my hens do a lot of the incubating here now and I only have one incubator going. I have sworn to NOT crank up the other 4 until next spring! It is going to be difficult for me to shut them all down. I am definitely a hatchaholic.

 

[MeanV2]

Hi Dan! Don't get discouraged. It takes a while to tweak all of the settings and get your incubator just right. Even if everything is perfect it is still easy to have problems. I sometimes have wonderful hatches and other times really poor ones. Go figure! It is a mystery. I wonder if it is a good idea to set eggs by the moon according to the Almanac. I have looked at the "best times to set eggs" on there and I believe it make a difference. It is stressful, especially when you hatch shipped eggs. I don't get as stressed out hatching my own eggs. I'm letting my hens do a lot of the incubating here now and I only have one incubator going. I have sworn to NOT crank up the other 4 until next spring! It is going to be difficult for me to shut them all down. I am definitely a hatchaholic.

I tried the wash cloth trick and was able to hatch another Marans and a Black Australorp. I have eggtopsied one early quitter and one that was a late quitter but never pipped. What are the causes of those 2 things? I have another 6 BA eggs that are only on day 10 so hoping I can avoid some of the pitfalls of the 1st eggs.

In summary I hatched 8 so far, Lost 7 to shrink wrap, 1 early quitter, 1 late quitter, but honestly the biggest problem has been scrambled eggs on (for the most part) what seemed to be nicely packed eggs.

Dan

 

[ronott1]

I tried the wash cloth trick and was able to hatch another Marans and a Black Australorp. I have eggtopsied one early quitter and one that was a late quitter but never pipped. What are the causes of those 2 things? I have another 6 BA eggs that are only on day 10 so hoping I can avoid some of the pitfalls of the 1st eggs.

In summary I hatched 8 so far, Lost 7 to shrink wrap, 1 early quitter, 1 late quitter, but honestly the biggest problem has been scrambled eggs on (for the most part) what seemed to be nicely packed eggs.

Dan

Probably temps too low by a little bit but also shipping damage causes the egg to use energy. Often there just is not enough energy left for hatching.

Did you get 50 percent of the fertile ones to hatch? That is good for shipped eggs.

 

[MeanV2]

Probably temps too low by a little bit but also shipping damage causes the egg to use energy. Often there just is not enough energy left for hatching.

Did you get 50 percent of the fertile ones to hatch? That is good for shipped eggs.

If I had got the shrink wrapped ones to hatch I would have easily been 50% if you don't count the scrambled and unfertile eggs. I really think next time I will do better on the shrink wrapped ones and I believe I will run the temp about 3 to 4/10's higher. I am also going to go at humidity control a little different.

Dan

 

[ronott1]

If I had got the shrink wrapped ones to hatch I would have easily been 50% if you don't count the scrambled and unfertile eggs. I really think next time I will do better on the shrink wrapped ones and I believe I will run the temp about 3 to 4/10's higher. I am also going to go at humidity control a little different.

Dan

That is a good plan.

It does take time getting a new incubator locked in. Congratulations on the hatch!

 

[MeanV2]

Another Quick question, what does everyone do when they move their eggs from the turner to the hatcher? Just lay them in there on their sides or something different? I laid my eggs in the hatcher in paper muffin pan liners. If anyone has some options I'd love to hear them and pics would be nice.

Dan

 

[Wisher1000]

Morning, Dan,

I think most people use the rubber-bubble shelf liner in their hatchers and recommend putting the eggs in the same position they were in in the bator. I have an auto turner so I put mine in cut-down stryo egg cartons. I candle and try to put the most air cell pointing up, even if that means tilting the egg in the carton. If you have been turning by hand and the eggs have been on their sides for cooking, I would say leave them on their sides, again, with the most air cell upwards. You will find many people that do it many different ways, successfully. You will eventually develop your own "best practice" so use what advice you get (including mine) as suggestions. Just look at how much you have learned from this hatch, and you are already making notes and plans for the next one. It is a process, and the learning is part of the addiction. Don't stress, have fun, and remember, if you had known it wasn't going to hatch, it would have just been eaten!

 

[Wisher1000]

BTW - Two hatches ago, I started with 46 eggs from my own flock, I had 43 developing eggs in the bator at lock down. On day 21, I heard one peeping. On day 22 I helped it and two others out of their shells. The other 40 were dead, fully developed, some had already absorbed the yolk. I can only guess what happened to them. I have had two good hatches since then. 'You throws the dice, and you takes your chance....'