Trying out hatching shipped eggs...help?

[ElfenLied89]

I have an incubator I bought off of eBay which is pretty neat for how much it costs. It heats up, turns automatically, and has a candler light. Even has a water mister bottle, and a way to humidify the incubator. Picture of incubator is below. It has an external water control bottle. I don't know how to measure the humidity and was hoping someone could tell me what to do if they have used one like this before. We also got 10 shipped eggs (plus 2 extra in case of damages upon arrival), for a whopping 12 variety egg. I took them out of the box they were in, all snug in their bubble wrap and secure with tons of shredded paper, and laid them all out on their sides, still in the bubble wrap, to rest. As I was told to do by the shipper. I want to know if this is ok? Should I take off the bubble wrap? They have only been resting since 5pm on 10/16 (today for those answering now). I was advised to let them rest a minimum of 12 hours before moving them into the incubator. They were shipped Friday the 13th.

Kids and I wanted to try hatching eggs, so we got an incubator and a random egg variety. Any and all tips appreciated. <3 Thank you chicken fam ^-^

Picture is of same type of incubator I have. Picture of eggs to come if wanted.

 

[nuthatched]

I'd run down tour your feed store and see if they have any reputable incubator just in case that one doesn't work for whatever reason. Which is highly likely, most 'chinabators' are wildly inaccurate with temperatures and humidity. I'd personally return it.
At the very least, you want to get another thermometer and hygrometer and calibrate them.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...gs-no-problem.1046313/page-5385#post-16540512
Here's a guide for shipped eggs. Good luck! :]

 

[Tonyroo]

Get a digital hygrometer to verify the incubator is up to temperature and holding humidity correctly.

Make sure the incubator has a way to manually adjust the temperature.

Goodluck.

 

[ElfenLied89]

Get a digital hygrometer to verify the incubator is up to temperature and holding humidity correctly.

Make sure the incubator has a way to manually adjust the temperature.

Goodluck.

That it does. I played around with it yesterday. It auto turns every two hours as well but I will also be watching that. I do plan to grab a hygrometer tomorrow morning if possible since I will already be going out.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have bought eggs three times from three different sellers on eBay and had decent success each time. If the eggs are mine, I run pretty close to a 100% hatch rate. With shipped, about 70%.

What seller told you about the 12 hours is what I also do although sometimes I just left them overnight so nearly 24 hours at room temp. I put them in a cardboard egg carton though, small end down, but either way I'm sure is fine. It's to let the air cell settle back where it belongs as shipping might have jostled it was my understanding.

As for temp and humidity, we have two different name-brand incubators and neither one was correct on temp. I purchased a Govee brand thermometer/hygrometer as I am anal and like the app on my phone so if I wake up in the night, I can check without getting out of bed. I also bought a pair of little ones Amazon had on sale at the time.

If it's running much warmer or colder, that's when some malformalities or mortalities might happen, so you want to have their environment as perfect as possible.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Oh, and when they start hatching, make sure your kiddos know they can't open the incubator just because "that chick is begging me to take him out."

 

[ElfenLied89]

Picture of all eggs marked. The two with the double circle have cracks you can see under the light on my phone. Which is brighter than the built in candler btw. Lol. Might have to buy a better candler bc I couldn't see inside alot of the eggs. Most were darker than shown. I didn't see any air sac thingies. Do those show up later? I did see the yolk shadow in ones I could see into. The largest egg in the pic was solid. Couldn't see in it at all.

Please keep the advice coming. I am all ears. And eyes if you have pics lol.

 

[ElfenLied89]

I have bought eggs three times from three different sellers on eBay and had decent success each time. If the eggs are mine, I run pretty close to a 100% hatch rate. With shipped, about 70%.

What seller told you about the 12 hours is what I also do although sometimes I just left them overnight so nearly 24 hours at room temp. I put them in a cardboard egg carton though, small end down, but either way I'm sure is fine. It's to let the air cell settle back where it belongs as shipping might have jostled it was my understanding.

As for temp and humidity, we have two different name-brand incubators and neither one was correct on temp. I purchased a Govee brand thermometer/hygrometer as I am anal and like the app on my phone so if I wake up in the night, I can check without getting out of bed. I also bought a pair of little ones Amazon had on sale at the time.

If it's running much warmer or colder, that's when some malformalities or mortalities might happen, so you want to have their environment as perfect as possible.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Oh, and when they start hatching, make sure your kiddos know they can't open the incubator just because "that chick is begging me to take him out."

I posted pics above if you wanted to see and I will definitely tell them not to touch them after. How long after they hatch do I take them out though? I read somewhere that said up to 3 days?

 

[Debbie292d]

I posted pics above if you wanted to see and I will definitely tell them not to touch them after. How long after they hatch do I take them out though? I read somewhere that said up to 3 days?

48 hours is the max I do, but they can live 72 off the yolk they are absorbing. That's how shipped day-old chicks survive a two-day trip. You just don't want to open the incubator if you don't have to during the last three days (lockdown when humidity is raised to 60-70% and auto-turner is removed) and especially once they start hatching as others may have pipped. That's when they are breaking out of their shell. If you open the incubator when one has just pipped or zipped (chipped through a semi-circle of their egg), the drop in humidity can cause the membrane to cling to the chick, possibly suffocating them. Some call that "shrink-wrapped."

Yes, every egg will have an air cell. I would not throw any eggs away yet though. Give them about 5-7 days and try candling them again. You would definitely then see something inside.

I searched articles here for a good one on what candled eggs look like at different stages and think this one's pretty great. The first egg on here is showing a porous egg which appears to be the one you have there, but again, don't throw out any yet. Candling Eggs Article

 

[ElfenLied89]

Candled earlier but saw nothing cause these eggs are so hard to see into! Any tips for candling super dark eggs?

 

[ElfenLied89]

Day 3 candling....errr...using my phone's flashlight....there were veins showing! Light veins.....but veins nonetheless!!!! I only candled 3 different eggs. One was even a dark egg so I barely saw the veins. Should I candle them all?

Also, shipper sent more eggs since the post office marked it as undeliverable even though I had them. I even stated I had them but they sent more anyways. Yay me? I have TWENTY-FOUR EGGS!! T-T I don't know what to do. Y'all come get some of these babies if more than 7 hatch lol. I dated and marked the extra eggs. They are 3 days apart, so I bought another incubator with my Target card bc it was the only option I have. o_o Went from 0 to overwhelmed real quick lol.