Why didn't shipped eggs hatch?

[Titania]

I had started a couple of threads to ask people questions and see if I had been doing anything wrong.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=488840&p=1

 

[kathyinmo]

Quote:
If the eggs were very dirty, as mentioned some were, that can present a problem. I do not incubate dirty eggs myself. You can also check here for other possible causes.......
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204

Since your other eggs in the same incubator hatched without a problem, I would be inclined to believe there was a problem with the breeder stock.

 

[WallTenters]

I'm not sure if it's necessarily the breeding stock, but often shipped eggs just don't hatch. Even if they incubate, they aren't viable enough to make it those last three days. I know it seems strange, but I've been told by many breeders that you're taking a real gamble with shipped eggs, it just takes a hard toll on the embryos and those last few days of development are the hardest. If this was happening with eggs you had at home, or if it was happening to Jim when he was hatching, it would be a breeding stock issue.

This is why we've been very hesitant to buy shipped eggs.. it just doesn't work out for us. We've had tons of healthy eggs hatch right next to them - and the shipped ones just don't make it or sometimes one or two will hatch then die, or live and just not be all that. Have thought about trying again, who knows.. maybe someday. I know one day you'll get 10 out of a dozen hatch, the next zero out of a dozen hatch.

Jim, is there any way the birds were under particular stress the time you collected these eggs? Maybe a super hot or cold front? I know this time of year we're 80 one day and 20 the next. Doesn't seem to bother the Doms one bit but the other breeds get a little more ruffled about the crazy weather.

Another possible explanation - different breeds have different needs. I know, I'll probably get strung up for saying this, but not all breeds incubate the same. What is too humid for one breed or strain is just perfect for the next. This may have been the straw that broke the camel's back in this case. Perhaps checking the exact temp, humidity, turning etc with how Jim is matching at his place?

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:
They arrived in good conditition. Some were a little dirty, but we wipe those off here and still have a good hatch. With all the rain we have had it is a bit dirty. It did sound like a spike until you mention the other eggs. Hmmm. What could have happened during shipping? This is really starting to BUG me. What went wrong?

 

[ChooksChick]

Who's to say the box didn't get thrown at a high velocity and land in a way that the damage was only internal? Who can say that there wasn't a pressure change or some temperature change the eggs experienced in shipping that started development and then they stalled- maybe that was enough to cause them to quit at a late time.

It's clear to me that unless the eggs that hatched successfully were shipped in the same box at the same time, there's no way to eliminate shipping as the suspect cause.

I dont think we can ever narrow it down in that way. Jim could send some other breed along on the next shipment to test for that variable, but this box may not be handled the same way. It's not something you'll ever be able to discern, without having a black box in the shipment (wouldn't that be cool?) or one of those impact-recording sensor stickers to find out how much they've been subjected to. I'm starting to wonder about getting those and shipping in insulated boxing to protect against temperature shifts.

Sheesh!!

 

[ChestnutRidge]

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Quote:
It seems to me that: other customers had shipped eggs from the same flock during the same week handled in the same manner, so it's not fertility or the muddy conditions; the other eggs in the incubator hatched, so it's not incubation conditions; and there was no visible damage to the eggs, so they were packed as well as can be expected.

So that leaves shipping. This particular box was subjected to conditions that Titania's other eggs received and Jim's other eggs shipped were not, so I second ChooksChicks.

 

[wsdareme]

ChooksChick just mentioned something I hadn't given a lot of thought about until now -- temperature variations. I can understand that careful and extreme packaging might help the eggs from rough handling, but it they are not insulated and are then subjected to temperature extremes, isn't that somewhat in keeping with late deaths?

 

[chickensinwasillaAK]

Titania & Jim;

Reading all the posts, I think you'll never find exactly what happened. Jim has offered to replace the eggs for no charge other then the postage, that sounds completely reasonable. Understand he's disturbed also as he can't find what the problem was either.

Titania, I realize you're annoyed that you got zero but it happens for whatever reason. Take Jim up on his offer and try another batch. All you're paying is postage, you can't expect him to replace the eggs and pay the postage also. The two other ppl that had eggs from the same time had no problems so it's not a ineffective rooster. Weird stuff happens in the mail, if not that then just nature.

For those wondering, no I have never bought eggs from Jim and I don't know either one of them.

 

[Titania]

thanks. It is just one of those things.
Jim was perfectly reasonable to replace them and have me just pay for postage. But, the eggs were $45 before and postage would be another $20 so I politely declined. I wasn't asking him to take any other action because you're right: sometimes nature things just happen. I think Jim and I were just trying to search for a reason, but as everyone has stated, we'll just never know.

 

[onthespot]

I have a theory, that various structures inside the eggs, the different viscosity, the chelaza (sp) white stringy thing, all are subject to damage. I don't know what role each type of albumen has during development, but something tells me that it is not all just "a buncha goo" that the chick absorbs in some random manner. I think damage to the other internal structures may play a part in the poor odds on shipped eggs, not just torn air sacs and ruptured yolks. Torn air sacs are actually not such a deal breaker, in my experience. Ruptured yolks, deal breaker. The chick can not develop. But what about the chelaza, or the thin part of the albumen, or what holds the thicker albumen together, and what purpose do the different types of egg whites serve? I will probably never know, but I do wonder. I would lean toward x-rays as the reason if you got zero hatch. Poor babies can't stand up agains radiation at all... not a chance.