It feels to me that there are a lot of things that can go wrong with shipped eggs.
- temperature spikes, high and low
- low pressure, if flown
- x-rays
- lots of jostling, from the truck and from being thrown around
If anything happens to damage the air sac, that can have a definite effect on end development.
The adult buckeyes we have were hatched from shipped eggs. We had a very low hatch rate out of that batch - 3/12 - but this year I have chicks from those buckeyes that are strong and bouncy with a 100% hatch rate. In that same incubation batch, I had shipped eggs where all developed significantly but only 6 hatched.
I think with shipped eggs you just have to be planning for a very low rate of success, and be pleasantly surprised if you do better. To dwell on the ones hatched in new places rather than the ones that don't hatch.
Obviously, zero chicks is hugely disappointing.
- temperature spikes, high and low
- low pressure, if flown
- x-rays
- lots of jostling, from the truck and from being thrown around
If anything happens to damage the air sac, that can have a definite effect on end development.
The adult buckeyes we have were hatched from shipped eggs. We had a very low hatch rate out of that batch - 3/12 - but this year I have chicks from those buckeyes that are strong and bouncy with a 100% hatch rate. In that same incubation batch, I had shipped eggs where all developed significantly but only 6 hatched.
I think with shipped eggs you just have to be planning for a very low rate of success, and be pleasantly surprised if you do better. To dwell on the ones hatched in new places rather than the ones that don't hatch.
Obviously, zero chicks is hugely disappointing.
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