Will shipped hatching eggs be ok in December??

[jaudon77]

My dearest husband bought me an incubator for Christmas..Man I love that guy!!

While my goal is to hatch peafowl this spring, I have never hatched eggs with an incubator before and would like a little practice with chicken eggs. I can normally just run out to the coop and grab a dozen or so and pop them in the incubator, but my chickens stopped laying about a month ago. We live in Oklahoma and the temps here have been about an average of 15 degrees F.

If I buy hatching eggs and have them shipped, would they still hatch, even with the cold temps they will most likely endure during shipping? I'm super excited to get started, but don't want to waste my time buying eggs that won't hatch anyway.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Sounds like it was a good Christmas With 15* temps, I would be afraid they would freeze during shipping, 30* seems to be about as low as eggs can be cooled to and still have them potentially hatch. Can you get fertile eggs locally, even barnyard mixes somebody is selling as eating eggs? Or some of the grocery stores like that Trader Joes that people have gotten fertile eggs from?
And Hello Welcome To BYC and Happy Holidays!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't think it's the cold so much as the jostling from shipping. The box won't spend enough time out in the elements for the eggs to freeze. They'll be in sorting/distribution centers and on trucks/planes with other boxes that had been indoors.

For your first time I would be reluctant to try shipped eggs. I would go on craigslist and look for someone local selling eggs that has a rooster running with the hens. Let them know you are looking for fertiles. Go pick them up and you'll eliminate the jostling aspect of shipped eggs.

You should look through this thread. There is a ton of information being thrown around for the NYD hatch.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ears-day-2014-hatch-a-long/5280#post_12537135
Your husband is an enabler. Nice present.

 

[bhaugh]

Shipped eggs as everyone knows is risky. Last month I had eggs shipped to me and none hatched. I read AFTER this incident that roos in a state of molting can go infertile and it seems that everyone I talk to has birds molting. So even though they hang with the ladies, you might not even get fertile eggs. Then you have to deal with detached air cells etc from the PO

For my first eggs to incubate I got Trader Joe fertile eggs. I actually had 3 hatch. I would highly recommend starting a journal so you can make adjustments along the way and when things go wrong (as I had happen with my shipped eggs) you can adjust and try something different the next time.

I agree your best bet is to find someone local. That will give you the best chance. One last suggestion. Dont look at any eggs that didnt hatch as a failure. Look at it as a "how can I do better next time" I say a prayer for the bird that didnt make it then move on.

 

[jaudon77]

Thank you so much everyone for your input! I took your advice and found some local fresh eggs for sale. I found someone who had free range chickens with roosters running with them and explained what I had planned. They collected as many were hatched over 24 hours and stored them properly for me until I could pick them up the next day.

I put them in my Brinsea Advance 20 incubator two days ago and can't wait to see how they turn out. I'm very excited. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Thank you again for the feedback!