Incubating Shipped Eggs in an Egg Carton

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windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
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Re: Incubating Shipped Eggs in an Egg Carton

Post by windwalkingwolf » Wed Feb 27, 2019 3:09 pm

The only reason I can think of to position eggs fat end up and NOT turn them for 7 days, would be if the air cells had detached from rough handling and/or temperature swings. However, in my experience, if the air cells have not settled after 24 hours, they're not going to, and these eggs will sometimes develop but I've never had one hatch. Hatchability goes down markedly faster if eggs are not turned regularly, whether they're in an incubator or not. I keep mine in egg cartons and flip the cartons once or twice a day: if I forget for a few days, you can definitely tell the difference. Fewer will develop, and of those that do, fewer will hatch, so to me it makes no logical sense to deliberately leave them sitting still for a week. You can save yourself some worry and trouble by candling them as soon as you get them. If air cells are rolling around the egg (may re-attach, may not), or there are what looks like bubbles anywhere inside (definitely won't settle), consider them bad eggs and save yourself some incubator space. Any that have hairline cracks can still be incubated (seal the crack first) successfully, but the longer you let them sit before incubating, the greater the likelihood of losing the embryo to bacteria. You can crack bubbly or broken eggs open to check fertility if you like.
Another thing is, most people like to ship eggs "priority" or "express" post so they arrive faster than regular parcel mail would...but in my experience, the rush put on these parcels results in them being thrown about, shaken and dropped. Fragile stickers don't mean anything to a sorting machine or a careless CP employee.
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Jaye
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Re: Incubating Shipped Eggs in an Egg Carton

Post by Jaye » Wed Feb 27, 2019 6:50 pm

:good post:
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Kbr42
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Re: Incubating Shipped Eggs in an Egg Carton

Post by Kbr42 » Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:06 am

Thanks @windwalkingwolf Great post! I'll check after they are shipped. I did add a heat pack. I'll keep everyone posted.
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