Mailed and Shipped Fertilised Chicken Eggs: What to do when they arrive!
Ranked #1,288 in Pets & Animals, #34,937 overall
Mailed eggs?
Every year, people put their trust in the mail system to get their rare breed fertlilised chicken eggs. It can be worth it, to get a few select rare heritage chickens in the backyard. Fertilised eggs can be mailed and shipped thousands of miles and be placed in the egg incubator in the hope chicks will hatch. It is usually expensive and risky but rewarding when it works out!
I have some suggestions for handling the fertilised chicken eggs to get the best hatch rates possible. It starts with asking the right questions of the breeder. You can make sure the eggs are handled and wrapped properly before they go in the mail, giving the best chance of viable fertilised eggs and healthy chicks. Then you can handle them the right way to get the best hatch rate too.
Contents at a Glance
The Egg Seller
Ideally this is not their first time shipping any fertlised chicken eggs and they have a system for safe mailing and a history of very few breakages. Ideally they candle (shine a light through all fertile eggs) to look for defects (cracks, blood spots or partially incubated eggs) so they are not sending eggs that have no hope of hatching.The fertilised chicken eggs should be unwashed but clean-looking when taken from the nest.The hens need a nice thick-bedded nest and won't wipe their feet all over the eggs. The breeder should just send you the cleanest fertilised eggs. Occasionally the eggs are dirtier than is ideal and this may lead to bacterial infection of the egg and it blowing up in the egg incubator, infecting the other eggs and ruining the whole hatch. We can deal with correct washing shortly.
Once collected, knowing the fertilised eggs are less than a week old (up to 2 weeks max only when numbers are limited) and have been tilted 2-4 times a day in a cool area with constant temp around 60-65 degrees F is best.
You want to know the fertilised chicken eggs are pure-bred too. And by knowing the right breed parent chickens have been together at least 4 weeks, that they have already incubated eggs and hatched chicks from those pairings that is good. And they can tell you fertility is over 90% (that over 90% of the eggs start growing because they are fertilised) and the hatch rate is high too, you should be OK. Generally their hatch rate will be almost double the one at 40% you can realistically expect with fertilised eggs that have been mailed.
Make sure they are shipped as fast as you can afford and 3 days or less max, when when temperatures are moderate. Have your phone number on the parcel so you can get the hatching eggs as soon as possible.
Shipped Egg Checklist
Things to do on arrival
Unwrap carefully over a padded area, double-over large thick towel on kitchen counter.
Candle the eggs as soon as you get them then you know if they need special treatment. Checking for cracks and air cell condition will help you decide what to do.
If they are dirty, covered in dirty toe- prints or have a substantial poop on them or overall grubbiness, you can wash them carefully. Doing this incorrectly is more harmful that leaving them so read on.
Check for papery thin shells, rough shells and irregularities-in shell and blood spots in the fertilised chicken eggs. There is not much you can do about this except keep track. It is thought sometimes more porous mottled shelled eggs don't hatch as well. If the whole hatch has thin rough shells that lose water quickly, you may need a higher humidity level, say 20-30% higher. You could see this if the air cell growing rapidly in size after the first week 10 days. Blood spots, just keep track of which eggs have them (mark in pencil) and if they don't hatch well or at all, inform the egg seller.
If you have to wait a few days for the chicken incubators to be available, or wait for more eggs you need to store the fertilised chicken eggs carefully. After the first 24 hours, gently tilt the cartons they are in 2-4 x per day. Keep them around 60 degrees Fahrenheit after arrival, in a cool basement until an hour before they go in the incubator.
Cracked or Leaking?
Look for cracks first
Eggs with cracks that are leaking are too far gone to be put in the incubator and unfortunately should be discarded. Bacteria will have penetrated the tear in the membrane, inoculating the egg with bacteria. This can compromise the whole rest of the hatch, and eggs cracked like that will never hatch anyway.
Air Cells?
Look at Size, Shape and Location
A normal air cell in a freshly laid egg are dime sized up to quarter sized in a week-old or older egg, and fixed at the fat end and just looks like a line when candled. Let the eggs stabilize - sit in a flat egg carton, pointy end down, overnight, but 6 hours absolute minimum, and allow them to come up to room temperature slowly before they go anywhere near the incubator.From rough shipping it is possible to see detached, loose or rolling air sacs as seen in the picture. For those eggs, you need to change your hatch plan. They have to sit 24 hours always pointy end down, to see if the aircells will reattach, about half of them will in my experience. Either way, leave them in the egg carton for all 21 days of the hatch. Stop turning early at Day 16 not 18. It is possible to hatch chicks from eggs with detached air sacs when the cells never stabilized even after 24 hours, but were left upright for hatch. Make sure any turning is gentle, and no flatter than 45 degrees, more vertical is better!
Disrupted, shattered or ruptured air sacs are seen when instead of one bubble on the side of the egg, there are more than one. Handling must be very rough in these situations and I believe can be enough to kill the embryo in the first place. These should have the same treatment as the detached air sac eggs, but don't re-candle after 24 hours, these won't reattach. Just having the air bubbles rising to the top of the eggs at the fat end while hatching the eggs vertically in trays gives any chicks that do grow chance to pip into the air cell. Likelihood of a chick hatching is lower than intact displaced air cell eggs, but worth a try if the eggs show no sign of spoilage or leaking.
Dirty eggs?
What to do with them: Washing eggs, sometimes you have to......
First of all let me say some people will never wash fertilised eggs and some always do! It is up to you if you feel it is better to wash them or not. There may be times when expensive shipped fertilised chicken eggs you are hoping to put in the incubator are just too dirty to leave as they are. Some people will just wipe the worst spots, but that is not enough for me!
Don't wash any hairline cracked fertilised eggs or shattered air cell eggs, You may tear the membrane or let more bacteria in the cracked eggs and the less you disturb the air sac the better. Wait til right before you are putting the eggs in the incubator before you wash the eggs.
How to wash fertilised chicken eggs
--Ideally have 2 sinks of 90-100 degree F warm water - warmer than the eggs to prevent bacteria and dirt being drawn into the eggs.
--The second rinse sink has a splash of bleach in it. You can buy special egg sanitizer, but bleach is fine and readily available in an emergency.
--The fertilised eggs get a quick dip in the first sink. Then make a light wringing motion loosely around the egg with both hands. So the right one cleans one end of the egg and the left the other. If chunkies or poops or yolk are in them, wash those last. Go from cleaner eggs to dirtier in order. You can use a green scrubby for chunkies. Scrubbing the brown egg colour off in one area is less harmful to an embryo than soaking it for 5 minutes possibly bacteria laden warm water. If either sinks water stops looking crystal clear, I empty it and start over.
--Then the egg gets a quick dip rinse in the second sink. Never soak them in either sink.
--Then let the fertilised eggs air dry on a clean tea towel or paper towel or even a clean open draining egg flat .
Fertilised Partridge Chantecler eggs after washing
Happy hatching of your fertilised chicken eggs!
I would love to hear how you did with your hatches! It is upsetting and disappointing to have expensive fertilised eggs arrive cracked, damaged internally or dirty.You CAN improve things. Just putting them in the chicken incubator as they are, may result in losing the whole hatch. A shame after you have waited for your fertile eggs and spent all that money. So it is well worth seeing how you can boost your hatch rate! Now all you have to do it keep that incubator at 99.5! Good Luck!
Buying & Choosing Fertilised Rare Breed Chicken Eggs
- Tips on Buying Fertilised Chicken Eggs for Hatching
- If you want to know what questions to ask your egg suppliers to make sure you are getting the hatching eggs and chicks you want, read on. I'll include some useful definitions and reason so you know what you are asking about, and why! I have recommended the best chicken incubators to help you hatch lots of chicks with excellent hatch rates too!
- Principles of Wrapping & Packaging Fertilised Chicken Hatching Eggs for Safe Mailing - InfoBarrel
- Here are some principles of securely wrapping and padding your fertilized chicken, turkey and other poultry eggs for shipping in the mail or courier. If you want to design your own method, using materials you have on hand, here are some ideas for getting started.
- Chicken Egg Incubators - How to Choose the Right Incubator for Hatching Fertilized Chicken Eggs - InfoBarrel
- I have recommended the best chicken incubators to help you hatch lots of chicks from fertilised chicken eggs!
- How to Wrap & Pack Fertilized Poultry & Chicken Hatching Eggs for Shipping & Mailing - InfoBarrel
- If you need to know a fast, easy, safe and inexpensive way to wrap and package your fertilised chicken eggs for the incubator, read on. Avoid disappointment for your are and heritage chicken hatching breed egg buyers and make sure the fertile eggs don't break when shipped and mailed!
- Top 10 Favourite Rare Heritage Chicken Breeds and Why!
- What we look for in a Rare or Heritage Chicken Breed. These favourites were chosen for their friendliness, hardiness, beauty and the beauty of the eggs. If a breed is not as good in one area it makes up for it in another area. We like to be able to have the extra roosters for the table, want a rainbow of eggs and want cold hardy friendly pet chickens with personality!
- Choosing the right Chicken Breed
- Anyone for Chocolate eggs? Blue-Green layers! Comparison of popular breeds and lots of Questions to ask to get the breed you want.
So you don't have to scroll, if you liked the lens you can thumbs up here. Thanks!
This module only appears with actual data when viewed on a live lens. The favorite and lensroll options will appear on a live lens if the viewer is a member of Squidoo and logged in.
Share any tips or questions about dealing with shipped fertilized chicken or turkeys eggs!
And don't forget to vote if your enjoyed our page!
-
-
bloomingrose
Apr 14, 2012 @ 2:13 am | delete
- What an interesting lens. You obviously know what you are talking about.
-
-
-
rose
May 17, 2012 @ 2:50 am | delete
- what that is enzane
-
-
-
musicaldreamer Mar 19, 2012 @ 11:22 am | delete
- This is really interesting, I hope one day to own chickens. Thanks for sharing!
-
-
-
Jamie
Mar 11, 2012 @ 11:45 pm | delete
- My eggs were due today. There is a whitish clear liquid forming on the top but no cracks...anyone know what is going on there?
-
-
-
greenlungsofpoland
Mar 8, 2012 @ 5:27 pm | delete
- A great lens I bred pekin bantams and people would ask me to send them eggs. i did this several times with good hatch rates I used poly boxes specially designed for posting hatching eggs. A very popular pastime in the UK.
-
- Load More
Looking for ways to make incubation easier?
Check these out, or look around on your own using the Search button
by skeffling
I love homesteading and have been doing it for 12 years. Being self-sufficient is awesome, the food we grow tastes great, but most of all I love the f... more »
- 80 featured lenses
- Winner of 31 trophies!
- Top lens » Which is the Best Bridge Camera 2012?
Explore related pages
- Perfect Gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, Valentines, Anniversaries - Guide to Poultry Gifts for the Chicken Keeper Perfect Gifts for Christmas, Birthdays, Valentines, Anniversaries - Guide to Poultry Gifts for the Chicken Keeper
- Before you build poultry coops or henhouses...... Before you build poultry coops or henhouses......
- Tips on Buying the Right Chicken Incubators for Hatching Your Fertilised Chicken Eggs Tips on Buying the Right Chicken Incubators for Hatching Your Fertilised Chicken Eggs
- The Friendliest Rare Heritage Chicken Breeds! The Friendliest Rare Heritage Chicken Breeds!
- Skeffling Lavender Farm on Squidoo - Homesteading, Chickenry, Gardening, Savvy Shopping, Zazzling, Antique Linens! Skeffling Lavender Farm on Squidoo - Homesteading, Chickenry, Gardening, Savvy Shopping, Zazzling, Antique Linens!
- What are Euskal Oiloas or Basque Hens and Why would anyone want these Chickens? What are Euskal Oiloas or Basque Hens and Why would anyone want these Chickens?
Building Great Henhouses
Have One Thermometer that works Really Well!
Not 10 Weather themometers that all say different temperatures.....
Highly Accurate Digital Spot Check Incubator Thermometer
Amazon Price: $21.99 (as of 06/02/2012)
This has saved the lives of more chicks than any other piece of equipment I have had!!
Seldom do two thermometers read the same, it is frustrating figuring out the real temperature. Annd can be heart-breaking if you find it was wrong, too late. If you put this accurate one beside all your others (I have over $100 of ones that are really no good for anything but the brooder-but you can reuse them there!) you will see which are the furthest off because you CAN depend on these Spot Checks!
I cannot say enough out these great thermometers! On poultry forums I see People I have recommended to, telling newbies to get one! Even if you get the most basic inexpensive incubator, please consider getting one of these to check your incubator temperatures properly.
RCom 50 Egg Incubator
The Cadillac of Incubators
R-com Pro 50 with USB Chicken Egg Incubator
Amazon Price: $814.50 (as of 06/02/2012)
