A Beginners First Experience with Shipped Eggs (Picture Heavy!)

[venymae]

After a disappointing hatch where 100% of the only local eggs available turned up clear, a wonderful person offered to ship me eggs in exchange for good record keeping on a custom mix they were trying to develop and reimbursiment of the postage. And with that, I started my first foray into shipped eggs!
(This will be my third incubation attempt, though the second one really didn't count!)


November 6th a package of 10 Serama, 10 Blue Egger Mixes, and 5 Crested Cream Legbars arrived at the post office for me to pick up. Making sure your eggs are packed well is very important, and I was lucky enough to get someone who knew her stuff when it came to packing eggs!

The eggs were individually wrapped in bubble wrap, to protect them and also to prevent excess moisture loss. Many shippers make the mistake of packing eggs in newspaper, which though cushioning can draw out too much moisture from the eggs.





They were then wrapped in a plastic bag and placed inside a small cardboard box. The small box was then placed catty-corner into a larger box and surrounded by styrofoam egg cartons for extra protection.
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The outside of the box was marked FRAGILE: SYRUP IN GLASS - NO XRAY!
Because really, what postal worker wants syrup in their car?!? None!

Out of 25 eggs, not a single one was broken - even as they traveled half way across the United States.


Yeah, Eggs!

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Tip: Don't be afraid to request this type of packing from your seller. You are the customer!

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[venymae]

While letting the eggs warm up to room temperature (it's fall right now and they were cool) I started heating up the incubators. The 10 Serama would be going into our new Brinsea Mini ,which can hold up to 12 small eggs, at 100°F. The 10 Mix and 6 Legbar, at 100.5°F, would be going into Uglybator. Our homemade coolerbator.
Who is totally awesome, btw.


Uglybator during our first hatch, which was very successful
(he's had a wire upgrade since then!)



Sally (the shipper) recommended those temperatures. She also had marked the air cells before shipping them to me and told me upon arrival I was to check the air cells and note which ones were having problems.
Because of the rough shipping conditions eggs go through their air cells can sometimes be damaged.
Common problems include:

Saddle Cells - the air cell saddles the top of the egg in a kidney bean shape



Detached Cells - the air cell moves through the eggs when tilted, much like the bubble on a level, and do not stay at one end



Wobbly Cells - not quite detached, these cells look normal but are loose and a little more fragile




Depending on what kind of cells you have you might have to treat your eggs with extra caution, because I had flashlight difficulties I did not candle my eggs upon arrival. I will have to wait until day 7, and treat them all as if they have damaged cells to be on the safe side until then.

To do this I put them into the incubators in egg cartons, air cell up. I did not turn them for 2 days to help the air cells "heal". After that I did gentle turning where I simply tilted the egg in the carton from one side in the morning, and the other side in the evening.

Turning damaged air cell Shipped Eggs, just lean to opposite side.
Notice the​

carton bottom is cut out for ventilation.​

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[venymae]

Ok, I confess I couldn't wait any longer!!! I candled my eggs. Day 6.5

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Here are the results!

Serama:
1.Good Air Cell - Clear
2.Good Air Cell - Clear
3.Wonky Saddle Cell - LIFE!
4. Slight Saddle Cell - Blood ring
5. Good Air Cell - Clear
6. Good Air Cell - Veins!
7. Rolling Air Cell - Clear
8. Rolling Air Cell - Clear
9. Rolling Air Cell - Clear
10. Weird Air Cell - Cloudy Clear

Total Serama Viable (Day Six) = 2/10





Crested Cream Legbar:
1. Good Air Cell - LIFE!
2. Good Air Cell - LIFE!
3. Good Air Cell - Veins
4. Slightly Wobbly Air Cell - LIFE!
5. Good Air Cell - Partial Blood Ring?

Total Legbar Viable (Day 6) = 4/5



Mixed Large Blue:
1. Good Air Cell - LIFE!
2. Good Air Cell - Blood Ring
3. Saddle Air Cell - Veins?
4. Saddle Air Cell - Veins!
5. Wobbly Air Cell - Blood Ring/Cloudy
6. Deep Saddle Air Cell - Veins
7. Slight Saddle Air Cell - LIFE!
8. Slight Saddle Air Cell - Veins!
9. Wobbly Air Cell - Blood Ring
10. Saddle Air Cell - Veins!

Total Mixed Viable (Day 6) = 7/10



TOTAL VIABLE EGGS ALL (Day 6) = 13/25 or 52%



By the Way LIFE! = Veins AND Eyes

 

[venymae]

By Day 7 you should be seeing life in your eggs. Here are examples of some of the things I noted about my eggs.​

Life = Veins and possibly a visible Embryo

(photo by @RavynFallen )


Death can also be pretty obvious.

A Blood Ring (was fertile but died very early on)






A 'Clear' (egg was never fertilized or never started to grow)

Because I am a total chicken (haha) I am going to wait at least until day 10 or 14 before throwing out any of my eggs, just in case!​

 

[venymae]

{UGLYBATOR!}​

Just thought I would share some picture of Uglybator with you guys.
Uglybator is my homemade coolerbator whom I love! I did my first ever hatch in him, in the corner of our little apartment building with local eggs from a friend. It went great!

our first ever hatching experience!



This year we upgraded the wiring (less of a fire hazard now!) and are hatching the Crested Cream Legbar and Blue Egg Mixes inside.


Before Upgrade

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After Upgrade!

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These were the wires we used the first time, some were even duct taped together! Eeek!






Here is the interior of Uglybator.
We turn the eggs in cartons by placing a duploblok on alternating ends in the morning and evening. The Jars of water help keep the temperature stable by providing thermal mass. The thermometer you see is simply a reference thermometer, so we can do quick peeks into the bator and see if things are ok. The actual temperature regulator is the small red thing above the cardboard carton. Upon lockdown we will be putting shelf-liner over the chicken-wire to prevent chick feet from going through.
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[venymae]

Today is Day 10!​

It took a lot of self control to not candle the eggs again before today. I wanted to SO bad! But, I resisted. Today confirmed my earlier findings of losses. I am a little worried that my air cells are a bit large for only 10 days along. In order for a chick to develop properly they need the proper amount of moisture at the proper time. Too much moisture early on, and your air cell will not be big enough for the chick to take it's first breath of air. Which it does while still inside the egg. Too little moisture and the chick will not have enough room to properly develop. The best way to monitor moisture is not by the numbers on your hydrometer, but in your air cell growth. And I think mine are a little big...oops. 0_o

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Serama: 2/10 (all clear with 1 possible blood ring. Though I kept the blood one, juuuuust in case!) 20% viable
3. Insane Saddle Air Cell - Movement!
6. Normal Air Cell - Veins

I have one very wonky air cell on my most active chick (in the carton cup), so I posted pictures on the hatch-a-long I've joined in hopes that someone more experience can give me advice. I highly recommend any beginners like me join one. The experience and advice of other members is invaluable.




Blue Mix: 6/10 I had one additional quitter (#6) since first candling. 60% viable
1. Normal Air Cell - Movement!
3. Small Saddle Cell - Movement!
4. Normal Air Cell - Movement!
7. Normal Air Cell - Movement! (egg is very porous)
8. Saddle Air Cell? - Veins
10. Normal Air Cell - Veins

I read on the hatch-a-long I joined that the cardboard egg cartons can cause your eggs to lose moisture too fast, so I have switched mine to styrofoam, with the bottoms cut off for ventilation.



Crested Cream Legbar: 4/5 Everyone is going strong here! LOTS of movement. 80% viable
1. Small Saddle Air Cell - Movement!
2. Large Saddle Air Cell - Movement!
3. Normal Air Cell - Movement!
4. Saddle Air Cell - Movement!

These guys moved a LOT!


Total Viability: 48%

 

[venymae]

¡Stormy Night Drama!
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Last night a storm blew in. At 6 am I woke up and realized none of the nightlights were on. Crap! After putting the baby back to sleep I grabbed a flashlight to check on the incubators. Uglybator was hovering around 90°F, and the Brinsea Mini was at 77°F. Looking out the window told me our entire town was out. No street lights, just the wind and the rain. After texting around I found a neighbor with a wood stove and an adapter for the car which I could plug the mini into.
I bundled up the mini in a towel, grabbed a flash light and trudged over through the drizzle (still in my pj's) to their house to try and save my last two Serama eggs.
Uglybator is too...jerry-rigged, to move so I just had to hope the insulation would keep the temp warm enough until power was restored. The Mini quickly bounced back to proper temp after being plugged into the adapter. Standing in our jammies by the wood stove, we laughed at the goofyness of it all, while occasionally blinding each other with flashlights and head torches. About an hour later the power popped back on, so I bundled up the mini again and trudged back home.

I'm not sure when the power went off initially but here were my lows:

Uglybator: 89°F
Brinsea Mini: 75°F

Since a broody hen will occasionally leave her eggs for short periods of time to eat, drink and relieve herself, I hope that this episode will not have much effect on the eggs. Time will tell and I will report back when I candle on day 14.
Knock-on-wood!​

 

[nab58]

OH no! I hope your eggs survived the power outage. When are you due to candle again?

 

[ctc084]

I got a good deal on an incubator this weekend. I like the looks of uglybator though! Looks like some Frankenstein thing I'd pieces-n-part together haha! Best of luck!

 

[ctc084]

You could also get one of those uninterruptable power supplies for computers, they're a might expensive for a incubator but they might do the trick. Kinda like a battery pack that could keep it 'batoring longer.