Shipped Quail Eggs-Arrived Ice Cold

[HybridChickenMama]

So I am new to quail, to the point that I just received 14 fertile coturnix eggs in the mail today. I’ve previously incubated chicken eggs and they were shipped via FedEx and I had no issues. Sadly, the farm I ordered my quails from used USPS, and my quail eggs were on a cold postal truck for 12+ hours in an area where our temps didn’t rise above 17° F all day. It was 1° when they were delivered. And upon arrival none were broken and were well packaged, but they were ice cold. I read that postal trucks are typically a similar temperature to the outside temp.

I have them on a shelf in a 70° room to gradually warm up before attempting incubation.

What is the likelihood that they will even develop after such a cold trip? Am I wasting my time and energy on eggs that will never develop?

Any suggestions on how to proceed? I already emailed the farm, Daily Bread Homestead to inform them of the delivery issues so they might be able to help?

 

[007Sean]

You might get a decent hatch....there's really no way to know if they were 'frozen' during shipment? The only thing worse is during hot weather, they start developing on the mail truck, then when they arrive most people let them rest in a 70°F room, that effectively has killed those embryos that were developing. Only thing to do is incubate them and see if they develop, 5 to 7 days after you start incubating, candle them and look for development.
Good luck with your hatch!

 

[HybridChickenMama]

You might get a decent hatch....there's really no way to know if they were 'frozen' during shipment? The only thing worse is during hot weather, they start developing on the mail truck, then when they arrive most people let them rest in a 70°F room, that effectively has killed those embryos that were developing. Only thing to do is incubate them and see if they develop, 5 to 7 days after you start incubating, candle them and look for development.
Good luck with your hatch!

Thank you! I’m getting the incubator ready and will update in a week or so, hopefully with at least half developing!

The cold sounds more forgiving than extreme heat so I’m hoping for the best!

 

[pac]

I'm surprised they don't ship them like tropical fish. Insulated and with a handwarmer.

Should be getting close now.
I'm hoping to see some good news in a few days or so.

 

[harmohen]

So I had a very similar experience. USPS misdelivered my shipment of 30 eggs in 40 degree temps. I thought they were goners, but they ended up showing up in my driveway 24 hours later. I was very nervous but I put them in the incubator after 24 hours of room temp rest.

I candled at lock down and only had 5 non-fertile eggs!

Now the serious issue is that my incubator was not calibrated correctly. I have been combatting seriously low temps (94 degrees at times) in the incubator. It is now day 22 and I have no pips or hatches. But I do have 7 wiggling eggs. I candled 3 eggs that did not appear to be moving - 2 had live embryos, only 1 was undeveloped.

Fingers crossed I get a few healthy chicks!

 

[HybridChickenMama]

I'm surprised they don't ship them like tropical fish. Insulated and with a handwarmer.

Should be getting close now.
I'm hoping to see some good news in a few days or so.

Sorry for the late response, had a death in my family and I had to checkout of the world for a week or so.

The good news so far is that out of 14, 10 ended up being fertile at 7 days. 1 was cracked and 3 others were clear with no signs of development. Air sacs all looked good and there was movement in all of the 10. Tossed out the 4 duds and they’re in the fridge for my dogs.

At day 14, I candled one last time and they all seem to still have movement and they looked like the candling chart showed.

It’s day 16 and day 2 of lockdown. I’ve removed the turner plate and replaced it with paper towels. I live in Colorado and it’s pretty dry up here so to help keep the humidity higher I am spraying the incubator like once a day.

Now we wait lol

This picture is at 7 days.

 

[HybridChickenMama]

So I had a very similar experience. USPS misdelivered my shipment of 30 eggs in 40 degree temps. I thought they were goners, but they ended up showing up in my driveway 24 hours later. I was very nervous but I put them in the incubator after 24 hours of room temp rest.

I candled at lock down and only had 5 non-fertile eggs!

Now the serious issue is that my incubator was not calibrated correctly. I have been combatting seriously low temps (94 degrees at times) in the incubator. It is now day 22 and I have no pips or hatches. But I do have 7 wiggling eggs. I candled 3 eggs that did not appear to be moving - 2 had live embryos, only 1 was undeveloped.

Fingers crossed I get a few healthy chicks!

Did your hatch go well?

 

[pac]

Fingers crossed

 

[HybridChickenMama]

Fingers crossed

We have 2 baby quail so far! They’re coming quick so I’m hoping I get a few more!

 

[HybridChickenMama]

First 6 are dried off and snuggled up on the heating pad! #7 just hatched and is enjoying a very short time as an only child till the others hatch or it joins the siblings in the brooder. I think considering them being practically frozen when I got them, 7 is more than I expected! Pretty sure #8 is pipping too!