Transporting Hatching Eggs

[KVG0908]

Hello All-
I'm brand new to BYC so bare with me if this question has already been asked. I'm planning a trip to pick up a dozen hatching eggs. It will be a 5 hr drive at the end of march in WI. Hopefully the weather cooperates! Anyway, my question is this: what steps should I take to help ensure the smoothest trip possible for my future babies? I'm assuming the seller will only provide an egg carton to transfer them in. Is that sufficient? Should I put them in a cooler (without ice of course) to try to keep a constant temp and humidity for them? Do they need to sit for a period of time after getting home before putting them in the bator? I'm brand new to incubating (grew up with just buying day old chicks) and these will be my first birds of my own. Any help/suggestions to increase hatchability would be greatly appreciated! TIA

 

[BonRae67]

You can wrap each one with paper towel to insure they don't move around. Keep them fat end up during transport. That way the air cell won't get disturbed. They should be fine at whatever temperature the car is. The most important thing is to keep that air cell end (the fat end) upward. I would let them rest for a day or 2 when you get home. Candle them before incubating to make sure the aircell survived the trip. If they look intact put them in and see what they do.

 

[KVG0908]

Thanks for your response BonRae67! I know I'm probably over thinking things but I'm nervous of a low hatch rate. Especially since the breeder is so far away. Thanks again!

 

[BonRae67]

You will be way more gentle than shipping them to you. You are going to do great with them. Good luck and keep us posted on the hatch.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Fat end up in a carton on the seat or floor works for me.

 

[diegartenfrau]

I also got 42 eggs from a breeder 5 hours away we picked up by car. I am now getting worried since we are at day 24 and still no chicks. We used to hatch quail eggs and never had an issue but never did chicken eggs
The breeder had packed the eggs well but put them on blue ice packs inside a cooler my husband brought. My husband wondered about it asking if he should remove the ice packs from the cooler but she insisted the eggs would be fine. We followed her advice and let the eggs acclimate for 12 hours before putting in the no air fan incubator, which I had set up days ahead, with a calibrated thermometer so it was at the right temp and humidity. We didn't candle the eggs because we were more worried about the temp staying right and with that many eggs too candle we were worried we loose too much warmth and mess things up more then helping, also we were worried about breaking eggs. The breeder is supposed to have a great hatch rate from reviews I have read, so we were not worried about the fertility rate or hatching.
Above the original poster mentions in her question (putting them in a cooler of course without ice)...now I am really worried. Could it be that the eggs got too cold and won't hatch? Shouldn't at least some have hatched by now? I paid a lot of money for these eggs because they were rare breeds and now I am worried I paid all this money for nothing. Not sure if I can get replacement eggs or my money back.
Should the eggs not be put on ice? Could this make the eggs not hatch?

it's so disappointing

 

[WalnutHill]

Hatching eggs should not be put on ice. They should be kept between 55 and 90 degrees during transport and storage, the higher the temperature, the shorter window for maximum hatchability.

A lot of things could have happened between the time you put the eggs in the cooler and today. Have you monitored air cells, candled to check development, etc.?

 

[dekel18042]

Are the eggs moving or chirping? They could still hatch so I would give them another day or so. Did you check your humidity? I don't want to over handle so only candle once between day 10 and 14, and then again at day 18 to see about going into lockdown.
While I agree with WalnutHill about putting hatching eggs on ice (How close to the ice were they? Was there a layer of something between them and the ice?)
I have several times pulled an egg or a few from the refrigerator and either put them in the incubator or pulled them out of the fridge and kept them in the basement (where I store eggs until I incubate) with the other eggs until I set the incubator. I don't make a habit of this but sometimes I decide to hatch and there is a particularly nice egg or one from a hen I want a chick from that I had put in the fridge a day or so before so I'll take it back out.
I've always marked eggs that have been in the refrigerator and they have always hatched.
I know of cases were broodies sneaked nests (November or March) when it is really cold here and hatched chicks. Those eggs must have sat out in inclement weather until they were incubated.

 

[Bryam]

It was not a good idea, putting hatching on ice. You should candle them.

Good luck!

 

[diegartenfrau]

I candled them yesterday and it doesn't look good. No movement, no chirping. Because they are mostly brown eggs it's hard to see, I don't really have a special candler, because we are not going to incubate very often. What I see is mostly empty eggs, nothing showing, some are liquid sloshing around. About 10 have a bit dark matter in it but too small to be a chick, 2 have a larger dark area. I was very careful of keeping track of the temperature and humidity, calibrated both the digital Thermometer and the hygrometer so I knew they were correct. I set up the incubator more then a week before we got the eggs so it was all running smoothly. I kept the temp pretty solid between 101 and 102 throughout the hatch, which is the correct temp for a still air incubator, the humidity during hatch was 45 to 55 %, so that should not be an issue either. We had an automatic egg turner. We choose not to candle because the seller had a very good hatch rate and many good reviews for hatching and with the still air incubator and that many eggs we were worried the temp would go too low and take too long to get back up.

I am so disappointed, I paid $140 for these 42 eggs and got nothing. Even with a few minor issues I should at least have a few chicks. That I didn't get any, I think something must have been wrong from the beginning.
My husband, who picked up the eggs on his way to a repair job he had at 2 pm, made sure that she knew he was not getting home until 1 a.m or later and he was concerned that maybe the eggs would get too cold with the ice packs, sitting in the cooler that long. There was a blanket and newspaper between the ice and eggs but cold travels and coolers can stay very cold if you don't open them often. But she told him "No, you want the ice in there" so he trusted her, thinking she should know. He should have trusted himself.

I still have to contact her but I bet I won't get my money back. Seems like this is a common policy. At this point I don't even know if I ever want to incubate again. All I wanted is enough chicks for my city flock. I got more eggs because we never incubated chicken eggs,hoping for at least half of them hatching. In the end I could have gotten enough live chicks for myself of these breeds and spend less money or the same.

I feel cheated