– Once hatching 🐣 eggs leave my property, I am not responsible for:
- USPS’s handling of the package. Unless the box is physically damaged, please do not file a claim as USPS is the only carrier to ship out eggs.
- Your incubator or hatching experience. Not all incubators are good incubators. Sometimes the power goes out. You could live in a too humid/ too dry house. There are a million things that can affect hatchability/ fertility.
– All eggs shipped are fresh and laid within 2 days of shipping. They are stored at 42 degrees in a fridge that I equipped with an egg turner, pointy side down.
– NO REFUNDS ON HATCHING EGGS
Things you can do to make sure you have a good hatch:
- Clean any dirty eggs with a piece of sand paper. DO NOT USE WATER.
- Disinfect your incubator prior to use.
- Pre-warm your incubator at least 24 hours prior to setting eggs.
- Once you receive eggs, put them pointy side down for 24 hours before putting them in the incubator
- Keep a Bluetooth or wifi thermometer/ hygrometer in the incubator so that you can monitor the eggs.
- Place incubator in a place that stays a constant temperature away from windows.
- If hatching silkies, dry hatching in a basement works best.
All eggs leaving FFC are double boxed, clearly labeled, each egg individually wrapped, and padded with either arena sawdust or styrofoam peanuts depending on availability of shipping supplies.
Hatching Eggs Letter to buyers:
Here’s a few things to remember:
Issues that may arise are detached/ scrambled air cells, blastoderm damage (shock), temperature damage from being too hot or too cold, and lost packages resulting in delayed time from eggs being set to incubation. Eggs must stay between 40 – 72 degrees during transport. Too high of a temperature and embryos will start to develop abnormally. Too low and the eggs will lose fertility.
You can determine if you have detached air sacs by illuminating the egg with a small flashlight or your phone’s flashlight also works well. If the air sac is rolling around, it is detached. It is important for the air sac to stay in place at the bottom (largest part) of the egg. As the chick develops, it’s head is positioned at the large end. On the 19th day of incubation, the chick will move it’s head into place in the air sac and it’s lungs begin to function. If it is not in the air sac, it will die. This is especially important to remember if you are using an incubator where the egg is laying on it’s side. If the air cell is detached, the chick will develop and die from suffocation. In cases of detached air cells, it is beneficial to leave the egg with pointy end down until it hatches. You can roll the once a day side to side GENTLY. It is absolutely possible to hatch these eggs but it is definitely not a set it and forget it situation.
Remember to let the eggs sit for 12- 24 hours before incubating. Put them in an egg carton, pointy side. It will give detached and scrambled air sacs time to settle and possibly reattach/ unscramble. Do not let the eggs warm or cool down too fast. This will damage the blastoderm and cause infertility. Don’t close the lid of the egg carton in case condensation occurs. This will allow the bloom to be damaged and bacteria may grow. Bacteria inside the egg may use the nutrients found in the egg to multiply, robbing the embryo of a crucial food source or perhaps producing a toxin harmful to the embryo. During incubation, bacteria can actually prevent embryonic development, ultimately causing the embryo to die. Some breeders wash their hatching eggs with gold Listerine or Oxine. I do neither. Oxine is great at disinfecting coops and incubators but I don’t want to get my eggs wet. If an egg goes bad during incubation, it may explode in the incubator. This is the result of feces or other germs when an egg is laid. If an egg is laying in wet bedding, the bloom will be damaged and bacteria will surge through the egg pours. It can also occur after shipping if the buyer gets the eggs wet and touches them with soiled hands or a soiled incubator. If you do have a hatching egg with a little bit of poo on it, just take a piece of sandpaper and gently sand it off. I have included a small scrap. You’ll be much further ahead in protecting yourself from an exploding egg. Exploding eggs can and usually will ruin your entire hatch.
Finally, I want to discuss incubators. I started off with a cheap Styrofoam Tractor Supply incubator. The heat in these are not very reliable. Neither is the thermometer. I would recommend getting a secondary one. The Styrofoam also is hard to keep clean. If you plan on hatching a lot, you will be cleaning a lot. Keep it in a non drafty area of the house that remains a constant temperature. I found putting blankets over them helped tremendously. Chicks need a constant temperature. If it fluctuates, it can kill the embryos. There are also plastic incubators on Amazon and Ebay. These also have temperature issues. You can buy warranties on them though and get replacements very easily. The directions are usually in Chinese or by someone who doesn’t speak English as a primary language. It make setting up very difficult. They are also usually in Celsius so remember to keep the incubator at 37.5 degrees. They also have very loud alarms when they temperature fluctuates. I also recommend a blanket for these. The NutureRight 360 and various generic models of this seem to have a good hatch rate. I have never tried them. These are the ones I would be concerned about the detached air cells. I have upgraded to a cabinet GQF. It is AMAZING. It is literally set it and forget it. Sometimes I even forget to take the eggs off of the turners and they hatch out in the trays. I do not not recommend this if you have eggs on the highest shelf. They will hatch out just fine but may slip a tendon right on the fall to the bottom level. As for humidity, in all 3 cases, I recommend not adding water until day 18 or at lockdown. Your hatch rate will surge when you do this. Too high of humidity will drown the embryos. This is anything over 65%. They will develop but die if there is too much moisture when they try to pip. Too low, under 15%, and they hatch early or cannot get out of the shell. Try not to open the door after lockdown. If you have high humidity and open the door after they pip, they will get shrink wrapped in the membrane.
If a claim to USPS is to be made, I let the buyer file the claim. This allows the Buyer to receive a refund of their purchase price plus shipping
