# Hmmm...Mail Eggs Kind Of Suck



## don956 (Nov 18, 2015)

So I ordered 20 Serama eggs from the bay and started incubating 11 days ago using the dry method, went out for a week on some business and got back today and candles the eggs and this are the results.

8 unfertiled eggs
3 blood rings
2 dead embryos (no movement of black dot)
7 look good in development and a lot of activity.

I heard there's a 50/50 rate or less of hatching with mailed eggs because of handling during transit so I guess they're right.

10 more days to go and hopefully the remaining 7 will hatch....fingers crossed.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Add in that Serama eggs are difficult when it comes to artificially incubating and it's like trying to swim upstream to get them to hatch. The fact that you have seven that seem to be doing OK is a good sign.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Yes it does suck. Some people's eggs ship better as well. Mine shipped so badly that I stopped selling them as hatching eggs. I was getting above 90% hatching mine, but after shipping about 5x, and people barely getting a live chick, I stopped. I was also sending 2nd shipments out my own pocket.

Sometimes it's best to hatch your own.


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## don956 (Nov 18, 2015)

One day before lockdown we had a power outage that lasted that lasted 10 hrs as I was told by our neighbor since we were out of town. I checked the bator and the eggs were at room temp, candled them and didn't look good. I went ahead to lockdown anyways but to no avail. Set another batch of 12 eggs of my Serama flock but since they just started laying eggs I heard that they are not good for hatching, anybody can tell me why?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's the really tiny eggs that don't work. If the eggs from your existing flock are a normal size and the boys have the right technique they should be fertile. 

Just remember, artificially incubating Serama eggs is challenging even when everything is perfect. 

As a side note, the reduced temp may or may not have been the problem. I've seen eggs from other breeds hatch even when winter temps cold, just delayed by a day or two.


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

I want Oliver eggers and Marans. I found someone local that sells hatching eggs for both. Now just gotta find someone who will let me borrow an incubater.


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## keepher (Dec 19, 2015)

If only you were closer to me, I have a turn-x just sitting there. Tempting me to put it to work.


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

U should use it! Baby chicks are always fun  they r like M&Ms though. U can't have just one or two lol. Once I see chicks I want them all lol


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## chickenmommy (Apr 30, 2013)

If I got a incubator it will be the best Christmas! Maybe I should be a good girl so Santa will. Bring me one lol!!! ️


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Hey Robin, I might want to borrow your incubator and I'm close enough! Let me talk to the other half, we have been wanting to try to incubate some eggs.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Just let me know. I am quite a few hours away though. Hubs says we're about five hours from Mobile.


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## WeeLittleChicken (Aug 31, 2012)

Serama eggs aye, boy you're a glutton for punishment! (It's OK, Seramas were my first shipped eggs too.) That being said they are... exasperating little things. I have had good luck with shipped eggs. I'll tell you my recipe - ungodly high humidity (80% through the whole incubation) and high temperature 100-101 degrees. I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom but it's what works for me, for Serama eggs. Right now my exasperation comes from the fact the eggs are incubating wonderfully but Seramas have this irritating tendency to develop fully and then just not hatch. That's what I am struggling with now. Better luck next time!


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I'm thinking it's possible to have humidity too high and not get enough water loss from the egg and end up with chicks too big to hatch. If you have a cheapo food scale, there's a formula of how many % of weight loss that you need at certain times during incubation.

I know some breeds don't ship as well as others, and I have a great hatchrate on mine at home, but I have never had good luck shipping my eggs and their hatchrate. So I don't anymore.


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