How To Hatch Shipped Eggs

Learn how to hatch shipped eggs and gain valuable tips on how to tell if a chick is alive in egg. Read what an expert has to say about realistic expectations.

Reader Contribution by Julie Gabbard
Updated on February 11, 2023
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by AdobeStock/Ivan Kurmyshov
Learn how to hatch shipped eggs and gain valuable tips on how to tell if a chick is alive in egg. Read what an expert has to say about realistic expectations.

Few experiences in life compare to the wondrous event of witnessing a baby chicken labor with instinctive determination and emerge from an egg. Being a spectator of this miraculous event is the motivation that prompts many people to attempt incubating and hatching eggs. Regardless of the reasons behind your decision, knowing what to reasonably expect when purchasing shipped hatching eggs can make your experience more pleasurable and helps to ease potential disappointment.

When discussing shipped hatching eggs with an individual, I always remind them of the risk involved when purchasing eggs and the difference between an infertile egg and a nonviable egg.

Shipped hatching eggs may travel a great distance and experience excessive variations in climate, including temperature, humidity and pressure changes that may occur with fluctuations in altitude. These conditions, coupled with the possibility of simple human carelessness when handling the package, can decrease the likelihood of a successful hatch.

Because of these factors, a fertile and viable egg can be packed into a box, shipped to you and arrive in a nonviable state. When candling the eggs, nonviable eggs appear clear, just as infertile eggs do. When cracked open upon completion of incubation, you can see by close visual inspection that these nonviable eggs were fertile and became nonviable from exposure to extreme conditions.

So, why would a person accept the risk and purchase shipped hatching eggs when they understand that there is a possibility the eggs may not hatch? There are a variety of reasons:

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