[janeheritage]

Hello there all.

Well, my Braekel eggs arrived this morning in the post and my broody is still sitting tight. I would love to tuck them under her and let her get on with it, but I have read that it's good to rest them first.

Can someone tell me how important this is and how long they should rest? If I put them under her this evening would that be long enough (they arrived about 10am)? Leaving them till tomorrow night seems like a long time...

Check out the lovely chook the eggs may become 

[woodside farm]

It is very important, when I have had eggs throught the post and set them straight away, I have had realy bad results, you need to leave them for at least 12 hours to settle, 24 hrs is better.
I have just had 48 cream legbar eggs arrive this morning and it is very tempting to put them straight in the incubator, but I will be good and wait until morning
It might have been coincidence, the eggs I put in straight away where no good, but I definately would not risk it again.
The wait will be worth it.
Good Luck

[Vember]

Totally Agree with WSfarm

Rest is the key to a good hatch, aircells need time to settle  

Can understand how your feeling I'm the same
 

Sarah

[cathangirl]

Jane,
It looks as though we are going to be anxious step-grandmas together.  My six eggs arrived today at 2pm.  I asked for three each of Light Sussex and Maran.
Good luck with your results.
cathangirl.

[janeheritage]

OK, ok, ok, I'll be good. I'll leave them till tomorrow lunchtime at least.

Cathangirl, I like the sound of your mixture! Where did you find them? I'm already thinking about the next time Ethel goes broody... 

[tiptopchickendon]

I wish i'd known before last Thursday, becuase I put my eggs straight under my Broody Hen Tikka...ah well live and learn

[cathangirl]

Sorry, I didn't tell you where I found my mixture, Jane.  I bought them on e-bay from a man named Luke, in Liskeard, Cornwall.  Received day after order and payment!!  Luke has even e-mailed me photos of the beautiful parents.  He also has Welsummers and will mix orders to suit Customer.
cathangirl

[pandora]

I wish i'd known before last Thursday, becuase I put my eggs straight under my Broody Hen Tikka...ah well live and learn

Don't panic just yet. While it IS best to rest eggs first, not resting them doesn't necessarily mean disaster. I was taking 15 eggs up to my sister's to put under her hens (which were going broody considerably more than the Silkies I had bought for this!) We put them on the floor in the back of the car so they wouldn't fall off the seat, and it was only when we got to the other end and took the eggs into my sister's house that we discovered the back of my car has rear footwell heaters  The eggs were VERY warm, and we were worried developement had started (the car journey was a 6 hour one,) and that if we rested them it would interrupt it. So we stuff them under the hens and hoped for the best. Out of the 15 we put under hens 12 are now 5 week old chicks running around, and the other 3 developed well but 2 were accidently kicked out of the nest by the hen when she got up to feed and the last one was left in the nest by the hen who had it when the rest of her eggs had hatched. It was fully formed but died in the shell.

I will be the first to admit that we didn't give them the best start, but 12 healthy chicks is 12 healthy chicks!

[joyfull]

With my bantam eggs, I fetched them by car in the afternoon and put all 8 under my hen as soon as I got back (never thought to rest them), 1 got broke lifting her out of the broody box, another failed to hatch but the other 6 are two weeks old this weekend and growing very quickly. They have enormous appetites, love sweetcorn and meal worms as well as live worms dug up by themselves  , plus their chick crumbs. So nothing wrong with this lot not having any resting time 

[woodside farm]

If collecting eggs and travelling in the car you should not need to settle the eggs as the have not been thrown about like the eggs through the post, I have quite a few people collect my eggs and they put them straight in the incubator or under broodies with good results.
When eggs go through the post, even though Fragile tape is used, most of the postal workers are not very gentle with them.

Michelle xx