Hatching chilled and frozen eggs?

I have been chatting with our southern neighbours (USA) and discussing hatching chilled eggs. Now, many American fanciers to whom I have spoken say that you can hatch chilled eggs, even eggs that have partially frozen, granted that they have not cracked!

Now I tend to scorn these warm southerners ( not to their faces of course ). Do they really realize how cold it gets up here and how frozen eggs can get? However, being somewhat open minded and realizing that I actually do not know everything, I wonder how frozen an egg can actually be before it becomes infertile.

Now there is a thread asking who is hatching. What have you discovered when trying to hatch chilled eggs? Care to give it a try and report results? I am curious.

Some years ago Calliope wanted to run a test hatch on her new 'bator. I took 2 dozen fertilized eating eggs from our fridge. I believe she hatched out 17 chicks. These weren't frozen, but definitively chilled.

mine have hatched just fine. i usualy start hatching in january, shipping in january we all know how cold it is then! i havent had problems as long as they are not frozen solid...just try them..

I've had no problem hatching out refrigerated washed eggs.

I've never tried to incubate frozen eggs. It would be interesting to try one day. Perhaps if the egg didn't freeze through to the blastoderm or disk it might be ok. But then one would wonder about how the ice crystals might affect the cellular structure of the egg.
I think to much....

SUE! That bear cub you are holding did not hatch out of a frozen egg! You stole it out of a frozen bear den! This is illegal and totally un-Canadian. PUT IT BACK! Because momma bear knows where you live! Just saying.

And how do you know it Is me holding that cub? Do you really think you can identify those hands?

uno wrote:SUE! That bear cub you are holding did not hatch out of a frozen egg! You stole it out of a frozen bear den! This is illegal and totally un-Canadian. PUT IT BACK! Because momma bear knows where you live! Just saying.

Huh? That's not a bear cub is it? I think it is a puppy that Sue's dog hatched out or maybe it is a bear cub, tell the tale!! Is it bear cub or black puppy? Beautiful days, CynthiaM.

This was off topic by the way girls We weren't talking about bear cubs we were talking about frozen egg hatching. I don't think you could freeze and hatch out eggs with very much success. But then aren't embryos frozen and then transferred to human bodies? Those embryos are flash frozen though, not slow frozen like a freezer or outside, maybe the difference...yep good thoughts.

Ooops, sorry Cyn. Back on topic and I will start a new one for the baby bears.

I regualrily hatch ice cold eggs. Early spring hatching is almost impossible to get the eggs when theyre still 'warm'. I did a big test hatch, for the heck of it, in my Brinsea last year. I marked every egg so I knew what was what. I set: ice cold eggs (many may have possibly been close to frozen!) vs warm eggs. Eggs that have been washed (and REALLY washed. No soap, but baisicly submersed) vs non washed, fresh eggs vs old eggs that have been turned twice a day AND I even stuck some eggs in there that had been sitting on a shelf, NOT turned for over a month, so old and not stored properly.

And ya know what? Everything hatched all the same lol There was no noticeable difference in anything. I have it written down somewheres, but Im sitting in Tim Hortons on their wifi so dont have it with me

I agree with SSSS, we get way too hung up on the handling of setting eggs, because, like her, I have broken all 'the rules' of setting eggs and had them hatch anyway.

And CYnthiaM, 'the rules' of staying on topic do not apply to me because I am special. So there!

Uno needs her own forum. It would be chaos. Only those with model hands need apply. No bears allowed.

SSSS, I plan to try this spring!

uno wrote:
And CYnthiaM, 'the rules' of staying on topic do not apply to me because I am special. So there!