High altitude ?'s

[Mtn Margie]

We live@ 8600', currently 12% humidity in the house. I would like to get the James Marie Pharaoh XL meat breed eggs to hatch and am wondering if anyone has had hatching experience with similar conditions using low altitude eggs. I have hatched chicken eggs, but they were produced " on site" and so are more porous and more high altitude adjusted. Also, would these birds have heart issues like CX cross meaties (chickens)? Any insight would be helpful. I would not want to order eggs and have them die because of the changes.

 

[TwoCrows]

I live at 7,000 feet and have ordered low altitude eggs before with no problems. Eggs produced at low altitudes have more pores in the shell of the egg, then that of eggs produced at higher altitudes. These low altitiude eggs can lose more moisture when incubating at high altitudes. So I found that increasing the humidity during incubation by 5% more than the recommended humidity level, helps out the moisture loss from the inside of the egg. At lock down, I like to keep the humidity around 70% to 75% so the chicks don't stick to the shells.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Thanks! Was thinking high altitude eggs were more porous for better oxygen exchange? Yes, I have noticed how quickly things dry out! Snow just disappears without melting

 

[TwoCrows]

Eggs produced at higher altitudes have less pores as the drier air would result in more moisture loss during incubation. Air at lower altitudes generally is more humid and eggs during incubation would not be able to lose enough moisture for the chick to develop if they did not have more pores. As for oxygen at higher altitudes, hens are acclimated to less oxygen, in turn their offspring can handle it as well.