eBay hatching egg purchase ** expensive **

[midget_farms]

OK - I've got a couple other threads going here about the cool new home made incubator I built.

Well - the week after x-mas a coyote decided to eat my rooster

So now instead of using my own free eggs to try it out I decided to buy from ebay.

It started out that I wanted the same breeds I have now - buff orpingtons & aracauna + I wanted to add Black marans to get the nice dark brown eggs.

Well - Talk about sticker shock!

If I'd known they were that much I would have been selling mine there before - I will be next year (as long as no one eats my rooster!)

Anyway - I ended up buying a pile of 48 Black Austrolorp eggs to be delivered this week. I have never had these before - they they were the cheapest I could find in quantity.

Then I went spendy & just won an auction for 8 welsummer eggs. They say these are just as (or almost so) dark as the marans but they color doesn't fade over time.

How many of you have purchased hatching eggs this way?

I'm worried about the cold & breakage - both sellers are reasonably close (my state or state next door) so I"m thinking there won't be too much time in the mail truck.

But I still hate the thought of spending all this cash for a bunch of frozen eggs.

 

[debilorrah]

I have purchased many eggs, and I have had some shipped to me from friends too. I want to caution you against hoping for a really good hatch. 50% hatch from shipped eggs is considered good/great. Please just keep that in mind. Also, it is rarely the sellers fault, so don't blame them if you do have a bad hatch. The postal service is known for ignoring stickers on boxes and playing soccer with them.

 

[Surehatch]

I'm not a great fan of shipped eggs unless exceptional care is taken with packaging as well as the temperature during the cooling pressure - especially eggs that go into planes as at 30 000 feet the conditions are definitely not ideal for eggs to remain in a good state

 

[midget_farms]

Quote:
I was thinking that may be an issue - that is why I chose sellers that are relatively close to me - I'm thinking a day or two tops in a truck which should have some heat - or at least not be the 9* we have outside right now.

In any case - lets hope all goes well!

I would like at least 1 hen & rooster from the wellsummers - then I can hatch more at will. The austrolorps are supposed to be very good eggers - If I could end up with 20 to 30 of those I'd be tickled.

I was planning on 20% not making it out of the shell - Then half of those being male. So 50% is a little less than I was hoping but still pretty close to my needs.