The Great Egg Shipping Experiment!

[Wisher1000]

I have been a serious chicken geek for five years. I have designed and built coops, bought and brooded day-olds, treated illnesses, fought preditors, and hatched chicks under a broody and in an incubator. There are still things that I haven't done, some I want to do, some I don't.

One thing I wanted to try was shipped eggs, but I could see the potential for losing money or eggs or both if you don't know what you were doing. I seized an opportunity to experiment and will share my experiences here.

Ron was interested in the Marans/EE eggs and I began collecting those a week prior to the ship date. I told him I would try to ship in a few days, but there were not quite enough Marans eggs to suit me, so I collected through the weekend until I had enough (18). Some of the eggs, including the best colored one, had been collected a few days prior to my decision to grant them hatching egg status. That means that they were older and had not been turned systematically, but they were also not left to sit undistrubed. My eggs sit in three baskets (two are for collecting eggs from the nest boxes one is for storage) on my counter for a few days and are often moved from one container to another as one empty basket is taken to the coop and boys select the ones they want to fry. The temp in our home runs to the low side, I'd estimate 60*- 64*. I wish (there I go again) that I had marked the eggs with the date they were laid so that that could be factored into the hatch rate. Next time.

SCG wanted a variety and that made it easy for me. I segregated all the eggs laid on Sunday and Monday (23) and used the 'prop and swap' method to turn them while waiting to be packaged to ship. I selected the eggs that were larger than a pullet's egg but smaller than the ones my "old ladies" lay. I ended up with 15 to send to Maine. I included one nice Marans egg in her bunch (sorry Ron) just because they make such handsome roos and if it is a hen, which she will likely keep as a layer, it will either be pure BCM and lay nice dark eggs, or it will be an Olive Egger! (IF it hatches.)

It just occured to me that I am quite optimistic on the hatchability of all of them!

Generally speaking, I feed 16% layer pellets (free choice,) provide crushed oyster shell (free choice) and my flock free ranges as far as they care to go from 6:30am to whenever they decide to put themselves up at dusk (spoiled rotten chickens.) There are currently two roosters for 28 hens so I will be interested in the fertility rate on the eggs. If the roosters' deterimation is an accurate indicator, they should all be fertile.

After some research, I packed and shipped some BCM/EE crossed eggs to a Ronott1 in California and an assortment (BO, EE, SLW, and BCM) to a Superchemicalgirl in Maine. I used this method http://www.skylinepoultry.com/Packing___shipping_eggs.html (mostly) and I incorporated some touches of my own.

I did some things right and some things wrong.

Right - I rolled each egg in bubble wrap and marked the direction of the small end.
- I used shredded paper (waste from work) as filler and packed it fairly tight.
- I double boxed

Wrong - I shipped the least expensive and slowest, method. Next time I will ship the one that guarantees a two day (or is it three day?) delivery.
- I failed to coordinate my shipment with the weather, they went through some scary-cold temps on their trip.

I will be updating this thread and hope that the others involved in my experiment will weigh in as well. Stay Tuned!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I'm the Maine recipient. I've received a bunch of shipped eggs in the past, and I have to say the method that Wisher used was one of the best I've seen. My eggs were nestled in a box, with a ton of shredded paper, and inside another box, with a bunch of shredded paper. We have had some insane temperatures around here recently (it's currently negative 10) and the eggs my chickens lay are freezing (cracking and splitting). So I was worried about getting eggs mailed. I'm of the opinion that cold is much, much better than hot for hatching eggs to be exposed to, but sub-zero is a bit of a stretch even for this Mainer. I think the shredded paper and double box helped insulate the eggs from the freezing temperatures.




What I also liked was the box was clearly marked (and highlighted) to hold at post office and call. And they actually did. I bought other eggs with this hatch and my post office (on the same day, mind you) both delivered a box of eggs marked embryos to my mailbox (it was below freezing) and held a box at the post office, but forgot to call me to notify me.



The eggs arrived in perfect condition:



I could fit all but 3 into my incubator (not bad for an incubator that is supposed to hold 24 eggs), they are marked with a slash because this is a staggered hatch:



The other 3 went into the coop under one of my hens who is not broody, but is a cold wimp and spends her days and tries to spend her nights (I usually move her to a roost) hunkered down in a nest box. So this is an experiment for me, too, to see if a non-broody hen is a good incubator stand in when necessary.

 

[chickadoodles]

I shipped my first box of hatching eggs to a friend and this is how I packed them. I was a little nervous as they were going to Maine in this last cold front with temps in the teens.
I used a nest of straw and wrapped each egg in doubled bubble wrap and marked arrows on them so they would go into the box in the right way. I used bubble wrap around all the eggs after I got them into the box and I had straw on all 4 sides of the inside box. I also put straw in between the two boxes to absorb the bumps and also to keep the eggs from freezing. I shipped them out on Sat. and she got them today and said the outside box got a little squished and the outside box had a hole punched in it. But the inside box was untouched and the eggs when she candled them were in perfect condition. Air cells intact and unscrambled. She said she had never gotten eggs that fast or packed that good. I feel very flattered. I also did warn her not to open the box in the house that it would make a huge mess. lol
She did appreciate the warning. lol I did put call for pick up on the box, but I forgot to ask her if she got a call. I will check back with her to see.
*They did not call her, I got the area code wrong on her number* Oooops

 

[superchemicalgirl]

A customer made this for me. Her and her husband were both very sweet and used to come through the drive-through because they could hardly walk. She was almost blind. I used to tease them that I was marrying into their family (my ex husband shared their last name) and I almost feel like I did. She died a few weeks after giving me this blanket one night after work, he died about a year later. I was working at a different job then, but his family had someone contact me from my old drugstore when he got really sick. I thought it was sweet that the family would remember my teasing and my "family" ties. I said goodbye to him, and no matter how crazy this blanket looks, I love it.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My dad actually mails packages (and letters) with stamps all over it like that, so it looked "normal" to me.

He buys the 1 and 2 cent stamps, and sometimes the 5. Nothing in higher denominations. And he gets stickers that are the same size of stamps and intersperses those with the real stamps just to mess with the postman.

 

[ronott1]

YEEEEEE -- HAAA!!!

I'm gonna be a grandma! When are your chicks due?

Day 21 is Feb 13. They are Marans though...

I did get a video today!

 

[Wisher1000]

I cut strips of bubble wrap to go around the egg twice (about 11"-12".) I paid close attention to which end of the egg was the air cell or big end. I marked the outside of the bubble wrap so that I could pack them with that end up. I believe it has a positive affect on the hatch rate.


When I taped them, I pulled a bit of tension on the end of the strip above the egg and...



...below the egg so that the egg would not slip down in the bubble wrap tube. I left the ends open to allow for air to get to the egg and to let the extra serve as a spring for the egg to bounce on. Here are all the eggs wrapped and ready to pack.

 

[Wisher1000]

"Not your Fault" If that was the only egg that has ever gotten broken in shipping then I would say you are a shipping goddess! Somethings happen that we cannot control and postal workers are a good example. That's why they coined the phrase "Going Postal" One of my best friends is a retired postal worker and to hear some of the horror stories he tells, well lets just say it is a wonder anything makes it through unscathed.

Shipping Goddess -- I like the sound of that...........

 

[ki4got]

just reading thru this thread, thought i'd put my 2c in... maybe my experiences will help others who might have problems or questions...

i just got done hatching some eggs for a friend. 12 shipped RIR eggs (1 was cracked and waxed), 6 of her own 'homegrown' (3 from silkie 3 from sfh pullets) and 3 of my own (2 EE 1 buff orp/)... these eggs were shipped directly to my friend, who lives about 2 hours away now (wish she hadn't had to move). our own homegrown eggs were not purebred, but mixed flocks.

for background, this is my setup...

I use a hovabator picture window with wafter thermostat (have 4 actually) with added fan (use 12v computer fans running on 6-9v cell phone chargers) and egg turners for 3 of them. the 4th is a dedicated hatcher only, with a disposable plastic container (about 2cup size rectangular) with a hardware cloth wire lid (to keep chicks from jumping in) for humidity. The hatcher is lined with paper towel and a 30-egg crage (either paper or plastic) on top of the paper, with the bowl in one corner for the hatching eggs. I prefer this to laying them on the floor, as hatched chicks seem to roll eggs around horribly. when the bowl is filled, the humidity goes to about 60% and will vary once chicks start hatching, up to about 75% briefly. temps on hatcher and incubators are all right at 99.5 but vary slightly (+/- 1 degree) depending on what the heating element is doing (just turned on, just turned off).

i dry incubate, usually between 10 and 15% this time of year, 15-20% in the summer. (yes, you read that right). I ignore everything, for the most part, candling on day 5, 7 and 10 to check for growth (some darker eggs are harder to see early on) and again when eggs go into the hatcher on day 18, candled once more on day 19 to check for internal pips, unless i see external pips then i leave it be.

so these eggs were shipped to my friend, then driven the next day up to me and incubated immediately, with the turner set as flat as i can catch it (no tilt). I start turning all eggs on day 3, regardless of shipped or local. by day 10 it was obvious 3 of the shipped, the 3 sfh pullet & 1 of my EE eggs were clear. the cracked egg was growing well even!

on day 18, all the eggs were still cooking along, on day 19, it was obvious most had internally pipped. by the end of day 20 i had 8 chicks hatched and were removed to the brooder (i use a squirt bottle to wet the paper towel on the bottom when taking chicks out, to get the humidity up fast), 4 more pipped who were all out by the next morning. the cracked egg appears to have quit around day 19 or so, and the other pipped in the small end and appears to have suffocated in it's own blood when a few vessels were ruptured while zipping. not sure what day that happenned, as i discovered the fact when i removed the last 4 to the brooder.

calculating hatch rate, some people count infertile/clear eggs, others don't. i don't tend to count clears myself, since that had nothing to do with my own hatching abilities, so that would give me 78% hatch on the shipped eggs, 100% of our homegrown eggs (even tho hers were transported by car 2 hours,so technically shipped as well).

with the dry incubation, i've had great results on shipped eggs from a number of sources (bhep, DMRippy, luckypickens to name a few). from those same people, using higher humidities (prior to going totally dry) hatch rates were around 20%, with most lost during hatching because they were too wet.

oh and i live in sw virginia, where humidity in the house is 35-40% over the winter and 60%+ in the summer...
hope this helps others...

 

[Bama1]

What about it guys?

Dan

Candling day by day
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation