1st time hatching shipped eggs

[hildar]

No progress on my CCL eggs, but I have 6 of my 12 BCM mix eggs pipped!!! I'll be sad if none of the CCL hatch, I was so looking forward to a few of these beautiful birds. And of all the chickens I've shown my youngest daughter these were the ones she thought were beautiful. Keeping my fingers crossed.

We had a few wiggles with our eggs yesterday and a peep this morning so I believe that someone is getting ready to pop out or at least start trying. So far nothing looks like it is trying but a peeping baby means its about ready to start trying.

 

[1876 Farm]

We had a few wiggles with our eggs yesterday and a peep this morning so I believe that someone is getting ready to pop out or at least start trying. So far nothing looks like it is trying but a peeping baby means its about ready to start trying.

So cool!!! Only progress so far is with the brown eggs: We now have 3 out, with 4 more pipped.

 

[hildar]

So cool!!! Only progress so far is with the brown eggs: We now have 3 out, with 4 more pipped.

Well so far not much happening. I am not sure why they are being a tad bit late here, I have been having a steady temp of 101 during the whole thing all except for 1 day when for some reason the temp dropped we never did figure that out but it went down to 95 over night at some point, so I put the heat up a little then had to turn it back down because it went up to 102. The second batch of shipped eggs is due tonight and tomorrow to start pipping. Yesterday was day 22 for the first ones. Oh well maybe the little shipped ones wont hatch. I sure had hoped for it.

 

[1876 Farm]

I heard that shipped eggs can take a couple extra days to hatch... I now have a total of 6 chicks that have hatched... all from my own eggs (non-shipped eggs)... It's interesting, I collected the eggs from 1 specific hen of mine that lays a nice dark egg.. so far I have 3 chicks that resemble a BCM (black chick with white wing tips and a white underbelly), 2 brown chicks and now 1 golden chick with a black toupee. Never expected such a variety from the same hen's eggs.

I thought my hen was a cross between a BCM and a BR. (only other options is BCM crossed with either a Red Star or a Buff Orpington). Now I'm questioning which cross she is.

Good luck with your hatch!!

 

[hildar]

Well lets hope that is all it is, is just the fact that they are normally later hatching. Otherwise I will be afraid that many are dying in the shells. the one that peeped in there yesterday hasn't made any more noises, so am worried about that.

 

[1876 Farm]

We are now into day 23 of incubation...I've only see progress from my dark brown eggs that came from my own flock. 6 have hatched so far, 1 started to hatch but I think all the commotion of new chicks, the egg got turned around and I think the chick couldn't breath or something - bye bye chick. :-(

Score: out of 12 dark brown eggs - 6 hatched, 1 died in shell and more are working their way out of their shell. Can't wait to see how many more hatch successfully from these 12 eggs.

My shipped CCL eggs: No progress. When I had candled them at day 10 only 1 looked like it might be developing. But I kept incubating just in case.. always hopeful.

I will continue to let the blue eggs sit until the brown eggs are done hatching. Then I'll have to toss them.

Perhaps better luck next time on shipped eggs.

 

[hildar]

Well we have lost 90% so far of the shipped eggs that we had received in fact only 1 of my own NN had started to peep and it actually died in there my kids made me check it today and no noise no movement no nothing. However from what I saw it was for the best it's insides were outside not sure why that was, but it wasn't good. It's guts and everything were hanging out of it. All the bad eggs got tossed only about 3 left that came from e-bay at this point and truthfully I believe Tuesday I will be chucking those. They don't look like much of anything is coming in them. Only 1 shipped egg had a baby in it and it was so tiny and not even fully developed when it had quit. Poor little chick just gave up.

 

[1876 Farm]

Well we have lost 90% so far of the shipped eggs that we had received in fact only 1 of my own NN had started to peep and it actually died in there my kids made me check it today and no noise no movement no nothing. However from what I saw it was for the best it's insides were outside not sure why that was, but it wasn't good. It's guts and everything were hanging out of it. All the bad eggs got tossed only about 3 left that came from e-bay at this point and truthfully I believe Tuesday I will be chucking those. They don't look like much of anything is coming in them. Only 1 shipped egg had a baby in it and it was so tiny and not even fully developed when it had quit. Poor little chick just gave up.

It makes me wonder why people incubate shipped eggs... if you only get 50% hatch rate or less, why go through the anticipation of new chicks just to have your hopes shattered. Everyone always says that they have good hatch rates at home, but don't want you to leave feedback on your success rate. Perhaps it's the way the eggs were packaged, or how old the eggs were when they were shipped, or which service you used when the eggs were shipped.. wouldn't it be good to know what your hatch rate is at someone else's house? I understand there's a lot of things outside of your control, but perhaps there should be a review at the end... what % hatched, how were they shipped, how were they packaged, what type of incubator do you use, do you use dry hatch or monitoring humidity, etc, etc. We could all learn from everyone's experience.

 

[hildar]

It makes me wonder why people incubate shipped eggs... if you only get 50% hatch rate or less, why go through the anticipation of new chicks just to have your hopes shattered. Everyone always says that they have good hatch rates at home, but don't want you to leave feedback on your success rate. Perhaps it's the way the eggs were packaged, or how old the eggs were when they were shipped, or which service you used when the eggs were shipped.. wouldn't it be good to know what your hatch rate is at someone else's house? I understand there's a lot of things outside of your control, but perhaps there should be a review at the end... what % hatched, how were they shipped, how were they packaged, what type of incubator do you use, do you use dry hatch or monitoring humidity, etc, etc. We could all learn from everyone's experience.

We sure could learn. Most of the folks that I sell eggs to and ship to tell me what there hatch rate was. It runs between 45% and 80% so far. However I am taking it that it all depends on how you pack them, and the temps they are kept at,as well as the USPS rough handling. One person that my eggs went to. Luckily I had sent them a replacement because all but 4 eggs were smashed completely. However the 4 that were left she stuck them in the bator after wiping them off, and all 4 hatched the other day. She is waiting on this weeks hatch from the replacements, she said only 3 had to be disposed of because nothing came in them, and they were scrambled up when she opened them. So will find out soon if the rest hatched out. I sure hope so, she said she candled and all of them had moving babies in them.

I so do wish that e-bay would let us give feed back after hatches, however many of these folks want the feedback as soon as you get the eggs. I normally do give feed back when I get the eggs, however if nothing hatches and some of the eggs are infertile I think they should allow the buyers to change that to a neutral or negative. But they don't allow us to change it.

As for why we buy shipped eggs, that's pretty simple. Many breeds are not available to all folks in certain areas, and in order to get them, we buy the hatching eggs, and then we hatch them ourselves. If I could find EE's locally I would buy them, if I could get NN's locally I would get them, and so on. But when we can't we resort to ordering the eggs off e-bay or even breeders.

 

[peachncrm37]

My hatch rate from shipped eggs has run from 0% all the way to 100%. It's always luck of the draw. I order and have them shipped because it does not make sense to waste gas to drive even up to an hour, when I could have them shipped. It's a risk I take, and I'm willing to take.

Some people suck at incubating, so I don't believe feedback on eBay should be left on "hatch rate". I however, leave feedback based on "fertility" rate. It can sometimes be hard, and sometimes be easy to tell that eggs are fertilized or not. I know fertility can't be guaranteed either, but I sell hatching eggs and I test my fertility every 2 weeks just to be sure all is still in line, I also send extra eggs, because its no skin off my back, and postive experiences are important to me. I've been burned several times, some the fault of the seller, some out of anyone's control. I don't want people buying from me to have a bad experience. However, larger places can't keep up with people constantly saying "my eggs didn't hatch". The risk is what you take. I order live animals from larger, more established farms, and I buy hatching eggs from smaller farms (for the most part).

It sucks not having a good hatch rate, but you always have to automatically guess that you're only going to have a 50% hatch rate, ask the seller to pack well (I bubble wrap individually) it can be more expensive for shipping but when I ask for that if its not already provided I always have a better hatch. Also, ask when they last tested fertility! eBay can be a sucky place to buy eggs, so really read the comments, and contact the seller, if they have a farm page, check the farm page! Be vigilant and don't give up.

Also, check out the Facebook page "good eggs and bad eggs" you can find feedback on several farms, and even ask about others experiences with sellers!