For a couple of months now, I have been shipping eggs like this:
Use a cardboard egg carton. Place eggs 'fat end' up in the carton. Then completely fill the carton to overflowing with the biodegradable paper product that some folks use in bunny cages and bird cages. Close the lid which is sometimes out of whack due to the amount of packing. Run a few strips of masking tape around the carton and then place it into a larger shipping box surrounded by wadded up newspaper.
I have had great reports back from buyers (feel free to chime in if you are out there...) that they have been getting hatches of 6 out of 8, 5 out of 6 etc.
That seems abnormally high for shipped eggs, at least in my experience. I usually end up with maybe 1/2 being hatched.
So I am thinking a couple of things...
1) the biodegradable paper and the cardboard carton are acting as temperature moderators and wicking away any moisture that could build up.
2) the eggs while padded well are still able to move a little bit. So, when the box is dropped or shaken, the whole egg is moving a bit rather than the having the outside shell stay still but the yolk being sloshed all over and the air cells damaged.
Anyone else willing to pick up a bag of the biodegradable stuff (I get mine at Pet Smart or the local feed mill for a few dollars a bag) and try using it for shipping and see what happens?
If we could find a way to increase our hatch rates, we would all be better off.
Using this method, I have had no reports of broken eggs at all and I usually have 6-10 in a carton. Eggs ship from SWVA and have been sent to CA, NC, SC and a few other places that I cannot remember.
What do you think? Am I onto something?
Use a cardboard egg carton. Place eggs 'fat end' up in the carton. Then completely fill the carton to overflowing with the biodegradable paper product that some folks use in bunny cages and bird cages. Close the lid which is sometimes out of whack due to the amount of packing. Run a few strips of masking tape around the carton and then place it into a larger shipping box surrounded by wadded up newspaper.
I have had great reports back from buyers (feel free to chime in if you are out there...) that they have been getting hatches of 6 out of 8, 5 out of 6 etc.
That seems abnormally high for shipped eggs, at least in my experience. I usually end up with maybe 1/2 being hatched.
So I am thinking a couple of things...
1) the biodegradable paper and the cardboard carton are acting as temperature moderators and wicking away any moisture that could build up.
2) the eggs while padded well are still able to move a little bit. So, when the box is dropped or shaken, the whole egg is moving a bit rather than the having the outside shell stay still but the yolk being sloshed all over and the air cells damaged.
Anyone else willing to pick up a bag of the biodegradable stuff (I get mine at Pet Smart or the local feed mill for a few dollars a bag) and try using it for shipping and see what happens?
If we could find a way to increase our hatch rates, we would all be better off.
Using this method, I have had no reports of broken eggs at all and I usually have 6-10 in a carton. Eggs ship from SWVA and have been sent to CA, NC, SC and a few other places that I cannot remember.
What do you think? Am I onto something?
I wonder if you can buy the material in bulk? I *love* the fact that the packing material is bio-degradable...love it!
