anyone else getting *old* eggs?

[Chicken Woman]

It's one thing when you choose to set old eggs of your own. I do not appreciate getting old eggs that I have paid for and paid shippin to be 10 days old !
Got 13 eggs that were dated at time of collection. 4 were 10 days old,4 were 9 days old.4 were 7 days old and 1 was 6 days old.

They were put in with eggs that were 3 days old.

The old eggs had one hatch. The fresher eggs had a 89 % hatch.

I also do not appreciate getting really dirty eggs ! Or eggs that have been scratched with something to get them clean. I don't sell eggs but I would not send old eggs or dirty eggs to someone who purchased them.
I might try to hatch them myself but I would not send them to a paying customer
I am pretty much discouraged with getting shipped eggs. I think I would prefer to buy hatchery chicks even though they may not be the same "quality" as breeders.
I can't afford to spend alot of money for eggs that are old or dirty and them waste 21 days to have 0 hatch.

OK IM done ! Sound up set ? I am !

 

[MaineChickens]

I can understand what some of you are mentioning about sending a lot of extras to make up for older eggs, but I have received mass extras and none were dated. Since I might be using a broody- or might have some other plans for the rest of the incubator space- don't make me guess which ones are the freshest to set. Candling helps to weed them out, but then with shipping on top of it, sometimes taking 4-5 days, the odds are not in my favor.

My poor broody can only cover so many- and I scrambled the "extras"... honestly, they didn't even look like my fresh eggs- they were pale and looked like they came from the store. I fed them to the birds.

The USPS has its problems for sure, but give the egg buyers a fair chance. I only shipped eggs once, and I collected Friday/Sat/Sun to ship Monday. I would rather have 12 one-week old eggs, than 24 2-week-old eggs anyday...

 

[BellLisamo]

HUNY keeps getting some bad ones..... we have 4 bators between us and somehow they keep dying on us. Not us! Its the eggs.... somethings wrong... all others hatch

 

[BellLisamo]

Old Smold....

haha
well, maybe ive been lucky. I put a MONTH OLD duck egg in the bator.... it hatched.


I put a month old chicken egg i saved in the fridge in my bator.... it hatched... ahhaaa

I keep going against what everyone says... oops.

i stored a 18 eggs in the fridge for a school teacher.... all 18 hatched

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

I only have 3 hens-I collect FRI-SAT-SUN send out first thing Mon...

That's just right.

I bought Mikado eggs and 2 were dated a over a week before they were sent.

That's just WRONG!
And ignorant on the sellers part. If the eggs are dated and OLD when shipped, they can't claim USPS rough handling as the reason they didn't develop.

And this is a theory, just a theory, but eggs with larger air cells (older eggs) fare worse if they encounter rough handling during shipping.

Or to say it different, fresh fresh eggs handle shipping better.

An egg begins to deteriorate right after it is laid. The parts begin to lose integrity. The yolk will break more easily and white doesn't doesn't stand as nicely after just a few days at room temp.
Those parts being strong and intact are what makes an egg 'viable' and 'hatchable' when it is shipped*.
Makes sense that an older egg would more easily 'scrambled' in shipping as well.

I have another ''old egg story to share ... Someone on eggbid was offering eggs I wanted. I contacted them by email to see if they had eggs available and they said yes, so I arranged to send a check for payment.
Check didn't arrive as quickly as expected so I sent another (thinking the first was lost/misplaced. I asked that they tear up the other one if it showed up).
So the 2nd check arrived but they apparently sent the eggs from when they were expecting the first check in the mail (the eggs were marked w/date).
I started half in an incubator and half under a broody hen and Zero Viaibility --- they might have been fertile at some point, but by the time I got them they weren't viable.
I had weeping eggs(weeping/seeping and scary-creepy growing things on the shells) in the bator and rotten eggs exploding (I had to bathe a poor broody hen because they were popping under her like the 4th of July , the stench was incredible. I considered burying the hen along with the mess from the nest-box, but bathed her instead).
To add insult to injury, when I got my bank statement --- I found the first check sent had arrived and the seller cashed/deposited BOTH checks.
Wouldn't answer my emails and I had to mark it as a learning experience for me.

Live and learn...

Lisa




**Refrigeration slows the aging process for table eggs, but that isn't the discussion.​

 

[tonini3059]

That is just horrible that they kept both checks!!

 

[oldguy]

Quote:
Good question, but i have received 5 shipments this spring and i suspect most were infertile, none were cracked and the boxes looked great. But i can't be absolutely certain though i crack the ones that don't hatch and look at the contents.

I really wanted some wheaten penedesenca and when they came in i put 8 of 14 under my best game hen who had just finished a batch of game chicks. Out of the 8 she hatched 1 that looked fit as a fiddle and when i cracked open the other 7 they appeared not fertile.

 

[DANNY]

I have had eggs that had bad damage to the air cells but when i candled them the fertile one did have blood spots in them even though they didn't hatch. I think if they are fertile you will always see some developement.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
I AM WITH YOU ALL THE WAY LADY ! ! !

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I have gotten 20 plus boxes of eggs this year and I have had terriable hatches, most eggs didn't develope and there was no sign of damage to the eggs during shipping, but that is the chance we take when we recieve eggs through the mail. I am just happy to get 1 egg to hatch per shipment. I have low expectations. for shipped eggs even from people I know have great success with shipping, it's just how it goes. So I don't get upset at the people I buy the eggs from because I know the risk i am taking by buying shipped eggs. Heck I have even been stiffed out of some money from a member on this forum. lifes to short to lose sleep over things I cannot control. that's my 2 cents