Anyone else having a problem with shipping eggs this year???

[msheets]

I ordered quail & emu eggs a few years back & had no broken eggs along with a 75% hatch rate. I've had 2 out of 7 shipments arrive so far & they both had broken eggs (not shippers fault). Also out of the ones that are 5 says old, I don't see any growing

I think the "live embryos" would be better than just putting fragile or eggs. Worth a try...

 

[Pampered Chicken]

I thought it was just me. I purchased 4 sets of eggs and only had one from each hatch. I have 2 more sets in the bator now. New bator this time. I've had 95% hatch on my own eggs. But it stinks since it's hard to find nice bird's in my area.

 

[silkieluver_07]

Quote:
I've ordered eggs from 2 breeders this year and they've had wonderful packing jobs and Judy yours was the best I had EVER seen! The cooler you sent them in was all beatup from the shipping. The eggs this year just seem to be handled extremely rough by the PO. Didn't get any to hatch but I dont blame you at all because they were fertile, I just wish PO workers would handle the packages better. I also had a shipment of 48 eggs from swheat and got four chicks to hatch.

Maybe the area also has something to do witth it?

 

[asher]

It could be anything from the facility they go through, trucks/roads that they go on to get there, whether they end up being flighted, the weather and many things including, yes, postal workers throwing boxes around.

I will admit that if something does not say fragile, we will do what we have to in order to fit the boxes in our vehicle. I don't mean crush them, run them over, step on them or do anything BAD to them, but we do creatively stack them to get them all to fit in our vehicle, sometimes they might get dropped inadvertently, they might fall off the assembly line in the sorting facility. MANY things could happen. Most carriers will take extra care with packages marked fragile which is why I, as a carrier, always beg for people to mark their packages appropriately, but I know a lot of people refuse to because they think it is like putting a bulls eye on the package.

I totally understand the frustration, as someone that has had a few issues in the past with shipping eggs. Unfortunately, it's a gamble any time we send eggs in the mail (or any way that we ship eggs). I would be curious to know if you have better success shipping UPS. The fact is, eggs really are fragile and were not made to be shipped so it always amazes me when someone gets a full batch with no harm at all to them. It does happen a lot and I have gotten plenty perfect, but it still amazes me because of all of the factors that play in to getting them here.

 

[Penturner]

Does anyone here have experience handling packages? I mean lots of packages like people that work for USPS do. Maybe just unloading trucks, or whatever. I am just trying to figure out what most people think a box mailed is handled like. The post that mentioned the box being tossed is just about right. I have twice ordered eggs in the mail. both boxes arrived with "Fragile Eggs" written on them. Problem is it was written with black marker on a box that already had black letters all over it. Even I had to look twice to even see it. It made me think. How close do people think the handlers look at a package. keep in mind many hands are going to touch that box from point A to point B. So I came up with this little example of how you could gather your eggs and give them the same experience of being mailed even if it got handled carefully.

Alright head on out to the coop and see if anyone has let you any nuggets in the nest box. Yeah we got one. No now don't just pick it up all careful once gentle like. flick it out of the nest box so that it lands on the floor. now pick it up and shake it and see if you can hear anything moving. now before you head into the house. Climb on top of our coop (If it is fairly tall) and jump off. make sure you have your egg with you. now do that again 3 or 4 more times. now you can head for the house. but on the way you have to roll the egg across the grass. common don't be a wimp give that egg a good hard role. let it bounce and bang along. heck it will do this for hours in a truck. There are some real monster pot holes out there. now when you get inside place it carefully in a carton all snug and protected. Now hold the carton above your head and let go of it. let it hit the floor from 4, 5 or even 6 feet up. do that at least 2 or maybe even 3 times. Okay I think maybe just maybe your egg has been subjected to good careful handling that can be the very best you can expect from USPS. Anyone still wonder why some of them just might not hatch. Nobody cares about that one fragile package coming down the line. it is just one more out of thousands of packages. if it is so fragile that it will break in the mail. USPS thinks you will figure it out and stop mailing them. I guess what I wonder is who told anyone that USPS would handle a package so gently that eggs would not be harmed?

 

[speckledhen]

For the first time ever, there were a couple broken eggs in a box I sent. That was a replacement shipment to Alaska for a batch that was apparently handled badly as well, judging from the results. The latest box took 5 days to go priority.If the P.O. wants to raise rates in this internet age, the least they could do is take some pride in their work. Handling packages this way won't get them any brownie points. Because of this last couple boxes that were marked FRAGILE on all sides (bright, colorful, plain stickers) and received substandard treatment, I am no longer shipping eggs. Put a fork in me, I'm done.

 

[I'mACountryGirl]

It makes me feel better to read that others with much more experience than me are having this problem, too. This is my first year hatching, I purchased 3 brand new hovabators and dozens of eggs and have only 9 (extremely wonderful!!) babies to show for it! The last batch was 24 orps and I got only 3 babies!! I've been really, really discouraged over the last couple of weeks because I've read and read and read everything I could about incubating and hatching, I've checked temp and humidity probably 10 times a day, I feel like I've made very few mistakes, and then to have these poor results

...I've been thinking maybe I'm just not cut out to do this!? I think I'll find some local eggs to try and see if I have better results before I throw in the towel.

 

[wolftracks]

Quote:
I tried to get aircells to reconnect with my next hatch of poilsh. Last batch I got 0 out of the 12 I had and the aircells were mostly intacted, but no develpment. I'm bummed.

I had a box I picked up at the PO and 6 days later I find out that there was another box sitting there at the same time. They had even writen "Box 1 of 2" on it but didn't write anything on the one I had picked up the week before. The one that sat there was my polish eggs. The ones that weren't to bad still don't look like they are going to make it, but I have another week, so here's hoping.

Seems like the past 2 months they've been shaking the boxes for me or something.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The biggest problems I've heard from eggs I've sent has been with them taking forever to get to their destination. I've had a few that took a week to get from KY to FL. Other than that, there hasn't been any problems that I'm aware of.
On the other hand, eggs that I"ve received have been a mess. I'm about to give up on swaps and buying eggs this year, it's just not worth it.

 

[wolftracks]

My regular carrier is a sweetheart. She guards my little eggs for me with her life. She had some time off during the delivery of those two boxes and I wasn't home for them. I know she took care of them.

Besides Fedex I still think the PO is our best bet. For me anyway UPS can't deliver anything that isn't smashed and broken. They cost me so much money a couple of years ago that I could keep my business going. Figures I'd be doing something that still included shipping. And eggs to boot!

Yeah I'm a little slow.