are ebay eggs worth buying?

[ozexpat]

So I have got the bug. The chicken bug that is. I just spent a leisurely 3 hours on eBay looking at.... eggs.

One of the sellers posts: Please note: We DO NOT mark the packages Live, Eggs, Fragile etc. We have been told by the post office by doing this the package could be mishandled on purpose. If you would like anything written on your package ie. Live Embryos, Fragile, Eggs, your phone number, let us know when you pay. Otherwise your package will be shipped without any markings.

This is a sad statement on modern America.

So my question is.. Who has bought ebay eggs, what was your hatch rate?

 

[jonhlawless18]

i have. i just had chicks hatch this weekend. i never buy from just anyone i make sure to read the feedback that seller has gotten from previous buyers. I got 20 millie fluer bantam cochin eggs when i first checked 15 were fertile. i had some difficulties with the incubator and had to move the eggs to broody hens and i think that interfeared with the hatch rate because i ended up with only 4 hatching. but the time before that i ordered 24 silkie eggs they sent 30 and 23 hatched pretty good. i always have them right fragile live embryos on the box. I have never ended up with a broken or cracked egg.

 

[chicksooner]

My advice on shipped eggs would be to buy from someone close to you. A state or two away but no more than that. Then read the forums on hatching shipped eggs. If you handle them right you can get a good hatch rate but even then shipped eggs are tricky.

 

[doziergang]

I bought 18 eggs on e-bay three weeks ago. Today is day 21, so far one has hatched, but all but two were forming, i'll keep you posted on if they hatch or not. I am in CA and I bought mine from Texas...pretty far!

 

[CluckyCharms]

There are sellers I could tell you to run away from in the opposite direction as fast as possible, but that would be based on my experience with their eggs and not the experience(s) of others that may have had a decent hatch with their eggs...or hatched the right breed (ahem)...so I just don't bother.

There are also certain sellers on e-bay that I have bid on their auctions multiple times because I know that I personally had a GREAT hatch rate with their eggs and I know from personal experience that the chicks that hatch out are perfectly healthy. These are also people that have negative feedback that says "They weren't fertile! whine whine" So that wouldn't help to give my thumbs up for them.

Every situation is different and that can be said from anywhere you purchase eggs and have them shipped to you. Not just e-bay, but known, reputable and sought after sources too.

There are just to many blinkin' variables to make any sort of reproducible result on a constant basis regarding shipped eggs.


Do I think it's worth it to buy from e-bay? Absolutely. ....as long as you are ready to accept the fact that you may end up with bad chicks, sick chicks or no chicks....but you may end up with a chicken that is 10x better than what you expected, too.

I like ordering eggs from e-bay, personally, and I do it often.


Hatch rates (for me) have been 70% or higher on e-bay eggs *except when* my incubator has gone through extreme fluctuations in temperature (heat spikes and cold dips)...that's the incubator and my inattentiveness that caused the poor hatch rates (ranging from 0% to 10%) - not the seller's eggs.


[Edited to add] Packaging can have everything to do with a hatch rate, and nothing to do with a hatch rate. I received eggs from e-bay that were SO poorly packaged it wasn't even funny (they were just put in the box wrapped in a very thin sheet of tissue paper...nothing else!!)....I hatched 6 out of the total of 8 and that was due to nothing but the USPS (the bator is usually pretty steady unless the house temp changes). Then again, I had eggs that were expertly wrapped in double bubble and everything else...very fancy dancy and it took forever to open them, and I had 4 broken ones due to USPS's poor handling.

 

[ozexpat]

I bought 18 eggs on e-bay three weeks ago. Today is day 21, so far one has hatched, but all but two were forming, i'll keep you posted on if they hatch or not. I am in CA and I bought mine from Texas...pretty far!

good luck !!!


post pics