Bad hatch rate with shipped eggs- RANT...

[heathersboers]

Gosh! I have lost my butt on shipped eggs- out of 16 blue cochin- 4 are good, out of 16 coro X- 6 are good- 14 gold laced cochins and 4 are good- and out of 4 Silver laced cochin- I have 1 that is good. This cold weather or fertility HAS to be the culprit-most are clear or have a blood ring. I am seriously going to look for chicks until spring if the eggs are a ways away.... SIGH....

 

[BooBear]

I sympathize as out of the 20 eggs I received only 3 hatched. They are so adorable too.

 

[elizabethbinary]

Know how ya feel. I got 1 out of 16 (two sets of 8) and both times the Gold Lace Wynadottes were sterile and didn't vein at all.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

You did great compared to some of my "mail order flops".

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I am glad somebody else started this rant!

I bought:

14 White Leghorn eggs
18 Barnyard mix eggs
9 Barred rock eggs
8 "Sultan" eggs
6 "Ameraucana" eggs

And at least 1 other lot that is fuzzy in my sleep-deprived mind.

I now have 2 eggs in Lockdown! 2! Bah!

A lot of them were clear with detached air cels, which may indicate rough handling.

And since MY incubators are magic powered, and I NEVER do anything wrong, like candle too much or mess with the T-stat to get the perfect temp; I am sure either the post office or the seller of the eggs is to blame!

I hope I find 2 little chicks on Christmas morning! Or maybe at least 2 little pips? Please? I've been REALLY good!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

As frustrating as it is, that is just how it works out with shipped eggs. They are really fragile little suckers and the post office is not kind. I am actually amazed that eggs make it intact at all. I have had hatches that were complete failures. I have had other hatches where I got maybe half of them out. I remember my first two Ameraucana hatches were horrible. I got less than 50% of the chicks out and then 5 of the 7 turned out to be roosters. I think I paid $35 per round of that, so $70 for two hens. Sigh. It is just part of the gamble when you buy eggs and have them shipped. It will make you crazy for sure. It helps me to expect a dismal hatch and then be pleasantly surprised when a get a decent one.

I spent all summer shipping out test eggs. My goal was to experiment with shipping and packing methods. What I learned was actually that once you get past the basics of good packing, there isn't a whole lot you can do. I shipped a dozen to a friend in Virginia and she got 10 out of 12 out. Another friend in Virginia got 18 and 7 of hers were broken when she got them. They were packed a little differently from the other lady, but were still insulated really well. She ended up getting around half of the remaining chicks out. Here I got excellent hatch rates out of those same hens' eggs. Later in the season I sent 7 eggs to Oklahoma and 6 eggs to New York. All were intact when they got there, but air cells were all buggered up. Both got 2 chicks out. The final test was two boxes sent to the same friend in Virginia. I packed them two different ways and marked each egg so we would know who hatched from which box. Each box had 7 eggs. Each box had 4 chicks hatch. The packing method made no difference at all.

I hatched that same breed here multiple times and had 100% development. You just can't win this game!

All of that to say- hatching shipped eggs will make you crazy. Even if you do everything absolutely correctly and the seller has 100% fertility AND packs the eggs properly, you cannot overcome the post office's handling.

I'm sorry your hatch is not going well. Fingers crossed for the little chickies that are developing!

 

[dwegg]

Well half was good and half was bad for me...

I got 9 out of 12 Cochins to hatch...good!

But only 1 out of 7 BLRW...bad!

I really want at least one more BLRW to hatch by morning...it is day 21 for them so maybe give them two more days?
They all came from the same place so maybe it has something to do with the fertility in the first place for those?

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

I agree with citygirl totally. I get eggs through the mail all the time. It depends on packaging and handling. Last hatch I hatched 98% of the eggs out. This hatch I hatched about 50% out.

 

[DMSrabbit]

Bought 24 BLRW's and 12 Barnevelder. Spent about $100.. got 3 chicks.. now i dont buy shipped eggs..

 

[speedy2020]

I got 14 unbroken out of 15. There are 5 developed and only 3 hatched. I only paid $15.98 (.99+ 14.99) including shipping from Ebay so don't feel so bad.