Bad hatch rate with shipped eggs- RANT...

[Smoky73]

Well, I never had control over people over spending on eggbid for my eggs. I always set the auction at $15 for a dozen, but when the price would go upwards toward $100 I always felt guilty. I NEVER shipped less than 18 and most of the time, everyone got 2 dozen for the price. But, in this day, everyone wants something for nothing and guarantees, and with hatching eggs, you just cannot do it. I give up. The way I feed and care for the birds you just cannot sell them cheap. I had my fair share of bad hatches but buying started birds is the way to go I think, especially if you are new to hatching, never start with shipped eggs if you have no experience with hatching yourself I think.

 

[heathersboers]

I still can't figure out what my problem is even with the risk shipping eggs- I bought 46 eggs from a breeder in Arizona- I have 4- just 4 that are good -10 days in!!! My hatch rate last night was 95% with my eggs- I am hatching 4 days out of the week-mine are doing great,-There HAS to be something wrong with these chickens, fertility or somethin. I have had some good rates with states close by. The only problem I see with buying started birds is availability- I cant find ANYONE with yokohamas or phoenix chicks right now, or cochins or anything other than popular breeds- I kinda wanted a head start into the Spring with started pullets- Thats why I have been buying so many eggs. I dont mind paying high dollar for eggs by no means-and i am not looking for something for nothing, but if I am only getting 4 chicks out of a $95.00 set of eggs, when the chicks are only $7.00 each day old-Why bother with the hassle?? I am not blaming the sellers per say, but a FRESH FERTILE egg is NOT 3 days old on day of shipping + the 3 days to get to you- Thats six days there- then they have to settle-then go into the bator-That is 7 days-out of the chicken-to your bator, and through the postal service.... ..but anyway- Thanks to the sellers that do ship fresh eggs, I have had about 50% -which is good for shipped eggs. I have been looking at feedback- but not many come back saying their hatch rate...

I feel better now....

 

[chkinut]

this is only my 2nd year hatching....and i've got some BCM and ameraucanas in the bator now that will go into lockdown on the 3rd (all shipped eggs). a total of 3 batches from 3 different breeders. 2 out of the 3 arrived very nicely and in good timing. the 3rd....it took 5 days to get here (from KY) and the box was smashed on one corner. out of the 13 eggs from that batch, 5 have not developed....so i blame the PO. i have 28 eggs in there now....started out with 37. so it's not going too bad...yet...lol. the last person that i will blame is the breeder. the 1st person i will blame is the PO. the 2nd person i will blame is myself. however, if you have a weird situation where NONE develop.....it may be a problem with fertility....OR if the shells are horrible (like the previous post of porous shells and weeping). what i DO like about shipped eggs is that i can order different breeds that hatcheries don't offer....OR...like my BCM....i feel like i get better stock than if i were to order from a hatchery.

 

[sourland]

I don't see where "7 days out" on an egg to be incubated constitutes a problem. A hen may take as long as 2 weeks plus to build a clutch of eggs to incubate, and we know what % hatch rate they usually have. There are just too many variables in shipped eggs. Anyone thinking logically who takes the gamble knows that. Smoky73 is right on the money.

 

[Smoky73]

Quote:
I do not know about anyone else but, I do not have that many birds laying at one time of any breed to be able to ship eggs just laid in ONE day. I HAVE to gather eggs for 3 days in order to make at least a dozen or two dozen in my case (for shipping errors for extras). I ship silkies who are notoriously broody, so I am lucky to get 3 eggs a day out of a single color pen. I mean I do not have 50 birds of each color here, I also raise Dutch bantams and RIR's large fowl, and NONE of my large are laying or my Dutch bantams.

Take in consideration that if you have a pen of 15 of a certain breed (and/or variety) you will likely have birds that are older than a year or two, some that are last years birds and not laying yet, some are done for a while(molting), then consider possible broodies, lighting and time of year, all that might make it unreasonable to collect the amount of eggs needed to ship in one day.

That being said, what the poster said about a bird hatching a clutch of eggs is true, it may take time to gather a clutch, and they are certainly not fresh but they still hatch.

I understand that you are wanting a head start in the Spring, but you might have to consider changing your game plan and purchasing started birds in the fall, so that the females are ready to lay eggs for you to hatch in the early Spring. Sometimes things do not work out and you need to make changes in your decisions to get what you want.

Its like I get tons of people wanting 4-H birds, started chicks early Spring for fairs. I do not hatch that early in the year, so can never provide this. I am considering hatching next month to provide people with chicks in 2011.


I also wanted to throw in just as another confusing point in the fresh egg theory that I have hatched myself and even shipped an egg to one person that had been refridgerated. The one I shipped to someone did hatch(though it was a small RIR egg and not a Silkie egg - LOL) and I have set a whole incubator full of eggs (about 30) from my reds after being in the fridge for a week and a half and they still incubated and hatched.

 

[sonew123]

"
I also wanted to throw in just as another confusing point in the fresh egg theory that I have hatched myself and even shipped an egg to one person that had been refridgerated. The one I shipped to someone did hatch(though it was a small RIR egg and not a Silkie egg - LOL) and I have set a whole incubator full of eggs (about 30) from my reds after being in the fridge for a week and a half and they still incubated and hatched."

This I have done numerous times for myself!!! I save eggs for 2 weeks in fridge ( in a carton in a zip lock baggie in veggie drawer) That was when my splits were very sporatic layers. I collected 28 and 27 were fertile

 

[ultasol]

Let's look at this from the viewpoint of someone wanting to get quality silkies. To buy quality eggs you are looking at about $30 or more a dozen plus $12-15 in shipping. Even if the seller send extra eggs (you end up with 16 eggs) and you have 50% hatch (so you get 8 chicks total).....
then you raise all those chicks. One is an obvious cull at hatch, lets say, it has either an extra toe stub or lacks a toe.

Of those 7 chicks remaining, at 5 months you notice 4 are cockerels and three look like pullets. Two of the cockerels (one blue and one black) have leakage in the hackle and are culls. Nobody will buy your extra cockerels, so you keep feeding them or put them in the freezer.

One of the pullets has a very small crest, but you hold onto her hoping that will change. One of the remaining cockerels has very loose wings. The other remaining cockerel looks like he might have split wing.


This is how it works with breeding. By the time you spend the money on the eggs, shipping, feeding and raising the birds, etc... not to mention potentially ending up with a bad sex ratio and the problem of what to do with extra cockerels if you are a softie,...also no eggs during this whole time...
you would have been better off buying a pair from a reputable breeder. You *know* the quality, you know the gender, and you can get eggs right away. Yes, a little more $$ in the front end, but you will end up saving money and getting exactly what you want in the end.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Honestly I think comparing hatch rates for your own eggs and eggs that are shipped is kind of like comparing apples and oranges...they're both fruit, but very different.

I don't agree that there has to be something wrong with the eggs as far as fertility goes.....the shipping could very well be all that's wrong with them.

I try very hard to not ship an egg that is more than 2 days old, but sometimes I have to include some 3 day old ones.....but that is part of buying shipped eggs....you aren't going to get eggs that are less than 4 or 5 days old by the time they are shipped and to expect any fresher than that is unrealistic unless you live near enough you can pick them up the day they are laid. Honestly I don't think there's probably any difference between a 5 day old egg and a 7 day old egg by the time you figure in the shipping effect.

 

[heathersboers]

I understand everyones point

the seller I purchased the 30+ cochin eggs told me they were all gathered within the weekend- After I e-mailed him and told him about so few developing-he told me he started collecting on day 2 of the 5 day auction and that might be the problem. . bad thing is- Before I knew they didnt develop- I ordered a color from him that he was out of in the other auction- I am sooooooo hoping I can at least get a few of those to hatch...I am pretty sure they were within 3 days laid. I have hatched out of my fridge too- great hatch rate.
I have never shipped eggs before-How old of an egg can you ship and it be OK to hatch?

 

[josiemare]

It is not necessarily the age of the eggs that were shipped. It is the fact that they were SHIPPED!!!!!!!!!!

Shipping causes great stress to the eggs! Either a short or long distance is very hard on the eggs. Whether they are 2 days old or 8 days old upon shipment, the SHIPMENT of the eggs greatly reduces hatchability!

I think you are looking at the wrong reason....yes, age if eggs is a factor, but the fact that they were shipped is THE reason you don't have such a high hatch rate.

I just hatched out 10/10 of my own eggs. I have 11 eggs out of 18 shipped eggs in the bator now. I tossed 7. I opened the up....none had developed. None! I didn't get upset at the seller because they didn't make it to lock down. It is a risk of having eggs shipped. I understand that. I am thrilled that I have 11 viable eggs in the bator now. I hope all of these hatch.

The eggs didn't develop. It isn't anything I have done. It isn't anything the seller did. It is the post office. I assumed that risk when I bought the eggs.

I bought my eggs knowing that! It is shipping! No more no less!