Buying ebay eggs

[JacinLarkwell]

It's my understanding that mycoplasma can be passed to the chick through the egg. From reading and talking to others, I believe it is a pretty common illness around here.

Yeah. I bought these eggs before learning about all these scary illnesses birds could get. Definitely changed how I look at potential sellers

 

[janiedoe]

Yeah. I bought these eggs before learning about all these scary illnesses birds could get. Definitely changed how I look at potential sellers

I feel that.
Our 1st flock was all grown hens and pullets, then we added a rooster and more pullets. Then 2 more pullets who brought lice and scaley leg mites with them.
We researched before building our coop and run. We learned about taking care of chicks and decided we didn't have time for that. We should have done more research about buying adult chickens. We were lucky that we only got mites and lice.
I have learned a lot here at BYC.

 

[janiedoe]

I've bought eBay eggs twice. My very first try at hatching were actually eBay eggs.

I definitely recommend data-3783(eBay username)
Awesome communication, doesn't shy away from questions and LOVES update photos. Particularly sells seramas, easter eggers, barnyard bantam mixes and will happily mix and match. My bantams and serama are stinkin' adorable!

My second seller the breeds were as described but subpar birds. Still super sweet birds though. (Dominique and Barred Rocks)

Never sold eggs anywhere.

I chose NPIP sellers both times in hopes to avoid bringing anything into my flock. So far so good!

I looked this seller up and found a couple of listings that are very tempting.

Pretty far from me though. Still...tempting and reasonably priced.

 

[Jaime918]

I looked this seller up and found a couple of listings that are very tempting.
View attachment 3172777
Pretty far from me though. Still...tempting and reasonably priced.

Mine shipped to NV and she packs very well.

If you have any questions absolutely message her. She's super nice, and when I decide to add more bantams I'll definitely be getting them from her.

I agree, I found her prices to be very fair.

Here's a link to my post on my little ones I hatched from her. The photos are on page 2 I believe.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/so-excited-i-just-had-to-share.1507894/post-25413043

 

[janiedoe]

Mine shipped to NV and she packs very well.

If you have any questions absolutely message her. She's super nice, and when I decide to add more bantams I'll definitely be getting them from her.

I agree, I found her prices to be very fair.

Here's a link to my post on my little ones I hatched from her. The photos are on page 2 I believe.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/so-excited-i-just-had-to-share.1507894/post-25413043

I'm thinking of adding some bantams so my tiny girls have some company. I like the barnyard mix.
I don't have any "real" bantams. In fact, my flock are mostly very large standards.
I have a very tiny (2.5lbs) cuckoo marans hen that's almost 4 y/o. She was injured by another chick, and just didn't get very big. I have a buff brahma that was supposed to be standard, but weighs around 3lbs, and a little legbar that weighs just 2lbs. d/t failure to thrive.
I'm going to look at your thread.

 

[Silexian]

Sounds like you have had a great experience with shipped eggs. I like that you keep the chicks seperate, that isn't an option for me. I almost, always use broodies to raise chicks.

I have been dealing with shipped eggs for years. I have had plenty of bad experiences. I have just learned over time, what to avoid to have better results.

 

[Jaime918]

I'm thinking of adding some bantams so my tiny girls have some company. I like the barnyard mix.
I don't have any "real" bantams. In fact, my flock are mostly very large standards.
I have a very tiny (2.5lbs) cuckoo marans hen that's almost 4 y/o. She was injured by another chick, and just didn't get very big. I have a buff brahma that was supposed to be standard, but weighs around 3lbs, and a little legbar that weighs just 2lbs. d/t failure to thrive.
I'm going to look at your thread.

Aw, they all sound so adorable! I recently got one of my young Dominique roosters back and he is so small! He's finally starting to grow again but I don't think he'll ever be "full sized".

 

[ArcticHorse]

Those are about the typical odds I've seen as well. The first batch, one chick had to be helped to hatch as it seemed to have been shrink-wrapped, even though the humidity post-lockdown had not dipped below 60 and the incubator hadn't been opened. But only three of that batch survived, and we eventually opened the other eggs very carefully, and found that they were all clear, as if they had not been fertile (but I think they simply had not made it past the shipping saga).

Basically, I would say if you buy shipped eggs, expecting a 10% hatch rate, you should be less disappointed when this is what you actually get. Be prepared to pay for 10 eggs to get one or two chicks. If the price of those eggs is worth the low numbers of chicks that they will produce, go for it. If you would feel highly disappointed to get a 10-15% hatch rate, then find another way to acquire what you're wanting. Shipped eggs can sometimes be 100% DOA, and, on the other hand, it is possible that you might get as much as half to hatch, or more. Expecting more than 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs is a sure way to be disappointed, and even a 25% hatch rate may not be yours. Anything above 50% is a lucky fluke of the mail system and/or a credit to the seller who packed the order. But the dismal hatch rates are unlikely to be the fault of the seller in most cases.

Yep, I was lucky to find a lady that was willing to incubate and ship live chicks of my Marans variety. Even at the extra cost, it’s probably cheaper in the long run getting live chicks considering how much I’ve spent on eggs and gained so little.

This late in the season, I’ll probably call it quits as far as any more incubating. I live in Minnesota and our winters can be early and with extreme cold (-40s F, -50s F..). I want to make sure my birds have plenty of time to grow and feather out before it makes its ugly appearance again. I don’t want babies going into that.

 

[Lobzi]

I bought some "hatching eggs" off ebay. Every single one of them arrived with broken aircells. I gave them to a hen to TRY to hatch. Of course, none hatched. I got my money back but it was a fight. Ebay had to inform the seller that I was going to get my money back regardless (through their guarantee) of what she did as she was refusing to refund my money. Ebay told her it would not look good for the her, the seller, to not refund my money so eventually she agreed on the refund.

 

[Egg Blues]

I bought some "hatching eggs" off ebay. Every single one of them arrived with broken aircells. I gave them to a hen to TRY to hatch. Of course, none hatched. I got my money back but it was a fight. Ebay had to inform the seller that I was going to get my money back regardless (through their guarantee) of what she did as she was refusing to refund my money. Ebay told her it would not look good for the her, the seller, to not refund my money so eventually she agreed on the refund.

In most cases, it's really not the seller's fault. You should be trying to get your money back from the postal system, not the seller. I think when one is purchasing hatching eggs through the mail one must be prepared to accept the risks.

I've never tried to get my money back when the eggs had been packed so carefully, individually wrapped in bubble wrap, packing peanuts or rice husks around everything, etc. Sometimes the seller added an extra egg or two that I hadn't paid for just for good measure. It isn't the seller's fault they didn't hatch. It's a known risk and a sort of goes-without-saying understanding that the buyer accepts the risk.