Buying ebay eggs

[janiedoe]

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.

Yikes! We are in the hundreds now, and it doesn't usually get cool until November or December.

 

[Secondof9]

I have used shipped eggs from Ebay three times, all under a broody hen. The first time I got 4 chicks out of 7 eggs; 1 was infertile and 2 died as they tried to hatch. The second time I got 10 eggs but had them under an unproven hen. She quit sitting about half way through and sadly, I didn't notice until the eggs were too cold to save. All but 2 were coming right along. My last hatch of 7 eggs hatched 4 healthy chicks that are now 1 year old. 1 was a quitter and 2 were infertile. All 3 shipments were from different sellers but packed well and arrived in good condition. Overall I'm happy with the outcome and would try it again, if "chicken math" gets to me!

 

[Egger4me]

I bought eggs three times from papa’s, Stromberg’s and eBay. Nothing hatched from papa’s not even when he sent me a second round.
Stromberg’s I ordered 12 Guinea eggs and nine hatched. Pretty good!
eBay I ordered 15 eggs and 9 hatched. Lavender Orpingtons. Pictures attached.

 

[NNYchick]

I have ordered twice from ebay now. The first time was last year and the eggs arrived wrapped in bubble wrap and set on top of crumpled newspaper with nothing to hold them from bouncing around the box. Out of 12 eggs I had 4 that were not broken. I cleaned the yolk off them and gave them to a broody thinking nothing would hatch and 2 did and ended up roosters that I gave away to someone looking for roosters for their free range hens.
I just recently ordered from a seller in NB. In her description she described how she shipped, had good reviews and NPIP. I checked out her FB page and her post in the breed's FB groups, she had a good history of post on the FB groups so I know she is not a brand new breeder of the breed.
Eggs shipped NB to NY in 3 days, she had them in foam egg shippers with air bags on the bottom, top and sides of the box and newspaper crumpled in between the airbags and foam shipper. The air cells looked good.

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

I bought off of eBay and none hatched. So the seller sent me a replacement. And none of those hatched. The first time I had 6 eggs. 5 developed to about 3 days. The next time I had 12 eggs. Only 1 developed. It lived to about day 17.

 

[ChickenFox]

I've been out of the chicken game for a few years but back when I did have them I ordered eggs from ebay several times plus bought some from sellers on here. I got lucky and every time the seller took great care in packing the eggs. 1 was even doubled boxed with a layer of packing peanuts in between the boxes.
The lowest hatch rate I had was about 33% and I distinctly remember that box looked like it had been partially run over. It was actually the last eggs I hatched. A variety of bantams that my mom still has a couple of them and their babies running around her farm.
It's always a risk and I know I was particularly lucky. You just need to decide how much you like to gamble honestly.

 

[625649]

Have you bought eggs from Ebay?
If so, how was your hatch?
Do you recommend any particular seller?
Do you Not recommend any particular seller?
Have you ever sold eggs on Ebay?
If you bought eggs from Ebay, did you worry about bringing disease into your flock via hatched chicks? Has this happened to you or to anyone that you know?

One 1 egg of 14 made it in tact, it didn't hatch. They froze somewhere in route. Postal carriers these days also don't really care like they used to. Even if it had stamped "fragile" etc all over it. ($$$$ expensive waste, $50 for a dozen useless broken eggs, heartbreaking)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Unless you pay for a specific type of handling, you could write fragile on the box all day long and it wouldn't matter because the box will be moved with machines through processing

Postal carriers these days also don't really care like they used to. Even if it had stamped "fragile" etc all over it.

 

[janiedoe]

I bought eggs three times from papa’s, Stromberg’s and eBay. Nothing hatched from papa’s not even when he sent me a second round.
Stromberg’s I ordered 12 Guinea eggs and nine hatched. Pretty good!
eBay I ordered 15 eggs and 9 hatched. Lavender Orpingtons. Pictures attached. View attachment 3175308View attachment 3175309View attachment 3175313View attachment 3175318View attachment 3175324View attachment 3175333

Wow. You had awesome luck!

I have ordered twice from ebay now. The first time was last year and the eggs arrived wrapped in bubble wrap and set on top of crumpled newspaper with nothing to hold them from bouncing around the box. Out of 12 eggs I had 4 that were not broken. I cleaned the yolk off them and gave them to a broody thinking nothing would hatch and 2 did and ended up roosters that I gave away to someone looking for roosters for their free range hens.
I just recently ordered from a seller in NB. In her description she described how she shipped, had good reviews and NPIP. I checked out her FB page and her post in the breed's FB groups, she had a good history of post on the FB groups so I know she is not a brand new breeder of the breed.
Eggs shipped NB to NY in 3 days, she had them in foam egg shippers with air bags on the bottom, top and sides of the box and newspaper crumpled in between the airbags and foam shipper. The air cells looked good.

Do you want to share her ebay username ??

 

[janiedoe]

One 1 egg of 14 made it in tact, it didn't hatch. They froze somewhere in route. Postal carriers these days also don't really care like they used to. Even if it had stamped "fragile" etc all over it. ($$$$ expensive waste, $50 for a dozen useless broken eggs, heartbreaking)

I agree with that. Our postal service isn't the postal service of prior years. I like our local carrier, but so many packages are delayed or lost now.