Buying Hatching Eggs

[bigblueteach]

Where is the best place to buy fertilized eggs?

 

[Poultrybonkers]

No place, I don’t trust the postal system for hatching eggs. Even the best packages can get damaged by the wrong person

 

[BoundlessLove]

Check locally. Or check FB Marketplace or EBay and put in your zip code and choose your mileage to drive.
I’d drive 100 miles to pick up hatching eggs from a good breeder.

 

[AshVau22]

I use eBay. I read reviews. I just recently ordered 6 Salmon Faverolle eggs. Seller sent 8. All 8 made it to lockdown 7 hatched. One little one didn't make it. I've ordered probably close to 100 eggs this past spring. Seller reviews mean everything. If they don't have between 98-100% positive feedback I don't even bother.

 

[AinaWGSD]

There's no one right answer here and it will differ based on your goals.

Personally I prefer to buy from people I can travel to and pick up in person. Last year I had three hatches from three different sources. One was a "test hatch" to make sure the incubator was working correctly. For that hatch I asked a friend who had a friend with lots of chickens if she had any roosters and drove a little more than 20 miles to pick up eggs from her.

The second hatch was under a broody hen and I was looking for a specific breed, so we drove about 130 miles to pick up eggs from a breeder/small scale hatchery.

The third hatch was another specific breed we were looking for. It took a month or two to find a breeder one state over. We made a weekend of it and visited a friend who lives in that state, about 640 miles round trip.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Where is the best place to buy fertilized eggs?

There is no "best" for everyone. What are your goals? What kinds of chickens do you want? What is important to you? Where are you? Some ways work better in the USA than in the UK, Australia, or Kenya.

If you want show quality chickens, your best bet is probably from someone that breeds show quality chickens and wins awards. If you want hatchery quality chickens some hatcheries will ship you some eggs if you are in the USA, I'm not sure about hatcheries in other countries. If you want backyard chickens, not necessarily a breed, you can probably find someone local.

You can go to the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum and place an ad or read a few ads. You can find your State or Country thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and chat with your neighbors. In the USA you can contact your county extension office and chat with them, they may know somewhere local. Most countries have a national poultry association, they may know someone that has show quality eggs. You can often find a local facebook page and place an ad. The USA has Craigslist, other countries may have something similar. Place an ad with them. Do you have poultry shows near you? Chat with the people there.

You have a lot of options, some may take more work than others. Good luck!

 

[Debbie292d]

I'm a huge buyer of exhibition silkie hatching eggs. I'm also a shipper of my own now and then.

My first source was via Google; I found a silkie breeder about an hour away. I started my silkie line with four exhibition-quality chicks. Since then, my sources have been eBay and Facebook.

What I did on Facebook was find a popular breeder, then look at who replies to their posts. I found a dozen more that way. I make friends with other silkie breeders, and when I see they post something amazing, I ask where they got theirs from.

On eBay, read their ad fully and read the reviews. I would never buy from a brand-new, low-rated seller, or one where people are complaining in their reviews about breakage or how they were packed.

Hatch rates can suffer due to how they were handled during shipping, so bad hatch rates aren't always the seller's fault.

Also, check right here in BYC just in case: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/chicken-hatching-eggs.36/

 

[Susan Skylark]

Shipped eggs are a gamble, I’ve had 25% and 85% hatch rates, but I can’t find any breeders within a five hour drive so shipped eggs it is. I’ve gone expensive hatchery and backyard eBay, and had great and awful hatches with both. If you can find something locally, that is always best but shipping is a great option for weird breeds, colors and species if you are realistic with your expectations.

 

[bigblueteach]

I'm a huge buyer of exhibition silkie hatching eggs. I'm also a shipper of my own now and then.

My first source was via Google; I found a silkie breeder about an hour away. I started my silkie line with four exhibition-quality chicks. Since then, my sources have been eBay and Facebook.

What I did on Facebook was find a popular breeder, then look at who replies to their posts. I found a dozen more that way. I make friends with other silkie breeders, and when I see they post something amazing, I ask where they got theirs from.

On eBay, read their ad fully and read the reviews. I would never buy from a brand-new, low-rated seller, or one where people are complaining in their reviews about breakage or how they were packed.

Hatch rates can suffer due to how they were handled during shipping, so bad hatch rates aren't always the seller's fault.

Also, check right here in BYC just in case: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/chicken-hatching-eggs.36/

Are you selling any right now?

 

[Debbie292d]

Are you selling any right now?

Not advertising because in about a month, I'll be saving them to hatch. I'll have a sale here and there, just by word of mouth.