Buying hatching eggs....

[Chris Herzog]

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By the way Deb, the eggs I got from you are doing great. I hatched 10 or 11 out of what you sent me! I'm very happy with that deal and need to go put feed back for you. Thanks again!!! Chris

 

[CapricornFarm]

Thanks, I love to hear about grandchicks! Of course, pictures are always good...

Deb

 

[Chris Herzog]

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That also brings up a couple of good points. I am also worried about the problems with the post office but for right now and this thread I'm also wondering...How do the sellers of hatching eggs determine the hatch rate that they are getting at home? Is it by the number of eggs that they start with the day they set them or is it by the percentage of eggs that hatch from the point of lock-down? If I set 42 eggs and hatch 15, that's about a 35% hatch rate. If I set 42 eggs and go into lock down with only 19 and 15 hatch but I say I have a 78% hatch rate (15 / 19) that looks a lot better if I'm the seller. As a buyer I want to know how many you had to start with to get to the 19. I guess I just wish that there was a standard that everyone followed so that someone/everyone buying eggs would be better informed. Like I keep saying, I still have a lot to learn with all this since I'm really just a new-be but I'm defiantly on a crash coarse for learning what questions to ask sellers in the future. So guys, I'm not trying to sound bitter, I'm just expressing my thoughts on what I have learned in a very short time hoping that this may help another new-be before he/she makes some of the mistakes that I have made. I love fooling around with my birds, hatching eggs and reading all the post on here. It's just been a bit of a roller-caster ride with some of the things that I have had to learn over the last few weeks, that’s all. Chris

 

[Tripp16]

I tried hatching shipped eggs and not a single one hatched 2 pipped out of 13 but died within hours.

I just bought 13 more eggs from a local person and put them in all but 3 are growing making 10 viable. It is day 13 so far I broke down and candled today....

The reason I am telling you all this is because I was VERY worried because when I candled at day 7 I noticed all the eggs were VERY porous so I was kinda bummed. But Im not now! Like I said I have 10 growing but Im not counting my eggs until they hatch!

 

[BetsyB0101]

I am also new on here. I just hatched my second bunch of eggs yesterday and today. I think it is important to realize that we are on a learning curve and probably won't have as good hatches as we will when we are more experienced. Also, I keep a little notebook of the people that I order from. I put in it little comments like did they send extra, how well were the eggs wrapped, how many hatched out of how many, (porous eggs), etc. Then I remember next time and if I didn't do so good with their eggs, I don't plan to order from them again. Especially for the reasons that they had control over, such as packing and things like that. I did really bad my first attempt at hatching. I think I started with 28 silkie eggs (from different people) and ended up with three hatching and two dying immediately after hatching. I have one really beautiful silkie chick! Anyway, I really think most of that was probably my fault. I am doing better with my second hatch. I also found that the larger breeds seem to be tougher and stronger. That is just my finding so far. My americauna, mottled java, rhode island reds and lavender orpingtons hatched great! So I am thinking I will stay away from the little fragile breeds for awhile. Hope you have better luck next time!
PS: Sorry to be dense but what happened with the post office? I very rarely watch TV.

 

[Arielle]

PO is eliminating overnight shipping and closing a number of regional distribution centers. In MAss DH says they are proposing to close 5 out of 7 facilities. THis is going to hurt shipping chicks possibly.

Shipped eggs are always a risk. I learned incubating using my own eggs first. THen picked up eggs locally and only had 2/11 hatch and thrive. One egg was actually cracked and oozed a few days into incubating. Live and learn. Now I'm trying shipped eggs to get the lines I want. I know the risks and picked sellers with great reputations for packing well and very good hatch rates. It is a gamble.

Can't speak to porousness per se. I have no experience there . . . yet. Have you tried the google search function. If its a topic of conversation, it will be here! LOL


Hope you try again.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, the sorting facilities are being closed here too. So everything has to go through Memphis to be sorted. I have heard a lot of bad stories about eggs going through that facility. I hope it doesn't start taking longer to ship everything, but it probably will. Argh!

 

[Chris Herzog]

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I'm not giving up on hatching eggs I love this kind of stuff, my wife probably thinks to much! lol!! I actually have two bators going right now. In fact I have seven eggs out of 21 that peeped today and are due to hatch tomorrow. Anyway look at these pics...I guess this is a good example of what I'm talking about....

I just went and picked some eggs up out of my coop that were laid today. I brought them in a few minutes ago and took this pic...

And this is a pic of an egg that is in my bator that I set Saturday so I'm just looking at the outside of the shell and not what's going on in the inside of the egg...

I guess all I'm really asking is this...Why would someone sell someone high priced eggs that look like the second egg without giving them a heads up about it up front? Surly they have to know that their eggs look like this, right? So this second egg was just a random egg that I grabbed out the bator to take a pic of. Some of the eggs looked worst but some were a little better. Yea, I still set them because one...I had them and two...these were not the high priced eggs that I am talking about....these were just some cheep eggs I picked up. As far as I'm concerned, you buy eggs cheep, you get what you pay for but if I'm paying over 100.00 for 5 or 6 eggs I would hope that the eggs would look more like my egg does...the egg in the first pic.

This is all just my simple observation on eggs that I have bought over the last few months and I guess it's no big deal to anyone else but me. I simply just won't deal with those sellers anymore but I do think people should be informed about what they are buying before they send any money to anyone. It's only the right thing to do....


Chris

 

[kathyinmo]

I have hatched many porous eggs. It just happens sometimes. I have oyster shell free choice in each pen. Not all of them use eat it. Most do, but on occasion it happens. The eggs still hatch.

This is but another reason I do not sell eggs.

 

[Chris Herzog]

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Kathy,
I'm not saying that porous eggs won't hatch and I'm not saying that people should not sell porous eggs. I'm not saying either one of those things at all. All I'm suggesting here is that maybe before anyone sells someone eggs the seller could/should be honest with the customer and tell him/her something like....Hey, lately the eggs have been a little porous from that group of birds or something to that effect....then step back and let the buyer decide if he/she still wants to buy the eggs. To me that's better than shipping someone eggs across country they may or may not really want (with a no return policy). To be honest, I'm an idiot and had I been told what the eggs looked like before hand, I probably still would have bought them anyway. I just feel like I would have known what to expect when they arrived and it was my decision to proceed or not.

Anyway I look forward to getting eggs from you soon or chicks for that matter,

Chris