buying shipped eggs???

[shardean]

Seems like a lot of you buy shipped eggs...I was wondering if its been a positive experience, good hatch rate? I would like to get some silkies and I'm thinking about getting eggs to hatch myself...ebay seems to have some good deals! Has anyone bought eggs off of ebay? Would love to hear your stories about your experience with shipped eggs! Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Shipped eggs are always a crap shoot. Once the seller relinquishes control of that box goodness only knows what may happen to the eggs. Results and percentage of hatch are all over the board because of the many variables that these eggs may face before getting to the buyer.

 

[thasista]

I have bought hundreds of eggs off Ebay. Rarely are any broken. I have had as high as 70% hatch rate and as low as 10%. Overall the sellers are very careful and really good to deal with (that I have had the pleasure of doing business with). Sometimes the prices are good, sometimes not. The quality of the birds I have hatched is exactly as advertised. Maybe I am lucky? I continue to order off Ebay. I have also had really good luck with BYC sellers.

 

[weimarmama]

I've bought a lot of shipped eggs of all different types off Ebay, and almost always there's at least one that's cracked if they're smaller eggs. Even if they're not cracked, shipping can do unseen damage to the eggs, and it truly can be a gamble whether or not they'll hatch. Then, of course, there are also a lot of unscrupulous people out there that will misrepresent their birds and you have to be really careful. I've only had one negative experience with a seller, thankfully, and hatch rates have been anywhere from 0% to 77%. For me, buying shipped eggs is a great way to obtain breeds that just aren't available in my area and it's worth the risk.

 

[Arielle]

To date I have not purchased any eggs off eBay because I prefer to have some frame of reference regarding the seller. So I buy from BYCers. Eggs have arrived in good shape, one package had 1 egg broken, and eggs have been as advertised. And the seller is usually willing to help with questions long after the hatch.