Can I bring home eggs from England?

[GBov]

So I am off to England this summer and have suddenly thought, why not bring some Cream Legbar eggs home with me? I cant see my ever paying $33 a chick but a pound an egg, yeh, that works lol.

Does ANYONE know what the rules are for bringing eggs home from abroad? Flying out of England and into Florida.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If your caught you lose the eggs. Not like they find a bullet because you used a nice handgun bag and missed a shell when cleaning it out for a carry on bag. That happened to my fathers friend. He spent the night in detention and missed the flight. His wife and friends traveling together had no idea what happened to him until he was let out the next day. But eggs? It's illegal but doubt you'll get detained, jut have to toss the eggs if caught.

The Marans was a land race bird of France that was developed in England as a breed. Was a trade embargo at the time so the breeder smuggled them in a lunch basket with other food passing off as boiled eggs. Doubt you have the patience and time involved for paperwork to do it the right way before your trip. Smuggling is a viable option. Criminal as it is.

 

[GBov]

If your caught you lose the eggs. Not like they find a bullet because you used a nice handgun bag and missed a shell when cleaning it out for a carry on bag. That happened to my fathers friend. He spent the night in detention and missed the flight. His wife and friends traveling together had no idea what happened to him until he was let out the next day. But eggs? It's illegal but doubt you'll get detained, jut have to toss the eggs if caught.

The Marans was a land race bird of France that was developed in England as a breed. Was a trade embargo at the time so the breeder smuggled them in a lunch basket with other food passing off as boiled eggs. Doubt you have the patience and time involved for paperwork to do it the right way before your trip. Smuggling is a viable option. Criminal as it is.

I like your thinking but, with over 6 weeks to organize, perhaps I can manage to fly them in full radar view.

 

[sheila8]

This is general because I do not know the chicken breed or the part of England you are talking about . Florida has several licensed importers who might work with you.
USDA has ways to expedite -know breeders brokers etc for some things. A permit will give you full radar.
It used to be the airlines were less paranoid about unusual carry ons- but given the political climate, I would follow the rules
and certainly not say on the internet that I thought anyone should do anything but follow the rules.
Most of the laws are there to protect you and the rest of your flock at home and a few others are there to ensure biosecurity- eggs being a fairly decent medium for some things and diseases we never want to encounter.
I would call USDA quarantine station and ask the fee for an import permit. and a copy of the rules . It will probably include the rationale for those rules. Also check with somewhere like Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park or the Florida Parrot importers. Sylvan Heights imports wild waterfowl species - they probably know all the rules, they have an import permit and might be helpful.
It might be that an official might have to "inspect or view" or review the farm the eggs are coming from and check to make sure no disease has broken out in that area, and it might be that they will have advice about acclimating your new chickens when they hatch.

 

[MeepBeep]

This is general because I do not know the chicken breed or the part of England you are talking about . Florida has several licensed importers who might work with you.
USDA has ways to expedite -know breeders brokers etc for some things. A permit will give you full radar.

If the person is unwilling to spend $33 a chick, they certainly are not going to invest the tens of thousands it will likely cost in the end to legally import them... It's a bunch of red tape as well as cost with potential high risk loses, that is why so few import...

 

[sheila8]

So, in your opinion, is the expense with USDA or getting a vet certificate from England? I must be missing something or fees must have risen dramatically in the last couple of years.
Looks to me from a quick scan of the USDA site they just need the USDA hatching egg form that gets them the egg permit which they can fax to USDA-vet section-and a vet certificate from a licensed vet in England (probably the vet the farm they will get the eggs from uses). I'm not saying BGov can do it for a pound or slightly more than a dollar an egg, but if we are just talking fees to bring the eggs in- they should be under the $33 per bird egg range if they do not bring in very many eggs and they are not selling anything. ( this is not considering the time to raise the chick, cost of incubator, cost of brooder or heat and electric etc etc. )
It has been a few years since I have imported and I was working with other birds ( eggs are eggs? but attitudes toward species, how nice everyone is/was might be factors. - for instance -The vet I dealt with was on a retainer to a farm recommended by Sylvan Heights so did not charge me for the health certificate and when I called USDA a person who imported had given me a name of a person they dealt with who patiently answered my questions- which got me out of the answering machine line) . You could be right ,MeepBeep, times change and I guess a federal agency could be raking in as much money as you suggest for processing forms and vets in England could be more expensive than the vets I dealt with. Anyway a couple of phone calls or emails can't hurt.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I doubt it cost a ton of money. With the fast pace of government workers my thought is you'll not get the paperwork done in 6 weeks. That's the real gig, it could take months and endless phone calls that your on hold. It just hard to get anything done in a reasonable time frame today. Heck I was trying to contact the department of taxes for my state yesterday. Three phone calls and an email and day later and have not gotten a reply. 24 hours is wishful thinking on my part but the trend is I wont even have human contact with them for days, if I'm persistent, and then they may not even have an answer. That's what I'm saying.

As for being a proponent of doing common sense things regardless of laws. Yes, I proclaim that on the internet. With knowledge comes the frustration that there are too many rules and welded by people working as a cog that don't understand them. I tried to get a passport, showed my birth certificate, SS card and state photo ID. Was denied as I needed a state drivers license. I told the lady that doesn't make sense as the two countries I'd drive to from here don't require passports. Any other country I'd be flying to. Was told I could bring a person in with drivers license, that would satisfy the requirement. So I went outside and paid a stranger to walk in and show his ID and verbally state I was me. This is the world we live in.

 

[GBov]

I see a little explanation is in order lol.

My plan is to use my unexpected tax back to start a small scale hatchery. As I have a life time of raising chickens it seems like a good match. Have picked my breeds and am working up my pens and what kind of incubator I will need for the volume I plan to work with.

The chance to start off with something as special as Cream Legbars and show egg quality French Marans is like a dream really and WELL worth trying to do, esp as I am going ot be in England anyway. What harm in trying eh?

If I was just going to be bringing a few eggs then perhaps I would just tuck them into the carry on - or mums suggestion of putting them in my bra lol - but as I want to bring a few dozen I will do it above board. Have contacted the import/export folks and gotten some links to check out and will do that today.

Even if I cant bring it all together in the time allowed we plan to go back next year so will have everything set up by then. It just seems like a good chance to get a nice jump ahead and not to be missed.

Thank you all for your help, I love hearing the different ideas on how to do things lol.

 

[GBov]

• All hatching eggs of poultry imported into the United States must be accompanied by a USDA import permitVS Form 17-129(except through a land border port from Canada).
• Current veterinary health certificate issued by a full-time salaried veterinarian of the agency responsible for animal health of the national government in the exporting country of origin.
• Importers should submit the application and the processing fee for a permit by check, money order, charge card or by providing a USDA user fee account. If changes need to be made for a permit after it has been issued, there is an additional fee. Current fees can be found here.
• Fees apply if arrival is during regular working hours (approximately 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday), and prior notification has been given. Overtime charges apply if the bird arrives before or after these hours. In addition, USDA port veterinarians are not stationed full-time at each port of entry, prior notification is critical to the import process.

If I am reading it right there is a charge for inspection at my port of entry? Orlando that would be.

And not to sure what the second bit means. Any help interpreting that one? I think it means I need to find a special kind of government vet in England to certify the eggs as healthy?

 

[Weehopper]

Smuggling should never be considered a viable option. Laws are made for a reason, plus smuggling is a serious crime. It could easily backfire all over your good intentions. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.