Common Sense in shipping hatching eggs?

[frenchblackcopper]

Akane,
Upon some advice from another Marans breeder,I have put the eggs with the loose air sack in the bottom of the bator,and will leave them alone for 5 days,then they go into the turning tray. I had 7 out of 36 eggs arrive to me this way and anything is worth a try.I seen just the air sack moving,as I turned the eggs on their sides,,not a lot of small bubbles,just one large sized pocket that rolled to the top side of the egg,as I moved the egg. I did not flip any eggs end for end,and all eggs were sent large side up,so the most the sacks may have moved,was when I candled them,or if the post office wizrds put the box upside down in the truck.
I did get eggs from a breeder in California,actually this is a secnd shipment of her eggs to me.this lady takes pride in her work in packaging,each egg was bubble wrapped,a layer of plastic bags like your stuff gets put in at wal-mart was about 4" deep in the bottom of the box,then the eggs were layered in,and then tightly packed plastic bags on top again. Those eggs could survive a 100' drop,,I just hope I have better luck with them this time,but if not,even thos she's on the West Coast, I will continue to buy from her,until I get the numbers of birds I need to start a good sized family with.

 

[marksbirds]

I would be very nervious about having eggs shipped. I would hate paying for something that may or may not hatch. I have heard of people buying wal-mart eggs, letting them get room temp then putting them in there bator. I have plenty of eggs to hatch when I want, but I did do this myself to see what happens. Figured that some were just pulling peoples legs with this one. Well guess what, the whole dozen eggs hatched. I dont know what kind I really have yet, but it was fun. The other dozen in the other bator have been in there for 14 days and not one vain. So I guess the ratio would be 1 out of 2 eggs will hatch. That seems to be better luck then any mail order eggs.

 

[angora831]

YourLinkGoesHere Can insurance be bought that will cover eggs that do get scrambled before arrival to you? Even if that is the case,if your looking to start 20 birds from one bloodline that alone,at least with my record so far,would take about 40 dozen eggs shipped to me.

The US Postal Service will not insure the mailing of eggs. I have tried to collect and was told that hatching eggs are considered ineligible matter for insurance purposed. The wording is such that "articles so fragile that they cannot be carried safely i the mail regardless of packaging" cannot be insured.

It is just a gamble that we take and hope that the seller is generous with the packiing and extra eggs.

 

[EAST TEXAROO]

common sense? Alot of people dont know what that is. I stay away from shipped eggs and would rather drive 100 miles to pick them up, this way u get to see the flock they come from and not some blue ribbon pic of a chicken downloaded from the net

 

[Akane]

Majority of the time I get about 50% from hatched eggs with occasionally higher and the odd completely bad batch. All my current chickens were from shipped eggs and I've sold plenty of extras. To start a flock of 20 should only take about 40-50 eggs depending on the seller. Finding a good seller that packages well is what makes it effective or not.

Personally I think it's better than ordering chicks from a hatchery. At least only an egg gets damaged instead of getting dead chicks and as far as I know eggs don't feel shipping stress.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

I guess you could pay for express shipping and then your eggs would not be handled by machines....that is what my post office told me anyways.....

but to file a paypal dispute because the air cells were broke is not right....if you come right out and tell a seller that they probably would not ship you eggs period....

if it were me selling you eggs I would try to package the eggs the way you wanted but even if I did and the air cells get broke anyways would you still file a paypal dispute?

 

[onthespot]

Shipped eggs are 100% gamble. Sometimes it is the only way to get rare, beautiful varieties, and you just have to take a chance. I have taken a chance on a dozen Sebastopol goose eggs and got nothing, three times with BLRW, nada. No good with the Welsummers this year either. Three times with them too, three diffferent breeders. Tolbunt polish, (free) zero hatch. Buff silkies and my first midget white shipment from someone named Amanda, NOT sandspoultry. ZERO. That is just the way it goes. I paid $82 for a dozen mille fleur cochin eggs, hatched one roo. Went with that and now I have mille fleur cochins.

Sometimes you just have to try harder or spend more money to get what you want. If you can't spend the $ then you have to wait until they are more common and you can buy them locally. I would NEVER blame a seller for broken air cells, or a bad hatch. Last shipped batch I hatched was dark brahmas. Nine fertile ALL with air cells annihilated. Seven hatched. Go figure. (Now I don't want them any more. Go figure!)

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Mrs Turbo, Onthespot,
I know the risks in getting shipped eggs, my point was the seller laid both dozen eggs on their sides,inside a box they marked Fragile,This Side Up.The UP side of the box was not in correlation to the eggs being placed inside the larger box. Let's review the Law of Gravity,,anything that has mass is effected by gravitational pull,,and that force is DOWN,,the contents of the egg,the yolk and membrane has mass,thus gravity has a pulling down effect on them.

If per chance say,,the Post Office does keep the Box Up,as marked,and the eggs are placed inside this box,with the air sacks facing up,,Gravity will be constantly trying to pull down the egg contents and keep the egg contents at the bottom of the egg.

Eggs packed with the air sack down,with the weight of the yolk and membrane on top of it,are under constant pressure from the weight trying to be pulled down all the time.Let alone vibrations and jolting adding to this stress during their entire transit.

If I instruct the selller to package my bought eggs pointy side down,and mark the outside box THIS SIDE UP,so the air sack is on top,at least they did per my instructions.No,I would not file a Pay-Pal dispute if done this way,but when eggs are laid on their sides,or put in the carton upside down,and the outside box is marked the opposite for This Side Up,,then I feel this is not proper packaging.

 

[onthespot]

In a perfect world the box of eggs would glide through the system, This End Up would be observed, and it would be carefully handled throughout. It doesn't happen. You might as well put the eggs in a dryer and put it on fluff cycle for a half an hour as to ship eggs through the mail. It doesn't matter what end is up, down or sideways. If the eggs have strong internal structures, or luck out and get an easy trip through the system, they hatch. If the have a rough go, they flop. Those boxes get sent up rickety conveyor belts, dropped ten feet onto another pile of boxes and other boxes land on them that MAY weigh up to seventy pounds per box! There is no way to predict what size box will land on the eggs next after it goes through the little window and up the ramp. No telling what bumpy turbulence the plane hits. No telling how many people will chuck it or drop kick it the last twenty feet because it is the end of the day and their back is on fire and their feet are aching and it is just too hard to walk it over to the bin heading out that night. Laying them on their side, or pointy end down, or pointy end up, or fortyfive degree angle, doesn't make a whit of difference in my opinion. They either make it or they don't. I have sent eggs that had zero hatch, then I have sent a second batch, same eggs, same packing and they get a good hatch. No one knows why.

 

[Pathfinders]

Quote:
I agree. I don't think it matters HOW the eggs are laid in the box, because the box is not going to be kept "This Side Up" no matter how large you write it. Machines can't read. Postal employees don't go out of their way to read such writing.

More important, IMO, is to pack the eggs in the box tightly enough so there is NO SHIFTING. That is what I think helps preserve the integrity of the egg/air sack, if at all possible.

And I've had a postal employee tell me it's better to NOT make your package stand out with FRAGILE stickers and the like. That might encourage poor handling (sad but true.) Better to just slide under the radar and pack well.

Another thing you can do as a buyer is ask the seller to double box. We do this for very fragile porcelain items, and it does make a difference. Expect to pay more though, as a larger box costs more to mail.

When I ship eggs I send 15 in a 12x12x8 Priority box, wrapped in paper towel and bubble wrap, and pack them in as tightly as I can so they don't shift.

I sent an email survey of all the people I sold eggs to this year, and only one replied (I knew about the results from two others.) So far out of those three shipments there was not a fabulous hatch rate, generally only 4 or 5 out of 15, but it's better than none!

But in my way of thinking, it would have cost well over $100 to ship five started birds, not including the cost of the birds themselves ($20 each), so to wind up with five birds for $36 beats the heck out of having them shipped and paying $200. I think it pays to keep that in perspective.