Deer Run Farm....Has anyone ordered their hatching eggs before?

[Ebz5003]

Has anyone ordered hatching eggs from Deer Run Farm before, and if so, what was the hatching rate of those eggs using an incubator? I just ordered some eggs from them and was curious what others' experience with their hatching eggs is.I have a few pullets from them and like their birds already.

 

[Debbie292d]

I haven't ordered from them, but I've had hatching eggs shipped here about 6-7 times in the past year.

The hatch rate this year for shipped eggs is horrible, around 30%. Some batches were miraculously a lot more. Previous years, I'd get 70% or so, whilst on my own eggs, 100%.

If I get half, I'm happy.

 

[flocktogether]

Has anyone ordered hatching eggs from Deer Run Farm before, and if so, what was the hatching rate of those eggs using an incubator? I just ordered some eggs from them and was curious what others' experience with their hatching eggs is.I have a few pullets from them and like their birds already.

I just hatched a few from there. I ordered 20 eggs & made the drive out rather than having them shipped. The eggs were scrupulously clean and the colors were fantastic, though I did think the Marans eggs were just slightly on the small side. Unfortunately my hatch rate was only 50% but I do not believe that was in any way due to the quality of the eggs - my April hatch (from a different source, also not shipped) had the same hatch rate, and I have been struggling this year with humidity levels in my incubator. Most of the eggs from Deer Run had clearly started the process of development, with 3-4 even making it to late stages (with visible beaks and feet when candled) before failing to hatch. I did have one chick that failed to thrive after hatching. The other chicks I got from this hatch are still less than a week old and so far are doing very well. Funnily enough they almost all appear to be pullets. I will definitely order more eggs from Deer Run to try again in future, once I get my incubator issues sorted out.

 

[Ebz5003]

I just hatched a few from there. I ordered 20 eggs & made the drive out rather than having them shipped. The eggs were scrupulously clean and the colors were fantastic, though I did think the Marans eggs were just slightly on the small side. Unfortunately my hatch rate was only 50% but I do not believe that was in any way due to the quality of the eggs - my April hatch (from a different source, also not shipped) had the same hatch rate, and I have been struggling this year with humidity levels in my incubator. Most of the eggs from Deer Run had clearly started the process of development, with 3-4 even making it to late stages (with visible beaks and feet when candled) before failing to hatch. I did have one chick that failed to thrive after hatching. The other chicks I got from this hatch are still less than a week old and so far are doing very well. Funnily enough they almost all appear to be pullets. I will definitely order more eggs from Deer Run to try again in future, once I get my incubator issues sorted out.

How lucky that you have mostly pullets! You have a good hatch rate from there if you had 50%...she told me to expect a 30-40% if they are shipped. Maybe picking them up improves that hatch rate. Which breeds did you get?

 

[flocktogether]

I was disappointed in the hatch rate considering I drove 3 hours each way. :\ I thought by picking them up myself I'd get closer to 70-80% at least.

I'm going by wing shape to determine gender so we'll see how well I can tell, lol. Fingers crossed!

I bought 5 each of Marans, BBS Ameraucana, Olive Egger, and breeder's choice (they chose 2 Welsummer and 3 Lavender Ameraucana). I also threw in two eggs from my layer flock to fill the last slots in my incubator.

Of the surviving chicks I have 1 OE, 1 Lav, 1 BBS Am, 4 Marans (2 black, 2 blue), 2 Welsummer, and a Buff O/Cr Legbar cross from my flock. So it's a decent assortment, if not quite as many as I'd hoped for. I'm excited to see how they grow out though!