Disappointed...

[drowningcreek]

I recently ordered 18 eggs from a breeder that supposedly had a good reputation. When the eggs arrived..(about two weeks after ordering because of delays on their end) they were rolled in tissue paper and placed in a cardboard egg carton inside another box with loose packing materials. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. One was cracked leaking. Many were dirty. 11 were marked as to breed. Upon a second candling after a few days in the incubator several showed more showed signs of a bacterial infection. A few days later I was sure that a good portion of the order was bad, some had now cracked open and were leaking. Out of the 20 eggs I received only 7 have made it to lockdown and 4 are BCM that I've had a difficult time candling. Let's just say, I'm not holding my breath as to the hatch.

I put some of our own "barnyard mutt" eggs in with these when we loaded the incubator as a "control" to monitor the progress and make sure things were not the incubators fault if the hatch failed. They all developed nicely and made it into lockdown. I use a Brinsea octagon 24 advance ex with humidity control and auto turn carriage. Temp and humidity have been in consistant with very little variation since day 1. Of course, the box could have been used as a football for a pick up game at the PO....

This was my first purchase of eggs that cost this much. I feel a bit sick. The order of 18 eggs cost over $100 plus shipping and was to be some of breeding stock to add to my flock for next year. Should I just write it off and move on? Should I approach the seller about the problem with their packing? .....suggestions?

I also just purchased more eggs to refill the 'bator from some local dealers near me. I'm driving to pick the largest order up and visit his farm. The other dozen is coming from Mrs. Nancy at Garry Farms who has an impecable reputation for her packing. Here's to better luck this time around.

Always an adventure...

 

[StevenW.]

I always here storys like this, I always ask the seller the way they wrap and etc before I buy.
Nancy is awesome! She has almost 300 some feedback from the new and old feedback system, all 100% positive!!

 

[Oregon Blues]

I'm afraid that when you buy shipped eggs, you are gambling. This time you lost.

However, I would have contacted the seller immediately to let her know that eggs were damaged on receipt and that I thought her packaging was inadequate. If nobody ever says anything about it, how is she to know?

I am suspicious that the US Post Office plays rugby with fragile packages. Some sort of passive aggressive anger issues that they have about customers who dare to expect them to work for their salary.

 

[redhen]

I would approach the breeder first...
Thats a LOT of money to have eggs wrapped in tissue paper..
BUT you should have contacted the breeder ASAP when you got the box and they were broken... not sure if they will believe you now.
Tis the game of buying eggs online...

 

[tazcat70]

I have gotten eggs packed similar. Paper towels around the eggs, then snuggly fit into a carton with additional packing material around the carton. They all arrived in great shape.

I am sorry you are having such horrible luck with them.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

delete

 

[drowningcreek]

Thanks all for the input. I have pretty much written the entire order off to experience. If any hatch I'll consider myself fortunate. I wrote and let them know how the eggs arrived and the problems I've encountered up to lockdown.

I'm a proponent of of the "buy local" movement so I'd much rather go pick them up or only have them shipped very short distances. If anyone knows of a breeder near the North GA area that has quality BLRW pass their name on to me. I would love to get at least 12 more for my flock. I have the BCMs and Americaunas covered from other local breeders.

Thanks again.

 

[drowningcreek]

My hatch completed this afternoon.

I had 3 BCMs out of 6 hatch,
3 BLRW out of 8 (?),
1 Lav Orp out of 7 (?)
...and 1 of our own flock's eggs.

10 of the eggs we received were not marked, I basically guessed on egg appearance as to which breed they were.

7 out of 21 purchased eggs hatched. More hatched than I originally expected considering how many were bad originally.

Seller/breeder still has not responded to my emails concerning the packing job. Live and learn.

On the other hand....

My EE eggs from Nancy at Garry Farms arrived in perfect condition.The BCMs I picked up locally from Mr. Gooch were a beautiful shade of dark copper and he threw in an extra 6 eggs just for coming to visit. While I was there I saw his seramas and become quite enamored with them. I think I'll be getting some from him down the road. It's an addiction, I swear.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep, from time to time you run into folks that just dont know how to ship.
Always check their feedback, look for comments on their packing ability.
Personally, I ship 1000's of eggs every season, and am a stickler about how I want eggs shipped into me, there are ways that work, and well like you saw, ways that dont
also look at the feed back comments toward cleanliness and professionalism from the seller.

If a private sell, ask, dont be scraed too, I always do. Ask them how old they are, how they pack (if not to your liking tell them how you would prefer it, etc)
Most will accomadate you, others arent so friendly, pass on them if needed.

But in the end, yes once shipped, no seller hardly ever refunds for eggs, that's just the name of the game. The buyer takes on the gamble of doing to basically try to get birds way cheaper than buying chicks or started stock. Now a lot of the time, when folks dont get a 80% plus hatch they want a refund, well the buyers loss will not be eaten by the breeder. They werent gambling, they were offering a chance at cheaper versions of getting stock to the buyer. So it's one of those situations where postal damage cant be controled on a fragile and perishable item.

Now in this case, yes sending poorly packaged eggs and mostly DIRTY eggs!! And they are $100, yes I would have had to say something right off to them. I never do anyone that way myself, and would expect the same if I were the buyer, especially on high end stock.
We do it for the $10 a dozne stuff just like we do for the $150 a dozen stuff...so yes you had grounds to be ill about the quality of the eggs and the mannor in which they were sent.
Pretty much though, it's going to be a live and learn deal though.
The auction sites nor Paypal will honor anything on hatching eggs as they are both perishable, fragile, and just an egg, the buyer's skill is required in incubation to turn the egg to a chick not the seller, at least this is the way they look at it

 

[Stellar]

With some eggs, like Duck eggs, you should expect some dirtiness. It doesn't really matter, you can put a dirty egg in the incubator and get great results. Now bad packing, that's another story.