Personally, I think it's a crapshot either way. The first set of hatching eggs I had shipped was 1 dozen. They were wrapped in newspaper and placed in an egg carton, then placed in the box surrounded by shredded paper. The box was not marked fragile or handle with care in any way and showed a little bit of wear when it got to me (although since it was a repurposed box it's possible the wear was from previous use). One of the eggs had a hairline crack and several had loose air cells. Two of them were BCM eggs, so while I candled them to make sure there weren't any cracks before setting, I pretty much just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best on those. Out of the other 10, 5 were definitely clear when candled on day 5. Of the 7 I incubated to "full term," only 3 hatched (3 were early quitters and one was fully developed but never pipped). This second time around, the box was stamped with "fragile, handle with care" all over the box and had a large, clearly printed label that stated "Do not x-ray, hatching eggs, live embryos, perishable" taped to the top of the box next to the shipping label. The box made it to my doorstep in pristine condition. The eggs were individually wrapped in bubble wrap and surrounded by newspaper. All of the air cells appeared to be intact and in the correct place. Day 3 of incubation and so far 12 of the 15 eggs are showing clear veining. Of the remaining 3 that are questionable, I'm fairly certain 2 are developing but just aren't as clearly defined as the others.
I don't deny that the studies show workers are more likely to mishandle packages marked "fragile." And who's to say that if the second set of shipped eggs had gone through on a different day that they wouldn't have been used for a game of kickball? I'm just thrilled that I've got so many shipped eggs developing this time around knowing how much of a gamble shipping eggs through the mail is! Maybe if I succumb to the hatching disease and start ordering eggs through the mail more frequently I'll form a preference for marked or unmarked boxes. But for now, I think I'll leave it up to the seller to decide how best to get my eggs to me in one piece and just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
I don't deny that the studies show workers are more likely to mishandle packages marked "fragile." And who's to say that if the second set of shipped eggs had gone through on a different day that they wouldn't have been used for a game of kickball? I'm just thrilled that I've got so many shipped eggs developing this time around knowing how much of a gamble shipping eggs through the mail is! Maybe if I succumb to the hatching disease and start ordering eggs through the mail more frequently I'll form a preference for marked or unmarked boxes. But for now, I think I'll leave it up to the seller to decide how best to get my eggs to me in one piece and just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
