Does USPS xrays boxes....YES....proof in thread.

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Apparently you've not read the entire first post, let alone the entire thread. The first post has a link to a current page on the USPS site that says they DO get x-rayed.

 

[quailmale]

I used to have Bee's and had them shipped to me. They are fully alive in a wood framed box with wire mesh sides, depending on the temps they are really buzzing, most people USPS-UPS-Fedx won't screw around with several thousand ticked off Bee's in a box, and they are very punctual about calling and letting you know they are ready for pickup. LOL

 

[Chick Norris]

If someone can find an economical way to shield their eggs from x-ray, the end result will be simply creating an ultra-suspicious package which will be handled much worse.

 

[JulieNKC]

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Maybe package the eggs in the middle of a box of bees? Lol, they might get there safe, but I doubt I'd have the courage to open them.

 

[idahodebra]

I'm curious if there has actually been any studies done on the effects of x-rays on fertile eggs. I can't imagine that there is enough exposure during an x-ray to "kill" a fertile egg. Damage from x-rays is usually caused by repeated exposure. The machines in use today give off such a small amount of radiation. I imagine that the machines used by the postal system would be similar to what courthouses and airports use. And, heck, you can stand right by those machines while your stuff is getting scanned. The employees operating those machines don't even wear any protective equipment, and they would seemingly be at the most risk.

If there has been a general decline in the "hatchability" of fertile eggs in the last few years, I would think that it has more to do with the extreme weather patterns we have experienced, plus the more availability, and hence, inexperience, of sellers of hatching eggs. Since the Marans "boom" of sellers making several hundred dollars per dozen, everybody and their neighbor jumped on the bandwagon to try cashing in on hatching eggs. This has resulted in more inexperienced packaging jobs, and hence more scrambled eggs arriving at their destinations.

Another factor in play is the economy. The postal service is nearly bankrupt, has had layoffs, and has cut down services. This would likely result is eggs taking longer to reach their destinations, as well as even rougher handling as workers are trying to get more done with less help.

I would be interested in knowing the results of someone taking a dozen of their own fertile eggs, packaging them for shipment, then alternating between placing them in the freezer and in the oven, while tossing, kicking, and generally manhandling them for a week. Then see how many of these eggs hatched. Put these side-by-side with some unhandled eggs, and compare results. I would love to take some fertile eggs to work and expose them to different levels of radiation from the various x-ray devices we use in the hospital. Any postal employees here who could run some eggs through the x-ray machine at work? How about at the courthouse? We could work together to produce some actually useful info, rather than continuing to spread false info.

In the meantime, if you are packing eggs to ship, K.I.S.S. I have received some pretty convoluted shipments of eggs. The best eggs arrive in an appropriately sized box, with newspaper tightly balled up and packed along the bottom and sides. The eggs are wrapped in paper towels, and placed in an egg carton. The egg carton is then placed in the box, on the layers of newspaper, with newspaper padding the sides and the top layer. The eggcarton should not be able to shift around in the box. Continue to add wads of newspaper until the box needs just a bit of pressure to close and tape. Ideally, the egg carton would be sitting corner-to-corner, on the diagonal, as the box is stronger this way. Extra protection can be offered by cutting cardboard to fit inside the box top, bottom, and walls, to aid in reinforcing the box, sort of a box-within-a-box. Newspaper also offers some insulating properties, which is important!

I have received packing peanuts, foam chunks, quilting batting, pine bedding/chips, shredded paper, bubble wrap, pieces of egg carton, you name it. These have all had varying success. My favorite (NOT!) was the eggs in a carton, in a box, packed about 2/3 full with packing peanuts (not the hatchery kind, heh). Ummmm, what was that supposed to accomplish? The space left in the box did a great job letting the egg carton travel all around, and made sure the eggs could get abused on ALL sides, lol. The seller that I wanted to kill used wood shavings/bedding, and individually wrapped the eggs. The eggs proceeded to settle to the bottom of the box, and the shavings were just wonderful to shift through while digging for the broken eggs on the bottom, lol. Stupid wood chips were EVERYWHERE. Yeah, those eggs didn't hatch, either. I cringed when I saw the small box used to ship a dozen eggs. I knew that wasn't going to end well. That seller also used packing tape to secure the bubble wrap around the eggs. I had to use a box knife to cut out each egg. The unbroken ones, of course. Unfortunately, more were broken just trying to unwrap them. That sucked.

So, you know, just K.I.S.S. It's much easier to see where a breakdown occurs, and it's free, readily available, and easy to recycle. Don't scimp on the box size, and make the packaging user friendly. Assume that box will be kicked, dropped, and left on a tarmac somewhere. Pack accordingly. I am not going to blame the post office for damaged eggs, when the packaging sucked in the first place!

 

[Stellar]

I do agree that some sellers do need to learn how to pack, especially when selling high end eggs. Many of us received our fair share if damaged eggs. I once got 200 eggs in the mail, the eggs were just put in the box with the pine shavings... That was not a good ending... Also the outside box fine and the eggs inside smashed (seems like the seller smashed jumbo eggs in the 10 pack cartons). Some boxes came leaking. As a seller myself, I only sell high quality eggs but also wrap them as I would like to have them in return, as well as double boxing. But the X-raying was a recent curiosity of mine so I had to look into it.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Quote:
I actually ship my eggs wrapped in aluminum foil...sometimes I question my own sanity!

(I'm sure others do, too!)

 

[The Critter Place]

I'm sure there are a lot of breeders that need to work on their packing skills, but alot of us are getting eggs from breeders with a good reputation, and in a timely matter. I get eggs in 3 days/ priority mail.

It is possible cut backs have a play in it. And then there are the mail carriers who are just jerks.

an egg is a fragile thing and it's possible even the slightest exposure could cause damage.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
maybe we could ship eggs with the bees

 

[JJMR794]

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THE "X RAYS " USED IN MAIL SCREENING PROCESSES ARE ACTUALLY MOTION PICTURE FLOUROSCOPY... A MOVING PICTURE "REAL TIME" TYPE OF XRAY WHICH USES CONSIDERABLE AMOUNTS OF RADS.