Egg hatching success rates?

[Eggscaping]

So...we have gone to look at chicks at feed stores several times and have gone 'awwww' and 'oooh' but resisted because moving, no coop/run yet.
BUT! Someone mentioned fertile eggs on Ebay here somewhere today (curse you!) and out of curiosity I went to Ebay and looked up 'fertile chicken eggs'. OMG. Not only a huge variety, but some are breeders with years of experience and even stock that's shown at various shows and have legs as excellent bloodlines. You can even get the papers for them if you want to show them. (I do not).
However - somewhere along the line of looking I got bit badly by the 'I will get fertile eggs from really good bloodlines and hatch my own chickens!' bug. The people selling them give warnings - not surprising at all - that they only guarantee that fertile eggs will get there intact, but not that they will hatch. This seems logical, since they can't control what sorts of handling happens on the way.
My question is, can anyone who has actually done this a few times - ordered eggs through the mail and then hatched them - give me any kind of rough idea of what sort of success rates they have with mailed eggs? How many make it and how many don't? Thanks for any input!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

It's usually less than 50%. I've also got eggs that were mostly infertile to begin with. It hasn't scared me off from buying eggs on ebay, but I've been much more selective.

 

[jas humbert]

My first time I was incredibly naive but had beginner's luck. I ordered a dozen eggs. She sent me 15 and 11 of them hatched. I've never done that well since (even when I ordered from the same shipper 2 years later)but I was hooked. Warning: I've had as few as 2 out of dozen hatch and I know people who have had none. They say 50% is a normal good hatch but it can vary a lot. The biggest difference for me has been how close the seller is. My first batch was from 110 miles away. I try to stick to 300-400 mile radius if possible. You can sort by nearest first on E-Bay. There are a lot of other factors too like how decent a breeder, experienced and good shipper the seller is, what the weather is like, and just plain luck of the draw. Who knows how well eggs are treated by the post office on that particular day? But in general you might do better ordering from the next state over than having your eggs shipped from Florida to Oregon. I'm finding more good egg sellers on Facebook these days and there is a sellers marketplace here on backyard chickens too but in any case, shipped eggs are a huge gamble but sometimes it pays off. I have breeds and quality I would never have found locally. But remember if you hatch, you get straight run which usually means too many roosters. You buy at the feed store and you can get pullets with only the occasional mix-up rooster.

 

[amarilloteacher]

I have spent alot of money this year on ebay. I have probably gotten 80 percent that at least started to develop and that is probably really good. Most my dud eggs came from couple people. I look for real personal pictures and not something off of net. You can see alot, birds appear in good health, filth, dirty surroundings? Ask questions, how many in breeding flock, 2 hens selling 2 dozen eggs? Saving up eggs? I like eggs picked up Sunday and shipped Monday. So far packing and post office has been really good. I have also heard of egg brokers that buy eggs and re post? Its risky but overall I have gotten what I paid for, fertile eggs, I am not a fan of pre sales though!! I also read reviews, I dont buy from people with chronic bad reviews. Just my thoughts.

 

[julskinka]

FWIW, I've had better luck with buying from small-scale breeders and people on here than from the big sellers (MPC and Meyer, for example). My hatch that's still finishing up, I had stuff shipped from CA, AZ, and OH (I'm in NJ), and the worst results were from OH, so go figure. Your equipment also matters a lot. I splurged on an Incuview this year, which I think definitely contributed to better hatching results over previous attempts.

I think it also depends how you're calculating your success rate. Is it Eggs hatched/Eggs in lockdown? Eggs hatched/eggs developed at all? Eggs hatched/Eggs set? Eggs hatched/eggs received or paid for? My most recent hatch was 95% of everything that went into lockdown, 75% of everything I set, but only maybe 50% of eggs I received, mostly because some had obvious flaws, were broken, or I didn't have room. So if you're thinking in terms of $/chick, it's a total gamble as to whether it works out, because you may not even end up with pullets. Last year I hatched 12/16 roosters!

 

[julskinka]

I think you should hatch from shipped eggs if you would find the experience pleasurable, fun, enriching, etc. If you'd view it as a hobby or experiment unto itself, rather than as a means just to get new chickens, go for it! It's definitely not the most reliable way to add to your flock.

 

[RoosterML]

I like eBay and BYC for eggs. Don’t forget 50% hatch rate is an average. You may do 20% this time which you’ll be upset about it but the next will yield 80%. Just how the game is played.
Side note I had 80% hatch rate from the eggs I purchased from BYC which came from FL and some eggs I purchased from a hatchery out of PA I had 0% hatch.

 

[SeaHen]

So...we have gone to look at chicks at feed stores several times and have gone 'awwww' and 'oooh' but resisted because moving, no coop/run yet.
BUT! Someone mentioned fertile eggs on Ebay here somewhere today (curse you!) and out of curiosity I went to Ebay and looked up 'fertile chicken eggs'. OMG. Not only a huge variety, but some are breeders with years of experience and even stock that's shown at various shows and have legs as excellent bloodlines. You can even get the papers for them if you want to show them. (I do not).
However - somewhere along the line of looking I got bit badly by the 'I will get fertile eggs from really good bloodlines and hatch my own chickens!' bug. The people selling them give warnings - not surprising at all - that they only guarantee that fertile eggs will get there intact, but not that they will hatch. This seems logical, since they can't control what sorts of handling happens on the way.
My question is, can anyone who has actually done this a few times - ordered eggs through the mail and then hatched them - give me any kind of rough idea of what sort of success rates they have with mailed eggs? How many make it and how many don't? Thanks for any input!

I haven’t bought hatching eggs off eBay in several years but my success rate was overall pretty good, in fact 80-100% hatch rate up until the end. My last purchase had not one viable egg as those that weren’t scrambled were infertile. I’m really wanting to try again but trying to talk myself out of more chickens! It can be disappointing but it’s fun too.

 

[merrymutts]

Last cycle I had a mixed group of 21 eggs... 14 eBay purchased eggs and 7 of eggs from my hens. I had a total hatch rate of 33% … only 3 of the 14 shipped eggs hatched, though.

Now I have the final cycle of the year of 14 purchased eggs... Bielefelders. We are on Day 20 and I am hearing a couple tiny " peep-peep-peep" 's . So hoping to have a decent hatch in a couple days.

 

[Fairview01]

If you want quality eggs to hatch, come from breeders with quality bloodlines please join a FB group for that particular breed.

Ebay is ebay and anyone can claim to be anything. If I just wanted eggs to hatch you'll probably find someone on craigslist within 15 minutes of you.