Eggs... Shipping distance VS Hatch rate

[kassy68]

Good Reading.. I was always thinking the shortest time in the USPS would be the best way to go.. LOL

However , I'm relieved to hear some of you have had good hatches from way off. Im in MI and have watched and let pass me by eggs from WA, OR and CA becuz I figured way more time.. But I guess even priority mail makes it almost everywhere in 4 days.. I just feel better when ordering from the south and they make it in two days.

For the record, I had 16 eggs shipped, 2 were scrambled I'd say.. excellent packing however.. and 10 hatched, 8 live and 8 are ROOS>> LMAO.. so I got in the end 50% ( however don't know if I should count the 2 scrambled and 3 that never even started as they weren't fertilized)

 

[mulia24]

Quote:
Hey, Mulia,

Do you mean shipping overseas is too complicated, or is it against the law to buy eggs from outside Indonesia?

Just curious. I'd bet that anyone here would send you any eggs you want.

me too curious, i once write asking to buy egg in buy and sell section and were told that US prohibited sending egg abroad (outside US). and worse, i read that sending is allowed with many many complicated *line of check* such as passage board or something and must be x-rayed

and i heard the cost (if really want) could reach hundreds of dollars

.
i'll be glad to know if sending egg from US to here is as easy as sending a mail

till that, i'll only can see and *touch* those silkie and amercauna on my laptop screen

.

 

[Laney]

Speckledhen,

The NC post office is so slow!! The postal workers themselves are sweet as pie. I've never been to a post office and been treated as nicely as I have at the post office in NC, and I've lived all up and down the east coast. However, mail something and it takes 2 days or 3 days longer to get wherever it is going if the destination is inside NC.

Laney

 

[evonne]

Quote:
your location is listed as AZ/vegas.... is that las vegas nv?? that's where i am too....
i was noticing we have a lot of people here on BYC from the LA area... and that's not a bad little road trip... gratned the mail is cheaper, but not nearly as much fun as watching the expression on your friends faces when you tlel them you're driving 8 hours round trip to buy eggs... rofl...

i have some eggs right now that are EE/leghorn cross and last night it looked like 7/14 are doing well.. it's our first set of eggs.. ever.. lol.. we're a little excited... have you hatched eggs before? mine are nothing special.. i was told they'd probly be white w/ black speckles... and may lay colored eggs... if you want to try hatching some we can see about getting together.. i only have 2 right now, but she's on a steady 25-26hours cycle... and my EE hens should start laying soon.. one was eyeing the nest and actually went in there earlier.. so i may have those soon too...
if you order from the east coast let me know how that goes...

 

[Akane]

I have plenty of evidence against the idea that shipping distance is a big factor. I'm in Iowa. I got 2 sets of serama eggs from texas. 100% grew both times. I got japanese bantam eggs from GA. Again a high percentage... I think 90%. I got eggs from the east coast. 50% hatch rate (which is about average on shipped eggs). I just hatched eggs from Florida. 15 seramas of 24 and 1 of 2 japanese bantams. I got dark brown eggs from Virginia and hatched 7 out of a dozen. I did have one batch of seramas from I think Oklahoma that did nothing but they were not packaged well and the ones I broke open that didn't have scrambled yolks were not fertile.

On the flip side. Julie of gabbard farms in arkansas has sent me 2 packages and 5dozen eggs so far and I have 3 chicks from one and only 6 of 2 dozen eggs doing anything this time. The package just has to go straight north 1 1/2 states and it's here. I was sent some eggs from IL that were just outside of the distance I wanted to drive for them and hatched nothing. Nebraska, again 1 to 1 1/2 states away, 2 of a dozen. I think I'm going to order eggs from as far away as possible from now on.

The only thing I suggest paying attention to is weather. If it's really cold or hot where you are or where the eggs are coming from then yes it can impact hatch rates. Eggs do better when it's cold so long as it's not freezing. The past month was the best time to ship eggs around here and now it's below freezing at night so getting questionable. However I mostly just avoid the hottest part of summer and winter and aside from those few people that I just can't seem to get eggs from like Gabbard farms so long as the person collects good eggs and packages well I don't get too bad of hatch.

 

[walkswithdog]

It's not distance it's handling. Whether or not the postal gorillas got it, or the unpressurized part of the aircraft was too hot or too cold, or it was left on the platform - again too hot or too cold. If I have one cracked egg in the package I can figure on about a 50-60 % hatch. No cracked eggs and it goes up. Rarely do I ever get a no hatch. I've gotten 100% hatches.

And the postal service does NOT x-ray our silly little egg boxes, for pete sake. They're looking for illegal metal objects when they do xray - does an egg BOX weigh like it has anything metal in it to you? Please... sigh. Hello MYTH.

The TIME and EQUIPMENT to xray something costs the post office a huge amount of money daily. They're looking for dangerous things that aren't a silly little light weight box of eggs.

But if they leave the pallet with your eggs on it on the runway tarmac in the sun and it's 120 degrees on the tarmac - you betcha that sucker will pre sterilize your eggs for you, or start a dehydration problem, that if you don't address during the hatch will cause problems at hatch.

Same with freezing temps.

Those are what's common, that's what happens. Add unpressurized cargo holds and you add another layer of problem.

Add morons or equipment that drops boxes and you have another.

Nobody in the post office is spending money xraying boxes of eggs.

Horses people, not zebras, when you look for an explanation.

 

[mulia24]

Quote:
how about sending it abroad? from US to asia.

 

[Laurieks]

... dehydration problem, that if you don't address during the hatch will cause problems at hatch....

How do you address that? I'm expecting extra special eggs in the mail and want to give them the best possible chance at a good hatch.

PS. if I ever get to go to Asia I'll do my best to bring some eggs.​

 

[Akane]

Eggs have to lose a certain amount of moisture for the chick to have space to develop and the air sac to breathe in. To much moisture loss though and you get a huge air sac with no space for the chick. If you set eggs that are already old or have large air sacs from loss of moisture you need to keep the humidity higher so they don't end up losing too much water while they sit in the incubator for weeks.

I'm not sure how you smuggle eggs through airport security... I suppose they don't set off a metal detector but without allowing coats or anything through these days I'm not sure where you hide enough eggs to hatch when you get there.

 

[walkswithdog]

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Okay who are you getting serama eggs from in FL with that kind of hatch rate? Because half of what I'm getting are no go's and they're local... The little zoomers are addicting...