Ever bought hatching eggs off eBay?

[banter]

I have bought eggs on Ebay with mixed results. All the eggs came a great distance so I'm fine with the outcome-it was a gamble.

 

[hart31]

I've had mixed results. No problems with the sellers, just with weather and shipping. I had one batch that were frozen solid! Another batch that arrived when it was -35F that were ok. That auction was for 25+ eggs. I got 39! A couple were cracked and some didn't develop but I hatched 15. Including 8 out the 14 spitzhauben eggs in the batch and some of the literature about spitzhaubens indicates that the breed has a somewhat below normal hatching viability.

The USPS gets a lot of criticism for handling but weather can be a huge factor. I've seen posts on other sites wishing that the could get their eggs fed ex'd instead. The USPS contracts with fed-ex for some of their mail shipment. My frozen batch had a fed-ex label on it with a date and time stamp indicating that they had handled it part of the trip.

I know I can buy chicks from a hatchery with much less cost per live chick than what I've got invested in the ones from shipped eggs but I enjoy the hatching process and have set up a webcam for area 4-Hers and elementary schoolers during hatching. The feedback from those kids is priceless!

 

[twigg]

The USPS gets a lot of criticism for handling but weather can be a huge factor.

Maybe so, and I wouldn't simply criticize USPS for no reason but .....

The weather does not crack eggs.
The weather does not crush boxes
The weather does not send things to the wrong place
The weather does not fail to call a clearly marked phone #

The USPS appears to have many caring and dedicated employees, and quite a few who aren't.​

 

[coffeemama]

I was browsing my local Craigslist and saw someone selling some nice bantams-I emailed him to see if he sells eggs. He does, and directed me to his ebay site. I'm excited to try his eggs next time because I won't have to deal with the p.o. I have a batch of eggs from Eggbid in now, kind of the same deal-we'll see how it goes!

 

[Red]

Both times we have bought eggs off ebay the seller has been fairly close, so we could just drive down and pick 'em up ourselves.

 

[horsejody]

I bought eggs from okcarla on Ebay. 14 out of 15 hatched.

 

[Katy]

I've bought off both ebay and eggbid. The results have varied, but I've found the closer I can get the eggs from the better my hatch is. Buying shipped eggs is a gamble, but sometimes it's the only way to get the breeds I want.