Hatch Rates for Shipped Eggs (Specifically Mille Fleurs, Speckled Sussex and Marans)

[Star2014]

Hi!
I've been wanting to get some hatching eggs shipped to me and I was considering buying some through Meyers but they no longer have the Mille Fleurs available. I posted an ISO ad here but I was wondering if anyone could offer any insight to hatch success rates for shipped eggs. Specifically Speckled Sussex, Mille Fleur d'Uccles and Marans. I have heard that bantam eggs and Marans don't have good hatch rates when shipped but for the bantams I wasn't sure if that was specific to the breed that I was looking at (not d'uccles).
Thanks!

 

[Rammy]

Typically, if you get half of them to hatch, thats great. My experience on shipped eggs was 5 out of almost 2 dozen.
Someone else may offer some suggestions or advice that can give you better odds than my case. Good luck.

 

[K0k0shka]

Hatch rates on shipped eggs depend more on external factors than on the breed. How roughly they were handled, what temperature they were at, how long they traveled, etc. Same breed, breeder and distance can have different hatch rates if a different postal worker handled them - if he had a bad day and played soccer with your box 50% is the average, more if the stars align and you get lucky.

 

[Tonyroo]

If you buy from a seller might help to know how many chickens they have of that breed, cause if there flock is small and you want 2 dozen hatching eggs, most of those eggs wont hatch. The hen doesn't lay a dozen in a day. So the seller might be holding on to some old eggs. Just be a cautious buyer and ask questions.

 

[JaeG]

It very much depends on how well they are packaged and the health of the flock they come from, plus the sort of trip they've had through the post. I bought half a dozen eggs from a seller, they got to me overnight, but none ended up hatching. I tried another half dozen from the same person and they got stuck in the post for 10 days. 2 hatched.

This time around I bought 8 eggs from a different person, the same distance away, and all are developing nicely at this early stage (5 days in). I thought the packaging was better with this person and they came by courier rather than through the post.

 

[Star2014]

Ok great thank you for the information. The bantam eggs I was told didn't do well due to the shape of the eggs being smaller and more round rather than elongated. I was only told this for a specific breed but to me it would apply to all bantam eggs because all of the bantam eggs that I've seen are small and rounder than a standard egg.
As for the Marans I had read a couple of posts that said they don't always do well shipped.

 

[wyochick10]

Hi! I have tried several times with shipped eggs. Not a lot of luck honestly but I did just hatch 2 out of 7 Marans a couple of days ago! They were packaged well and even had a delay with the post office. I am always happy if atleast 2 hatch from shipped eggs. But I don’t but large quantities. Oh and I didn’t think the Marans eggs were any different from other eggs during the incubation and hatching process. EXCEPT for candling! That was trickier for sure. Good luck!

 

[MadamPoofyBrow]

I have tried shipped eggs a few times; not with the breeds you mentioned, but they were bantams. Out of a total of 3 dozen eggs, I had one hatch. Only about half started developing at all, and the eggs arrived in very good shape (as far as I could tell. No cracks, intact airbubbles).
I know some people have had better luck, but in my experience shipped eggs are hard to hatch.
Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[FloorCandy]

I received quail eggs by mail. I bought them on eBay, and the seller said I should expect a 40% hatch rate. The eggs were lost in the mail for 6 full days, and arrived on what the seller said was day 9 from being laid (8days in the mail). I ended up with 19 chicks from 36 eggs (about 53%) I felt this was very good based on my eggs’ adventures. I hatched the next gen of these eggs that I collected at home, and hatched 12 of 15 which is about 80% I believe. So I figure the rigors of travel negatively affected my hatch rate by about 30%.

 

[TheBajan]

Ok great thank you for the information. The bantam eggs I was told didn't do well due to the shape of the eggs being smaller and more round rather than elongated. I was only told this for a specific breed but to me it would apply to all bantam eggs because all of the bantam eggs that I've seen are small and rounder than a standard egg.
As for the Marans I had read a couple of posts that said they don't always do well shipped.

I did two hatches with Marans from 3 different sellers. My first hatch I had 6 eggs from eBay... none of them hatched. 12 eggs from Omega Hills... only 1 hatched. My second hatch I had 20 eggs from a different eBay seller... 14 hatched. Two were early quitters, two drowned, one I dropped on day 18, and the last one ran out of air before I got to it.
I think shipped eggs are simply a gamble. It depends of so many factors. How old are the eggs? How long will they be tossed around in the postal system? How hot is it when they are traveling? How well are they packed? If they overheat during shipping, they could already begin incubation and then when you let them rest it can kill them so you end up with a bunch of blood rings or clears.
It boils down to a lot of luck and just doing the best you can knowing the risk is high.