Help me with a decision...

[coozedog]

I purchased eggs from 3 different people for my incubator. 10 eggs from NY, 10 eggs from Kentucky and 10 eggs from SC. The 10 eggs from NY hatched.... 8 eggs from Kentucky hatched...... 1 egg hatched from SC...... Would you give negative feedback for the SC seller? I read feedback is usually for shipping and not for hatches as this varies and can't be controlled by the seller... But under the circumstances of my hatch wouldn't this be a indication of bad eggs from SC????

 

[abengel]

Absolutely not the fault of the seller. Anything could have happened during shipping; temperature, jarring, x-ray, etc. I have set more than 200 shipped eggs this year under excellent incubator conditions and hatched out only 30 chicks. Hatching 1 out of 10 is actually much more typical for shipped eggs than 10 out of 10 or 8 out of ten. You are lucky!! Enjoy your babies and give good feedback.

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Um, overall, I'm inclined to say "no".

The hatch rate is really totally beyond the seller's control IF they did what they promised, which basically boiled down to sending out at least the number of eggs indicated, the eggs appeared fresh, not overly dirty, were packaged properly, and shipped when promised or if delayed, there was a reasonable explanation and communications to you about any delay.

There are too many variables in play to just say "they must have been bad eggs."

Off the top of my head, one factor lately has been weather. Its quite possible eggs shipped from the deep south (and SC would qualify, IMHO) at this time of the year cooked at some stage while in the custody of the post office, due to the time of year and the heat.

 

[MandyH]

Not the sellers fault. The sellers obligation is to send you clean, fresh eggs and to get them to you unbroken. They did that so they earned their positive feedback.

 

[Arielle]

Not the sellers fault. The eggs were handled by different routes of the USPS. You may be assuming the eggs were handled exactly the same. And, some eggs handle the stress better by breed as well. 50% is the average I see quoted: that means, some hatch rates are higher and some much lower; it's an average. ANd 50% is far lower than the 90% rate of eggs that did no traveling. 10 + 8+1 =63% IMO you did well-- you beat the average!! Sorry the batch with only 1 hatching didn't perform better; it would be nice if at least 4 or 5 of each batch would have hatched.

 

[ReikiStar]

I've heard sellers talk about how eggs they send to the South nearly always get trashed. While customers in other parts of the country receive their eggs in better shape. That's not very scientific but it does say something about the mail system down South.

 

[rebel yell]

No its not the sellers fault, probely the PO, most of them dont care about eggs, you reken how many times that box got throwen in the floor ?

 

[Gypsy07]

The seller's obligation is not just to send clean, fresh and well packaged eggs, as well as all that they should most importantly be fertile. And on that last one, you only have the seller's word for it that their eggs are indeed fertile. BUT... If your eggs don't develop that absolutely does not mean that they were not fertile. Fertile eggs subjected to very rough handling will most likely not develop, but that does not mean that they weren't fertile in the first place. A lot of it depends on how much you feel that you trust the seller's word that they are seeing high fertility in their eggs and are hatching out lots of healthy chicks. And a good indication of the seller's attention to detail and their overall trustworthiness is how much time and effort they have put into sending you clean, good sized and well packed eggs...

I know my own eggs have near enough 100% fertility. I can't remember when I last cracked open an egg and didn't see a bullseye. And I test hatch fairly often so I know my chicks are healthy. I sent a dozen eggs to a friend and she only managed to hatch seven chicks, one of which died the next day. We blamed it on the shipping.

A friend of mine sent me 18 eggs. He says his own hatching eggs' fertility is currently round about 75%. Only 6 of mine developed and 3 of those died around the 12-14 day mark. So out of 18 eggs I only got 3 chicks. We blamed it on the shipping. I put four of my own eggs in the bator at the same time, and all four of them hatched.

So don't be too quick to leave bad feedback. In all probability the eggs actually were fertile to begin with...

 

[Stacykins]

There is a reason sellers ask you to leave feedback about the condition and packing of the eggs UPON ARRIVAL, and not for hatch rates. You could have cracked those eggs open when you got them, and every one might have had a fertile bullseye. But rough shipping, regardless of packing technique, can harm the delicate embryos and render them nonviable even if they were originally fertile and viable. They could have gotten hot, cold, punted, etc. after the seller handed them to the post office.

 

[okiedrifter]

most PO mail holding areas are not AC so the eggs going thru now are in peril my eggs coming from up north are doing well in the incubator the ones coming from the south are not...so I have stopped buying eggs till sept or Oct from southern areas...so silly to even think sellers fault if they got there unbroken you are lucky...but if you feel you must do so but say why just like you did on here....careful tho it may put you on alot of blacklists of sellers of eggs you may want badly