HOW BEST TO PACKAGE EGGS FOR SHIPPING DO"S AND DON"TS

[coop410silkies]

Communication is the key here.  I always say specifically how I package eggs for shipping.  When buying, I ask the seller to package them in a certain way and if they refuse I don't buy from them.  Simple.  I have also found that labelling [COLOR=FF0000]LIVE[/COLOR] Hatching Eggs helps in most cases, as does packing aircell up and labelling the top THIS SIDE UP as well as ^UP^ on all four sides.  The LIVE label in most cases will get the shipment directly to the nearest airport terminal.  We ship live redworms also, and have found this to help.

Ask.  Choose.  Simple.

BRAVO and Ditto!!! This thread is inspiring and represents BYC at its best. I've almost finished reading it in its entirety and will soon be doing some shipping experiments of my own.

I have some ebay eggs in the bator - 1st time purchase for me - and at day 15, I am not very hopeful for more than a couple of the 12 I received. Air cells detached in most, although maybe 1/2 reattached and have development. We shall see, I am new to this adventure, and this purchase was an experiment to learn about shipped eggs. What I learned, thanks to y'all, was that my seller did a pretty minimal job with packing. I have thought that in the future, I might send the seller the packing materials I end up choosing, along with directions, and ask her/him to use them for shipping, with prior agreement, of course.

I am leaning toward packing eggs in those foam tubes for pipes, and tying them off like little sausages, loose packed in peanuts in a box lined with air bags. Also, what do you think of loosely packing the tubes between home-made versions of "water wigglers," to help isolate them from vibration. I will be doing some tests with shipping - maybe to myself - and maybe some tests with my vibrating sander, "old" eggs, "cold" eggs, "dropped packages," and the like to see what looks like the best demolition resistant method. And I promise to share. Many many thanks to all who have contributed here with their inputs.

 

[LindaB220]

I'm sure everybody had questions on this. Bringing it up to the front again.

 

[brahmapapa]

How can that even happen?

I noticed in one of your posts that you like to mark the box as LIVE eggs, I have done this too but on the advice of a contributor here I now mark the box as live embryos rather than eggs....seems there are postal workers who when they read eggs can't resist the temptation to shake the box., my resultant shipments have enjoyed better hatching rates. I would like to thank you and all other contributors for their input to this thread...I was the one who created this thread and its great to see it being helpful to others.

 

[enola]

The best luck I have had with shipped hatching eggs, was with boxes marked FRAGILE in big red letters. Both boxes I received that were marked HATCHING EGGS were crushed. The one marked LIVE EMBRYOS took an extra 4 days to arrive.

 

[brahmapapa]

That is an interesting link. Hmmmm? It made me wonder about something. I've never had a heat pack in any of my eggs that hatched great. They were sent in winter, all were obviously cold when I got them, but had amazing hatch rates. The last batch I got had a heat pack. Could that possibly explain why a few appeared to have been incubating already? A few eggs were in bubble wrap right on top of the heat pack. Also the heat pack was already cold when I opened the package, as were all the eggs, and it only took a little over 24 hours to get to me once shipped. I wish I would have noticed which were directly above the heat pack. Very curious on how heat packs affect eggs. Any thoughts?

personally I have never used a heat pac with eggs shipped to me...as long as eggs do not freeze solid I have hatched some eggs that were very cold when received that hatched fine. many years ago I hatched 42 eggs that had been refrigerated for over a week before incubation and had 100% hatch

 

[brahmapapa]

Just had to share the eggs I received yesterday...by some miracle none were broken, but I couldn't tell what condition the air cells were in since they are so dark. I'm not feeling optimistic, lol.





Also received 36 eggs a few days ago that were sent in a Medium flat rate box, wrapped in paper towel and placed in styrofoam egg cartons, one on top of the other, 18 in each. None of the eggs were broken. Most were Marans so again, I couldn't really determine the condition of the air cells, but I was really shocked to get that many eggs in that small of a box, and all intact. We'll see what kind of hatch rate I get!

that plastic bag would prevent respiration and suffocate the eggs, in my estimation this was a terrible job of packaging.

 

[brahmapapa]

The square ones, yes, not the flat ones. Look into the Regional flat rate boxes too...they are only available online (order for free). Depending on distance, they are often the better price.

shipping in a flat rate box would I think move slower theoretically than ex. press shipping. since most science seems to point to egg freshness {the time from egg lay to incubation} as being one of the biggest if not the single biggest factor impacting good hatch rate. I recommend spending more to get the eggs there as quickly as possible. If you save a few bucks on cheaper shipping but get a zero hatch rate as a result there was no point in shipping in the first place. hope this info helps make sound decisions. Tom

 

[enola]

I have had eggs shipped several times. The eggs that I have had the best hatch rate on were the square flat rate boxes. I requested that the shipper not write fragile or live embryoes on the out side of the boxes. They arrived completely undamaged, were mailed early in the morning and arrived in three days. These eggs came to SC from OK.

The box that was labled "live embryoes" was sent over night, arrived severely damaged, and still took three days to arrive. These eggs came to SC from TN.

Shipping eggs is a complete 'crap shoot'. I am convinced that some postal workers must be having a "bad day" fairly regularly.....

 

[brahmapapa]

I have had eggs shipped several times. The eggs that I have had the best hatch rate on were the square flat rate boxes. I requested that the shipper not write fragile or live embryoes on the out side of the boxes. They arrived completely undamaged, were mailed early in the morning and arrived in three days. These eggs came to SC from OK.

The box that was labled "live embryoes" was sent over night, arrived severely damaged, and still took three days to arrive. These eggs came to SC from TN.

Shipping eggs is a complete 'crap shoot'. I am convinced that some postal workers must be having a "bad day" fairly regularly.....

there is an entire thread dedicated to how to package shipping hatching eggs, while I do think its a crap shoot, I think good packaging practices can deff improve the odds.

 

[coop410silkies]

there is an entire thread dedicated to how to package shipping hatching eggs, while I do think its a crap shoot, I think good packaging practices can deff improve the odds.

I read through much of this thread, and, using a lot of the information in it, decided to ship some eggs to a friend who lived ~40 miles from me. She picked up the eggs at her P.O. about two days later and drove the 40 miles to return them to me. I had packed them in foam, both horizontally and vertically, I filled the box with styro chips and lined it with air bags and bubble wrap, and I labeled the outside with END UP and LIVE EMBRYOS labels. The pkg was ground shipped only. Every single egg arrived scrambled or with rolling air cells. I let them settle for a couple of days, and after I set them, some seemed to have started developing - but not one of the 30 made it to lockdown. I could not imagine what the USPS did with them to scramble them so; the box was undamaged and none were broken. Of the shipped eggs I ordered from across country, all arrived with saddle and/or rolling air cells. Only 3 of 12 hatched. (I will take some responsibility for unrefined incubating techniques, but not for the poor shape in which the eggs arrived). Shipping and ordering shipped eggs definitely DOES seem a crapshoot.