How to pack eggs for shipment???

[CelticMoon1]

So I'll be shipping eggs for the first time this spring and was wondering if anyone out there has any "sure" way of packing so they don't crack in the mail. Shipment options are limited so they'll be delivered by express mail (overnight) and may be handled a bit rough.

I was thinking wrap eggs individually in bubble wrap in an egg carton (or fill egg carton with shavings or straw), wrap egg carton in bubble wrap, place egg carton in styrofoam box filled with shavings or straw... Would that suffice? Temperatures will still be a bit low, but not below freezing then I think...

What are your foolproof methods?

 

[Ban seabhag]

I'd

the styrofoam container. I've gotten eggs that way and they travel the best and are somewhat insulated from cold. The ones I mean are about 2" thick or more and come in some pretty small sizes. They don't weigh much either. Also, you can get things shipped with a "special handling" fee, that supposedly means that the packages will be hand transferred. I just tried that with eggs coming from the states. We will see if it makes any difference.

 

[geosheets]

I've received some eggs by mail but never shipped any. The only ones I've ever had problems with, the senders tried to skimp on the box size and therefore also skimped on the cushioning. The best I've gotten were each egg wrapped individually in bubble wrap and then placed in a box with wood shavings(at least 1-1.5 inches thick on all sides). As long as eggs aren't against the side of the box, you probably could drop it off a building without damaging the eggs.

 

[evonne]

one thing about wood shavings.. they shift.. which means eggs that are placed securely in the center, may or may not stay centered...
the 2 that i've sent out so far, i wrapped each egg in a page of an old phone book, then secured it into an egg carton... i taped the egg carton closed.... im the medium flat rate shipping box i put crumpled pages of the phone book, then slid the egg carton in diagonally and put more crumpled paper around.. with extra at the ends of the carton to make sure the carton couldn't shift inside the box.... then more crumpled paper on top...
both boxes of 12 made it to their location no cracks...

with your plan, i'd say bubble wrap or paper inside the carton... straw might work, but the shavings i would worry about shifting...
and tape the carton closed... helps to make sure they stay secure in there.. a bump might pop the carton open otherwise....
if you're going to use a styrofoam box and straw, i would probly say not to worry about bubblewrapping the outside of the carton...

i think the key thing i've seen mentioned is the shifting inside the box.... if you're going to have loose eggs... i've seen posts where people just wrap ind eggs in bubble wrap and put them in the box... this works as long as there is a way to make sure the eggs are secured in the center of the box.. i've seen it suggested that you wrap a sheet of bubble wrap around all the ind eggs so they are a package on their own, then put that into the box with more padding on all sides of it...

but in a carton surrounded by straw inside fo styrofoam insdie of a box, i'm betting those eggs will arrive unbroken... i think even if they played soccer with it they wouldn't break.. developing however is out of your control.....

good luck!!

 

[jeremy]

Should you provide some sort of heat source when shipping? Or will the insulation from bubble wrap/styrofoam/etc. overnight keep the eggs alive/fertile?

I've heard of using the hot hands packs when shipping, does anybody have any experience with this?

 

[Cindiloohoo]

A well packaged, in foam carton, shipment should be insulated enough against the cold. Remember cardboard insulates as well, so I think they would be fine. but, just MHO

 

[Ban seabhag]

Quote:
Very fine paper clippings shift also. I have had that happen. I think the carton with bubble wrapped eggs inside the styrofoam box does work best, from the ones I've received. It does stay warmer. Your method would be about the same. I haven't had broken or cracked eggs that way and they come a long way to me.

 

[CelticMoon1]

Thanks for your replies!

Quote:
Unfortunately not an option here - I live in Norway. The eggs are to be shipped to the far North and the Postal Service here just doesn't have the "special handling" option anymore - they used to, no idea why they quit

They will be picked up by truck, driven to a sorting place, trucked to an airport, shipped by plane to North Norway, trucked to a sorting station, trucked to distributing station and taken out by a Postal worker in a car. By sending them this way at least they will not be thrown about so much.. In all of the transporting stages they will be placed in a "cage" with other packages. Main concern is the sorting station because I think they'll be on conveyor belts. And being in the back of a Postal car, you never know how they drive and the packages will be loose in the back (Yeah I've worked in the Postal Service so I'm pretty sure of this

)

Quote:
That sounds like a plan then! We have always had a 100% fertility rate in our eggs in the past so hopefully they will all be fertilized when they leave here. I am aware that they can be "scrambled" even if they aren't cracked because of handling but I hope to prevent this by labeling the box clearly "caution - will break easily" (I considered "caution, contains highly explosive materials" but decided against it as I believe that would have stranded my eggs somewhere with a bomb squad

We've never tried shipping before but these people don't have any options as they live soooo far away from any other wyandotte owners and there really aren't that many breeders willing to ship eggs... They know it's a risk but are willing to take the chance and pay the costs so I'm going to try my best to make sure the eggs reach them safely - and hopefully will hatch. We will be incubating the same number of eggs from the same hens ourselves so it'll be interesting to see if there's a difference in hatch rate (and how much)!

Quote:
If your shipping in extremely cold temperatures, yeah I guess... But I won't ship till temps are appr 0 C and above (they are -25 C to -35 C here at the mo

) - cushioned in bubble wrap & styrofoam I am hoping that will insulate enough. We're planning for late march/early april. I just like to be well prepared

in case I need to get some special stuff...

 

[Wynette]

This is going to surprise some of you, but one of the best egg shipments I received were individually wrapped in disposable baby diapers.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

LOL Wynette! Love that.