I'm so disapointed... I'm not buying shipping eggs again

[warmfuzzies]

After my last fiasco with shipped eggs, I decided to try it again. Yay!! They got here ALL intact, none broken! I was so excited, I was gonna get babies this time!

I candled last night, and here is what I got, I think...

EE- mixed eggs: out of nine, all but two look great!!

B/B/S Orpington eggs, shipped together with the EEs: Out of fifteen, only FOUR look like they are even doing anything! The others either look completely empty, or they have a very faint darkish spot, but nothing as big as it should be. Early quitters, i think.

Banty eggs, from a different breeder: Out of twelve, three are developing.

I am not doing this again!!!! I am now looking for local sources, and if I cant find any, i will put my bator up, and just incubate my own eggs once in awhile.

 

[PQ]

Where the eggs sent to you in alum foil?

 

[bock]

I know how dissapointing that can be!

Better luck next time

 

[Mahonri]

Different post offices do different things.

Had some eggs sent from Houston... 10 of 18 were developing at day 8. Box had an obvious dent in it, but there were no cracked or broken eggs.
Had some BBS Ameraucanas sent from South Carolina, 16 of 16 were looking good at day 8... must have been a direct flight!
12 eggs from Michigan. Have only had to pull 2 of those so far.

 

[DouglasPeeps]

Oh, I am so sorry! That is very disappointing!

Local is good! It would be nice to have a list of people from CO and what hatching eggs they had available.

 

[CityChicker]

It is most likely the elevation. I don't think it is completely known why it happens, but eggs shipped from lower elevations just do not hatch well here. I am in Colorado too. My worst hatch on shipped eggs was ONE egg hatched out of thirty and that was in a very precise Grumbach incubator.

Usually, I have been lucky to get even 50% hatches on eggs shipped from lower elevations. My hatch rate on eggs layed here is above 90%.

 

[warmfuzzies]

I diddn thtink about the eggs. They were all from very close to sea level. We are not real high, just under 4000 ft, I diddnt think it would be high enough to make a difference.

BUT the EE eggs and the BBS eggs were shipped together. Why are some of them doing so well? I was so upset last night, I just wanted to cry. My last batch, we ended up with one chick out of 24 eggs.

 

[ShysCreations]

We are in Golden at about 5400 ft. Shipped eggs are sure a gamble with a wide variety of results. Last month, 30 silkie eggs came from Missouri & Michigan with 19 hatching and another 5 fully developed but dead in shell. Earlier this year, i bought 12 LF cochin eggs from a lady in Falcon, CO with 9 hatching. Last year, 21 silkie eggs from North Carolina gave 4 hatching (but problem was incubating). OkCarla's Brabanters last week out of Oklahoma are 100% developing!
A recent purchase from New England states had no veining at a week. When other eggs in the same incub are growing, it makes me wonder. The breeder asked if I checked aircells when eggs arrived to see if damaged. I hadn't, but will be sure to do this now. Hopefully, this fall I can hatch our own mille/mottled cochin eggs to see if its shipping damage or something genetically from highly bred birds giving less viable, precocious chicks. I have to think nutrition means alot in the breeder birds. I

 

[willowcol]

I truly understand your frustration, its just so hit or miss with shipped eggs. I bought 4 sets of eggs to have easter babies, I had 14 0f 16 eggs hatch from 1 set, 9 of 14 from 1, and was getting so happy. So then the last 2 sets I only got 5 of 30, and 7 of out of 25, not to great on these. All these eggs came from seelers on the east coast Florida being the longest distance from me and those eggs did worse. I am going back and forth with buying shipped eggs again.

 

[cat123]

Sorry.
I have had good and bad exp with shipped eggs, but mostly the bad is that the eggs are not fertile, I do not know if this is because they were shipped.
What really makes me mad is when none of the eggs are fertile from one place, makes me wonder if they even have any males

Dont give up, I can incubate about 1500 eggs at a time if I wanted too, so a loss of one tray of shipped eggs, does not brother me as much- except when it always seems to be the one eggs that I really wanted. But kinda of hard to be sad, when you get 100 chicks but none of them are the ones you really wanted.
I incubate about 60 of my own eggs a week, and can get 60 from a neighbor too, and I also get shipped eggs each week.
I have not been calculating where the eggs ship from statewise, but I wonder if this is an issue.

Keep your chin up, and try to find some eggs locally and see if this helps.