Need some eggs, ship vs. pick up

[newtodelawares]

Was wondering if anyone had suggestions for buying hatching eggs that had to be shipped. I bought some Delaware eggs and had a very poor hatch rate. I'm pretty sure that I did everything correct in the incubation process because we did it again at school and had tremendous success. I am looking for more Delaware eggs, but am hesitant to have them shipped. I am having trouble finding a local breeder so I can pick up the eggs. Where can I find a local breeder?

 

[jennh]

Where are you located?

Jen

 

[newtodelawares]

Central Texas... And Texas is so big, it takes a day to get anywhere!

 

[toadbriar]

Well I can't vouch for anyone but on ebay I see a seller in OK who says they bubble wrap each egg individually...I know shipped eggs are always a gamble but seeing that sort of description seems like it'd improve the odds in your favor. & I know TX is huge but you can't get much closer than OK! I'm in MA and I had an awesome hatch rate with duck eggs from North Dakota - 16 shipped, 12 started, 9 hatched. They were individually bubble wrapped and all the air cells were perfect...so it can be done!

Best of luck!

 

[newtodelawares]

Thanks for the information. I will look for them. What about x-raying at the post office...any concerns there?

 

[toadbriar]

Oh you know. Mutations. Tentacles.

Actually I don't think it's a problem - at least, not one that's either significant or really fixable. there's always gonna be some batches of shipped eggs that don't 'go' but no telling why. I seem to recall reading on here of someone testing their eggs by mailing them to themself?

 

[australorpchick]

I've hatched shipped eggs and picked up eggs. I can say that the only 100% hatches I've had, are from my own eggs. The next best hatches were from shipped eggs. I just know that the more money I seem to spend on the eggs, the worse the hatch rate.

 

[knjinnm]

Hi,
I've never shipped eggs or received shipped eggs but I have shipped and received betta splendens, in fact I have six fish coming from Colorado today or tomorrow.
So when eggs are shipped are the boxes marked "EGGS FRAGILE", are they shipped Express or Priority and are they shipped with a cool pack of some kind?
Thank,
Joe