Never again! Never! :( Hatching eggs- forget it! A little story

7AcreOrganics

In the Brooder
11 Years
Apr 11, 2008
44
4
32
Ashland Oregon
So we decided the way to go with our farm was chickens. We tried goats, horses= and we ended up loving our first 6 chickens, and decided to now raise and breed them. I hated the thought of them being shipped in live and wanted to do the eggs. SO i purchased more than 100!!! eggs, from sellers on ebay and they are also sellers on eggbid. Out of 100 eggs, we had 14 eggs hatch. One is missing a wing, one had a horrific tumor and died in 24 hours, 3 have very very bad crazy goofy feet, and one had some type of huge stomach, looked fat with a cripple leg and could not walk, though we watched carefully he drowned in the water dish. He would end up on his back and could not get up, I was rolling him over countless times each day.
Now, our incubator was fine. I know this as OUR eggs from our current flock hatched fine!!! All of them! These mail order chicks are so, so bizzare, it is like the postmaster purposely put them thru an exray machine. You should see this one chick with only one wing. He looks strange, even in his eyes. They are a strange bunch! Our last hatch of eggs from our current bantams and polish -over 30 eggs, were no where near as this- not one problem! Its so depressing. So, I ordered the chicks we wanted from Texas Poultry, they are coming next week. We wont go the egg route again. One ebay seller sent us eggs in a carton. Thats it- in the carton! He put them in a carton with no wrap and then in a priority mail box. It was nothing but shells and yolk when they arrived. (none of those hatched, either
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) That should have been my first clue, that perhaps the eggs were doomed from the start. Well, if all our handicapped chicks make it, we will have a handicap coop for them. As long as they can function I am ok with them.
 
I am sorry that the hatches came out so horribly. It must have been sad and so frustrating!

If you every want to try hatching again, you can sort ebay by distance and then go pick up your eggs.
 
Or, better yet, find someone here on BYC... we're always happy to help out!
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Sorry about the fiasco... I can imagine how frustrated you are! :aww
 
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Wow that is so horrible. I'm freaked about getting eggs through the mail and hesitant because you are guaranteed nothing and some of the prices are higher than just getting already hatched chicks, yet I also don't need 25 or so from a hatchery.
 
WOW that really blows. I think your eggs might got x-rayed. That is the only reason i can think of why you would have that many special needs chicks, unless your bator temps went wild a couple times. BTW i have a special needs chick myself. S/He was born with a microcephalus and a growth on top of his head, which might be his brain coming through a opening of his head . The chick is also barely growing, it only gained 2 gram in one week and is now only half the size of the next smaller chick and a 1/3 of the biggest. I left him in there with the rest of the bunch. I got 32 eggs of ebay last time 15 this time. Out of the 32 18 developed ,13 hatched and lived , but 1 had to be culled. I never had a smashed eggand my post office is awesome. they either hand the eggs right to me or put them on the steps in the shadow and ring the door bell.
If you would live close by i would take the one winged chick. I love weird animals.
 
Having a hatch go bad is a hard thing. Having to deal with sick and dying chicks sucks
even more.

Shipped eggs are always a gamble. We hatch shipped eggs once a month and have
had some bad hatches but most were very good. We have 50 on day 7 right now.
We candled yesterday and 90% are fertile. That's good for shipped eggs.
 
I'm so very sorry you are going through this. The PO is hard on shipped eggs, no doubt about it. I just hatched from eggs from a BYC member and of 14 eggs 11 hatched. Maybe consider a BYC member and someone who lives close to you to cut down on shipping time.
 
I am sorry for your loss. I know what you are going through, trust me. I had a heavy hatch loss earlier this week and i am expecting the rest of that hatch to not work out at all.

That egg carton placed in a box sounds crazy! I mean, what reputable seller would do such a thing? I hope you gave him bad feedback when you got the eggs!

Good luck and what is this Texas Poultry I keep hearing about? I can't find them online but I am curious.
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That is so horrible! I have not had dealings with e-bay,but I know there are good and bad stories. I agree with the P.O. being rough on eggs and that is a worry I have because I ship eggs. Last year I had a couple reports of a chick having hatched with a deformity. I started labeling my boxes "LIVE EMBRYOS-DO NOT X-RAY" and had no more problem.Try it again with someone from here and as close to you as you can find. I've driven 50-60 miles to deliver. Just pay gas instead of shipping.Good luck to you
 
Uugghh! That is just awful!
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I'm so sorry about your hatch. If you try again, maybe more local eggs would work. I'm about to set my 2nd batch of shipped eggs along with mutts of my own. It'll be interesting to compare how both sets do.
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