new to shipping eggs, please give me some advice!

[birdbrain5]

i would like to start shipping eggs, i finally set up a paypal account and whatnot. i have a few questions about things tho because i want to be totally clear and be able to send people the freshest and well packed eggs!
-how old do people ship eggs at? i know the fresher the better, but working with small breeding groups you can only do so much! if i shipped on the 7th day, or the 10th day, is that ok? i know people usually like to set thier eggs by 10 days, so is shipping on the 10th day no good?
-how to figure shipping costs? i see most people charging $15 for shipping for a dozen eggs, what about a half dozen eggs? do i bring the eggs to the post office to let them weigh them to figure the shipping, or do i weigh them myself and then ask how much? also, can i ship eggs in a flat rate box??
i have read that when packing them, people wrap them individually in bubble wrap and then put packing peanuts or shredded paper in the box for padding. where can i get packing peanuts? post office?

ok i think thats all the questions i have! thanks!

 

[jenlynn4]

when you ship eggs you want them to be fresh incase they dont get to thier destination for 4-5 days. I collect eggs for no more than 3 days before shipping. To me 10 days would be unexceptable when you figure they could be 5 days in the mail which would take you to more than 2 weeks old. Fertility will drop the older the eggs are. Shipping charged depend on the size and weight of the box you use and how far they are being shipped. It is usually anywhere between 8 and 15.00 to ship a dozen. I just shipped out an order from PA to Washington and it was $14.00 and change. I can ship the same box to Ohio and it will be $8.00. It all depends. Here is a link to my packing process if you'd like to take a look.:

http://www.freewebs.com/sassysilkies/eggpackingprocess.htm

Priority is suppose to be 2-3 days but sometimes it takes longer. I shipped a package out this past wendesday to be delivered saturday and it didnt arrive so It probably wont get there till today.

 

[sgtmom52]

I have never shipped eggs, but I have bought shipped eggs. By far the best packaged eggs were the ones I just received from crfarm ~ I hope she doesn't mind if I post pictures here. She charges a little more $17.60 but well worth it in my opinion. I had purchased 12+ FBCM eggs. She shipped them Priority mail from Kentucky on Wednesday late afternoon and I received it at noon on Friday in PA.

The outer box is a 12 x 12 priority mail box. There were peanuts under and around the smaller inside box ~ which was wrapped in large bubble wrap.

The inside box was lined in small bubble wrap and each egg was wrapped carefully in bubble wrap and place air cell up.

There were 9 extra large & jumbo eggs on the bottom and 4 on top

All of the eggs were wrapped like this.

The eggs all arrived looking great!

Before you buy bubble wrap or peanuts ~ check Craig's List or Freecycle ~ there are often people giving them away.

 

[ColbyNTX]

I like to ship on Monday or Tuesday so the eggs can be anywhere in the country by the weekend. 6-7 day old eggs are the oldest I will ship.A hen will lay eggs for about 2 weeks before she gets enough to go broody. !0 days is too old to ship IMHO. You can get packing peanuts at some Wal-mart's or office supply stores. The priority mail flat rate box that is 12X12X8 is $14.95 to ship, so that's why you see $15.00 a lot. That box will hold 16 or so turkey eggs and about 18 chicken eggs safely.

 

[Gypsy07]

I have found that the age of the eggs is not so important compared with the health of the parent birds and careful looking after of stored eggs. And very careful packaging of course. I have had great hatch rates with older eggs from my own birds. And recently I sent a dozen hatching eggs to a fellow BYCer. All the eggs were from just one hen so obviously some of them were much older than others. I think five of them would have been over a fortnight old by the time she got them. And 11/12 of them were fertile and developed normally.

Like you say, with eggs from small breeding groups you won't be able to send a dozen fresh eggs every day. I'd say the most important thing would be honesty. I would be happy buying 10 day old eggs, as long as I KNEW that they were 10 day old eggs. If they were advertised as freshly laid or if the seller just kinda didn't mention the age, I would not be happy about it.

 

[zekii]

Is USPS always the preferred shipper, does FedEx or UPS ship eggs ... anyone use either of these shippers ?

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

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