Ordering eggs online, is it worth it?

[Riven]

This is kind of a copy from my post on another thread, but I have had several shipped to me this spring and have had mostly terrible results. What are your results with shipping eggs, is it really worth it? So far I'm running $20 per chick... and that's not counting anything but eggs and shipping!

Background on the eggs ( the button quail were free from a friend and not included in the cost per chick total ):

The first one was packed good in "foam bricks" with holes for the eggs and padded with foam all the way. One out of nine developed, none were broke or injured. Box was clearly marked fragile, live eggs, etc. Large priority box.

The next one was a dozen ( they sent extras ) packed in newspaper around cartons and lots of the packing peanuts. 4 of these hatched out fine, one was cracked, it was marked eggs on the box. Medium Priority Box.


Another was button quail eggs, came in an unmarked box, each egg wrapped in paper towel, then packed with wood shavings. Three were broken out of appx 40, 8 hatched fine. Small box the size of a brick.

Another was a "shoe box" size, a carton inside of tons of very, very finely shredded paper. Very heavy ( makes the drop worse... ) bought twelve, no extras sent, three were cracked on arrival, the rest no good when candled. Box was marked fragile, but not eggs.

Overall I've spent over $100 and gotten 5 live chicks... makes me wonder if it's even worth it to have eggs shipped. sad The chicks are 1 silver laced cochin bantam, and 4 columbian cochin bantams, not exactly what I'd call a $20 a bird run there.

 

[horselover58]

I ship Silkie Eggs out and even though I cannot guarantee they will all hatch, I do like the receivers to tell me how many DID, cause then I can figure out what I can do better the next time. I think its worth it to hatch your own eggs. Its work, but its fun and there is nothing like getting on this board when they start hatching.

I always seem to get an average 80% hatch. The best way I found to ship the eggs is Priority mail, bubble wrap each egg and place in egg carton, put a slice of bubble wrap on top of that. Tape the egg container (do not squash the eggs, but as far as the top will go down over the eggs). Put in Priority box, place rolled up Newspaper, or lots of bubble wrap all around the egg carton. Write "FRAGILE" in RED all over the box. Insure the package before shipping. Believe it or not, the Post Office Employees tend to be more caring about a package that is insured, and its not expensive. That way if you receive broken eggs, the post office will refund you the value you spent for the eggs. Yes you may have to give them the eggs, but thats alright, you have your money back so you can order another dozen.

But 98% of the time if you pack the way I do, and insure the package, you wont get any broken eggs. As far as hatching, that is the chance everyone takes getting eggs through the mail.

 

[Riven]

My neighbors incubate for me, and they have 50-65% hatch rate on shipped eggs, and over 80 I believe on our local eggs that haven't been shipped otherwise I'd be concerned it was the incubator.

 

[Chicken Woman]

NO

 

[Dirt Road]

If you buy started birds, the cost, by the time you add everything up will be well above $20.00 each as a rule. I had the same questions for a while, since I have never had a good hatch with shipped eggs, even using broody hens. But since some of the varieties I was interested in were simply not available as day olds, and started birds are so danged expensive, I finally accepted the fact that I just had to pay the $15.00 to $25.00 price tag for new blood or new varieties. Also, if you buy from a reputable breeder, there is always the chance that you will hatch a really outstanding bird, but there really isn't anyone who will sell you one of their very best unless you are willing to pay a premium. And who knows, someday I may get a 80% or 90% hatch on shipped eggs like those I read about!

Jim

 

[whippet128]

I order eggs from time to time just to get a fix. Sometimes you just hear the bator calling your name. It is always fun. Once you find someone who ships you eggs that will have a good hatch rate you can stick with them.

 

[Lextextrapper]

I bought 8 eggs on an ebay auction and the guy sent 12. Of the 12 eggs all but one developed and were doing very good, but then my temps spiked on two different days and I only ended up with 5 chicks. I would say without the incubator trouble, I would have had a very high percentage hatch.

Then I also bought some pheasant and quail eggs online. I candled them last night and was very dissapointed in the pheasant eggs. The best I could tell I only about 4 out of 30 developing (although hard to tell because the eggs are so dark). I left them all in the bator. Out of 50 quail eggs I only had 32 that were developing.

I have 18 guinea eggs that I picked up locally and all but one of those is developing.

I think local eggs are defintely better, but you can get decent hatches out of eggs you buy online.

 

[RainForestBird]

If I counted all the shipping, and other costs per egg over this past summer I'd be very depressed. I got decent day old chicks locally for about $8 for a "rare" breed. They are all doing well, but I can't say the same for the birds that hatched from my eggs. I had a lot of deaths, and that was really depressing and stressful. I got to the point that i dreaded going into the brooder room in the morning.

Also, the post office is very inconsistent. I would get very fast shipping for the first order, then each order after that it would get hung up over the weekend, or misdirected for some reason like weather. You can find a good seller/shipper, but the post office will ruin it. Also, over the summer the eggs get hot in the mail trucks, they are not air conditioned, I can't tell you how many times the mail carrier handed me a hot box.

You have to count all the power you are using to incubate and brood the eggs as well. Plus the cost of the incubator. They don't last forever. Each hatch seems to takes it toll on the incubator and I'm sure you can't get all the bacteria no matter how hard you scrub, and disinfect.

Sure, its fun--very expensive fun. It's also a lot of fun to go to a breeder and pick out your chicks from a whole brood of healthy babies, hatched by an expert.