Sebastopol hatching egg trouble

[Draconias]

I have attempted to hatch Sebastopol eggs from three different eBay sellers. I am not having any luck.

Of the first batch of 3 eggs, two were infertile. One developed and was able to pip, but was unable to zip and exit the egg. After 8 hours, I assisted. The little gosling was shirk wrapped. It had not absorbed it's yoke sack and ended up not making it.

The next batch of three eggs purchased from eBay, all were infertile.

The last batch of three are also infertile.

I have had luck hatching Embden geese and Rouen ducks.

I am just wondering if others have trouble acquiring fertile Sebastopol hatching eggs. Is it common that so many of the eggs are infertile? All three sellers were on the east coast, and I am on the west coast. Is the distance that the eggs are traveling causing them to lose fertility? I am finding that the reviews on eBay would be more helpful if they were to include the success of hatches instead of just how well the eggs were packaged.

Any suggestions on where to acquiring fertile Sebatopol hatching eggs next spring?

Thanks,
Ron

 

[Pyxis]

You can't tell if an egg was fertilized or not after you start incubation. So if you weren't getting development, it could have been for a lot of reasons, like shipping damaging a fertilized egg to the point it couldn't develop, incubator problems killing the egg, etc. I'd wager it was probably the former and not the latter if you've had other successful hatches.

That's also why reviews only talk about packaging, because that's basically the only thing the seller can control. After they are sent and are travelling all the way across the country to you, lots of things can happen in shipping to render them inviable. And that won't necessarily happen every time, so even if there were reviews talking about getting a great hatch or a bad one, they probably wouldn't apply to your case, because the person could have a bad incubator or not know what they're doing and that causes the eggs to fail. Or shipping could have hurt the eggs. Or someone might be only a few hours from the seller so the eggs got there the next day and didn't travel much, and they also have a top of the line incubator. So a review saying that THEY had a good hatch again might not apply to you at all.

So that's why the reviews only talk about packaging.

So all that said, you're much more likely to get a good hatch if you can find a local breeder and you can drive over and pick up the eggs yourself. Shipped eggs are just always a gamble, unfortunately. You might try posting in the Oregon thread, and perhaps the surrounding states' threads if you're close to the border, and see if you can find a breeder that way.

Also Metzer Farms in CA has Sebastopols. They don't sell hatching eggs, but you could order goslings and they wouldn't have far to ship to get to you. Or you could even drive over to pick them up, they do allow that. Though it would be a long drive, haha.

 

[Draconias]

Thanks Pyxis, I appreciate your thoughts on this.

I will likely buy some sebastopol goslings from Metzer's next spring. I will still try my luck with shipped eggs, but won't be buying expensive eggs, lol.

Do you sell any of your fertile poultry eggs?

Thanks,
Ron