shipped eggs broke

[stew1]

I got my first 12 eggs in the mail yesterday, I ordered a dozen and they sent 14. Well after being in the mail for 9 days they showed up in a box that was half smashed, and half the eggs were broke. so I ended up with 7 scrambled eggs That are more than likely 2 weeks old. I want to hear others experience do you normally end up with a few broken ones or did I just have bad luck? I have another 12 coming and now wish I wouldn't have ordered them, though im buying cheapest of cheap on ebay still kinda sucks. I cant seam to find any thing but barnyard mixes in my area on cl which I did buy 36 just to play with but wanted a few purebreds to compare the crosses with on growth rate and what not. Maybe its just cause of the holidays which I never even thought about, one thing I don't get is why ppl think it would be ok to send them any later in the week than Wednesday, you know they will be sitting over the weekend. Ive shipped live lizards and also received them and you would only ship mon-wens, commonsense goes a long ways. Sorry just venting a bit, thanks

 

[Happy Dad]

My first experience with shipped eggs was with Priority 2-3 day shipping. They took 4 days to get here so who knows what is happening in that time. Out of the 5 placed in the incubator one is still developing for a Christmas hatch.

I'm in the process of getting a larger incubator operational and will be doing shipped eggs again but I will ONLY do overnight/express shipping this time. After doing a lot of reading on this and other sites and posts from people of know employees of USPS it sounds like the overnight not only gets it to your house a whole lot quicker but there are a lot less machines banging the shipment around which is also a huge plus.

 

[stew1]

Yeah I agree, its just hard to spend 45 for shipping on 12 eggs. Im coming to the conclusion that your better off spending the 3 bucks for a live chick and when they start laying hatch there eggs. I never shipped usps always ups. I think the usps employees are just mad about all the pay cuts and what not. My grandmother was a mail carrier for years and got to retirement age before all that happened but says the way they changed things make it a much less desirable job. I have a sale barn in my area that sells eggs that I might give a try but I have herd of some pretty shady deals there. If I could candle eggs in the day light would make me feel better about trying it but if they are as cheap as the barnyard mix I got then I wont care as much. 36 eggs for 9 bucks is cheap. Im on day 5 and ive candled all of them and only 6 look like they wont do anything. even if I get 50% that still 50 cent a chich which is what I think would be a fair price for a mutt chick. just my opinion, coarse rabbit prices have doubled in my area since I was a kid so who knows.

 

[Orca5094]

I haven't had much luck with shipped eggs, either. I got two shipments of eggs this past summer. First shipment of 10 eggs, only two hatched. The second shipment of 14 eggs, only one hatched and it was upside down and had to be assisted. She made it and is my favorite duck now, but still so frustrating that I had to raise her alone when there were 13 other eggs in the bunch with her.

I never got any broken eggs, but horrible air cells were a huge problem. Pretty sure that was why most didn't make it to hatch. Shipped eggs are just not worth the gamble in my opinion. I had no other options though, absolutely no one selling ducks anywhere near me. If you have a local place to pick up eggs, I would totally go for that instead.

 

[georgiagail]

Unfortunately, many have reported poor results with shipped eggs, even when those sending try to pack them to reduce the risk of damage. I've shipped eggs and although I'll wrap each one in bubble wrap, add lots of newspaper to the box, put directions on "Handle with Care", "Live Eggs" all over the box, my control ends when I hand the box over at UPS.

If one can have local access to hatching eggs/chicks (or have chicks sent) the success rate increases. Even ordering from hatcheries which have much experience shipping chicks.

Gail

 

[chickenneighbor]

I think a lot depends on the individual post office and its workers. My husband worked the service counter for 30 plus years. Whenever a shipment of eggs or chicks came in, he put them in a warm spot behind the half wall right behind his window station. One day, one chick was chirping loudly, and he had a long line of customers. When one customer mentioned the chick could be distressed, DH went to the box, got the chick, and brought it out front, to everyone's relief. The chick was fine and seemed happy for the attention ( must have been a roo)! A grumbling line became a smiling line! Of course, the b?$&" he worked with tried to get him fired for opening someone else's mail, but it didn't work.

 

[stew1]

I some times wonder if putting things like shipping eggs on the box makes it worst. Just thinking if its a Monday morning and I am at work hungover and stuck at this low paying job how much they would really care and maybe be grumpy enough to see that and think, hatching eggs Hu we will see about that. I mean how do you smash a box that says hatching eggs on accident, really. That would be like me running over a nail on purpose just to get out of work for part of the day which would just prolong the work that I would have to do anyway. And our sub mail driver is a younger guy that basically dropped the box and ran. When I yelled thanks he said yeah and never even turned and looked. I should file a claim but not motivated enough for that. (instead ill belly ach and get nothing for sure lol) And all the air cells were floating all over, I let them sit 24hrs and now they are in the bator so we will see.

 

[stew1]

I got my 2nd dozen today and the only ones that were broke were the 2 extra ones that were not in the egg carton. So at least I have 12 to try. They packed these ones with paper towel around the eggs and put them in a carton raped in bubble wrap. And then put in a box packed full of shredded newspaper. And they packed the shredded paper in tight. Much better job than the last ones. I hope I can get at least 3 or 4 to hatch.

 

[georgiagail]

We'll hope for a successful hatch for you with these!

Gail

 

[gimmie birdies]

I sent out for blue copper marans eggs once. the air cells were detatched. they shipped them out in hot weather then I put them under a hot hen in over 100 degree weather at hatching time it was just liquid. They were not broken though. I sent just as an experiment eggs to a gal. I live in WA state, she lived in FL and the eggs got there unbroken in 2 days, even though I sent them snail mail. none hatched though. I personally have good luck because I get eggs all with in a few miles of my home.