Shipped eggs super dissapointed!!

[Chrischik]

So, Iveread reviews on M McMurray, I remember Martha Stewart endorsing them a decade ago...I feel like they have lost their cred. I ordered a dozen mixed 'special' eggs, wasnt expecting anything crazy, but out of 11 incubated (1 cracked from freeze in shipment), I had ONE hatch this Wednesday. And it was a perfect hatch, less than an hour from first pip to out of shell, and its off running! 4 eggs were infertile (as candling day 18 proved), and 1 died in vivo and began to rot. So...out of 6, I've had a single hatch. Today is day 22, Im holding out hope I may still have a miracle...but seriously dissapointed in a company that supposedly has such a tremendous rep. I ordered eggs off Amazon and had a 65% hatch rate!!!
So, off to AGU Tuesday to buy babies if eggs fail. I have one chick worth $63!!! Have breed specific eggs coming in April from a private producer, and their reviews are stellar, so hoping I can feel redeemed. But, major dissapointment. I won't ever order from M McM again, and I don't recommend to anyone else!
Just my 2 cents...I hope you all have better luck than me and not waste your $$$!

 

[Susan Skylark]

It really isn’t fair to rate the hatchery/seller on the success of shipped eggs save with how they were packaged. Time in transit, rough handling, and cold exposure can all tank your hatch, none of which the shipper has control over! I just had a horrible hatch on home raised eggs (2 dead at hatch, 2 deformed, 2 normal) after just cold exposure, no shipping involved! I’ve had 25% hatch rates and 85% hatch rates on shipped eggs from random guys on eBay and the most famousest of commercial quail hatcheries, it all comes down to chance and how they are handled, it is an innate risk of shipped eggs, and you shouldn’t ding the seller unless they wrapped your eggs in a bubble wrap envelope and mailed it off (true story, 5/15 broken but still got 80% hatch rate?!).

 

[Chrischik]

For the price they charge, on eggs I can't choose...they SHOULD have wrapped them in bubble wrap! Im not the only one. I read the negatives and still trusted. I've hatched many eggs before, not my first rodeo. But def the worst yet. Should have listened to reviews, their rating is like 3.8!!

 

[Chrischik]

In contrast...my future shipment cost me more for shipping than eggs, and they have a 5 star review from hundreds of people. I'd happily pay for better quality shipping (and not during the worst freeze in decades) and have a more normal hatch rate.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have three sources for shipped eggs coming in about a month. I would never buy shipped eggs now. Who knows if they sit in some unheated warehouse, in a truck overnight, etc.

March 6, we have five days in a row of above 32°F at night, and two shippers are on board to ship that day, the third won't chance it in case USPS is late. (I sent them the forecast).

Next time you buy eggs, check the weather for a good week first, as that will help immensely.

I've got a few $80+ chickens here too due to only a few from a dozen hatching, and that was great shipping weather.

Years ago I'd average 70% hatch rate on shipped eggs. This past year on about eight or so shipments, 35%. All it takes for me is the right one to hatch and I'm happy! I breed show-quality silkies.

 

[PeaShack]

Shipped eggs can be hit or miss. Embryos are fragile and a fertile egg from the seller may not develop at all due to shaking, temperature extremes, X-rays, and long delays once in the hands of the post office (even Priority Mail). I have discovered that that certain postal routes seem to be gentler than others (for some reason eggs traveling down I-10 from Florida to here in Texas have much better hatch rates than ones coming from mid-Atlantic states). I haven’t even tried west coast or northern states.

I am just a casual backyard poultry person but I have successfully hatched shipped chicken, quail, and peafowl eggs all from eBay sellers. Reviews can help guide your purchasing decisions. Any shipped eggs are a gamble…but for me the hatching successes more than make up for the failures!

 

[nuthatched]

Shipped eggs are a huge gamble, especially during the coldest time or the hottest time of the year, it doesn't stack the odds in your favor.
It's just how it is.
Clears don't mean infertile, necessarily, they might have been shaken and shipments. It doesn't reflect the seller or breeder.
Getting poor hatch rates is the normal result, unfortunately.
Bubble wrap smothers eggs and doesn't protect them at all. How were they wrapped?
Even the best wrapping can only protect somewhat from jolts, not constantly vibration.

 

[SourRoses]

Shippers do bear some responsibility for timing / weather in route. After all, just because you submit your order, doesn't mean they will ship the next day. Often, buyers are waiting undetermined periods for their eggs to ship out. The seller knows when they're about to / filling the order, so they need to be looking at the weather report for the route.
Good private breeders I have dealt with do this. I've never ordered eggs from a hatchery, but they should have clearer timelines due to the abundance of stock. It should be easier for them to work around the weather.

I follow a group ("Good Egg / Bad Egg") where lots of breeders and buyers talk about their experiences.
The group consensus is that egg shipping works best when:

- The box is insulated.
- It's double boxed, with a sufficient space all around for loose packing material like shredded paper to cushion the inner box. This partially protects the air cells and embryos from jolts and sudden stops.
- Eggs are placed in either:
-- Egg carton with any interior gaps padded, and surrounded by soft packing material
-- Foam Shipper (pricey)
-- In bubble wrap surrounded by soft packing material

I've had bubble wrap eggs, twice, and didn't have trouble. More of my struggles were with detached air cells from shipping than anything else.

But OP, if one of your eggs was obviously frozen, then all of your eggs were exposed to extreme cold. At that point, it's "eggs arrived unviable" and the seller should have been notified at that point.
After you've incubated them, the seller can claim it was your incubator conditions.
When I receive eggs, I candle them and take pictures of the candling when possible. Because there are usually some detached air cells, I make a note how many to the seller without actually complaining or anything. 9/10 private breeders will say, "try to incubate them and if less than half show any development, I'll send some more for shipping $". That's them just being nice, not because they have to.
A hatchery is less likely to be that helpful.