Shipped Eggs with No Hatches

[spudchild]

I wonder if there are any idea about what might have happened to my last batch of eggs. I use a Hovabator Incubator with an egg turner and a Little Giant for pipping. Both have been working wonderfully, and my hatch rate has been about 80-90%. I ordered 24 Buff Cochin eggs from a seller on Eggbid. They were advertised as being from award winning exhibition lines. I was given the NPIP ID, and the seller indicated that eggs were shipped day of hatch, not stored.

When I got the eggs they were packed in bubble wrap with no foam. Normally my shipped eggs have bubble wrap and foam. Next issue I noticed was that BC was written on each egg in marker. I always label my eggs in pencil and have always heard that marker can be damaging to eggs as it bleeds through. The hatch date for these 24 eggs was supposed to be July 6th, and the incubation went perfectly. No temperature problems from power outages-no egg turner malfunctions, great humidity, etc....As of yesterday we had no hatches and decided to crack open a couple eggs to see if there was any development. The first three were just rotten egg...no chick development at all, so we decided just to check all of them and move on. Out of 24 eggs, 3 had partly developed chicks, and the rest had no development at all. Was this just a bad seller? Was it the marker labelling they put on them? Is there any special treatment I should know of for eggs received in the mail? Are Cochins difficult to hatch?

Our bantams at home are Old English, and as I mentioned our hatch rate has been 80-90%.

 

[mamading]

Sometimes the postal carriers have no mercy on the package no matter what it says on it. The toss, drop and otherwise handle it pretty rough. So I would'nt necessarily blame the seller. They have no control over what happens once the package leaves their hands. I received a batch of eggs from CA to where I live in WI and out of 11 I have two that are doing pretty good so far on day 20 and they were marked with marker and did not include foam with the bubble wrap. So I think that they sometimes just simply don't survive the ride. Sorry to hear about your luck. Try again, maybe you'll have better luck. Don't give up.

 

[jackiedon]

I ordered eggs from nappotail (JJ) and I ordered some from eggbid. The person from eggbid suppose to have been show quality well I candled tonight and about 3 out of the 12 from the person from eggbid were yolkers and only 1 out of 11 from JJ. 1 from my white leghorn and 1 from my neighbors RIR. I culled 2 of the RIR but when I broke it open it was fine it's just hard to see with the RIR.

The person from Eggbid told me they were 10 grey bearded silkie and she would throw in 2 other silkie eggs. When I got them only 3 of them were gray there was one buff and the rest were blue/splash eggs. She had all the eggs marked.
Since then I had subscribed to silkie email group. She had just had her 1st gray silkie hatch and she posted a picture. It was brown, tan and yellow and everyone was questioning her because everyone said it looked like a partiage. So I don't think this lady really knew much about them. I don't mind being up front with me but to tell me she had won awards with the parents.

I have to tell you JJ is great!!! You can trust her and she is upfront with you.

You live and learn.

jackie

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

sometimes the post office xrays your pacake and that just about kills all the embyoesun

 

[Sharona]

I wonder about the marker - I also read that you should only use pencil because other types can bleed through and contaminate the embryos.

 

[spudchild]

Quote:
Jackie...what site is JJ on. Is it through your message board? We have show quality BB Old English Game Bantams. Will be selling them soon on Eggbid....I am trying to start with Cochins and am interested in anyone that knows of a great show quality seller of hatching eggs. Right now I have 6 partridge cochin bantam eggs in the incubator, and 6 old english from my hens. I have another 8 that I am putting in today. Sadly my last hatch of Old English had 7 cockerels and only 1 pullet! They are all so cute right now (5 weeks), but I always hope for more balance.

 

[tiffanyh]

I have had the same experience with shipped eggs. I have also had ones hatch with marker writing on it. I know it is discourging. Try again!

 

[aran]

i agree with you JJ has been awesome to deal with. The packaging was superb and the eggs looked great...i have had a pretty poor success rate all told i have 2 chicks out of the first 11 eggs but JJ sent me 8 more and there are 4 developing out of them so i still have hope for a couple more lil silkies! The two that have hatched are so cute its ridiculous! I think really you have to accept that the post office and posting in general is not good for embryonic chicks and the hatch rate is going to suck compared with local eggs. Maybe im wrong in this...i have 6 good polish eggs out of the 9 that Rob sent me. He actually sent me 12 but the post office managed to throw them around to the point that 3 were broken in transit!!! He also has been great to deal with...no BS just honesty, same with JJ...you cant ask for more than that, we are all just hobbyists after all. I get the sense that both Rob and JJ understand how much emotion and time we all invest in our birds and that we are not looking for perfection, just to try our hand at hatching some nice chicks. Both have been outstanding to deal with and I am more than happy!

 

[jackiedon]

I met JJ here through BYC. She is so nice.

jackie