Shipping Fertile Eggs Question

[Chick CJ]

I am considering having some fertile eggs shipped to me. The trip will not be a long one, a 5-6 hour drive, but no telling how the box gets treated by the post office. I believe the person selling the eggs does a great job of packing them. (each egg wrapped in bubble wrapped and placed in it's own little box and then those boxes packed into a larger box with more padding/packing peanuts) I am wondering if any of you could tell me of your success/failure rate with "shipped" eggs? I am more concerned with the inside of the egg being damaged than the outside since I will be able to see any problems on the outside right away but will set the eggs only to find they don't hatch if there is a problem on the inside. Also, since this is my first time hatching eggs that I have bought from someone else, are there certain questions I should be asking/things I should know?
Thanks so much for any help you can give!
Cathryn

 

[Coopnana]

We've ordered some shipped eggs from fairly close by and some from very far away...they all were packed well and had no breakage. Hatch rate initially disappointing, but mostly with incubator and learning the process. We are now attempting the 2nd hatch with the eggs traveling the furthest distance...several were not fertile, and we have 2-3 where the air cell is not developing properly, but on a positive side we have almost a dozen slilky eggs under two different broody hens (wasn;t that lucky) and then the 2-3 questionable ones in the incubator.

oh and I did leave a note with my postal carrier on where to deliver the eggs when coming ...she also raises chickens...so was very careful and curious on how things went.

 

[Chick CJ]

We've ordered some shipped eggs from fairly close by and some from very far away...they all were packed well and had no breakage. Hatch rate initially disappointing, but mostly with incubator and learning the process. We are now attempting the 2nd hatch with the eggs traveling the furthest distance...several were not fertile, and we have 2-3 where the air cell is not developing properly, but on a positive side we have almost a dozen slilky eggs under two different broody hens (wasn;t that lucky) and then the 2-3 questionable ones in the incubator.

oh and I did leave a note with my postal carrier on where to deliver the eggs when coming ...she also raises chickens...so was very careful and curious on how things went.

Thanks! I hope it goes well for you this time, please let me know! We are going to do a hatch with a few non specific breeds first to try to get the incubator/process learned. Not sure if that will help or not.

I heard back from the breeder and she said she thinks the hatch rate is approx. 50% with shipped eggs. I think I would like a better chance than that so I will most likely not ship if that is the case.

I am already getting excited!
Cathryn

 

[Ridgerunner]

My experience with shipped turkey eggs is that on one shipment I had 100% hatch rate, 5 out of 5. On another shipment I had 1 out of 4 hatch, and I had to help that one. Both shipments were from the same person and packaged the same.

You can get some really lousy hatch rates from shipped eggs, you can get some really good hatch rates. Once they leave the shipper, the person shipping them has no control over how they are handled. My brother is a rural route carrier with the Post Office. I have full confidence he would handle them properly. Several others at the Post Office would too. But my brother freely says some people will not. Like everything else they are real people. Some are good people, some are not worth booger snot. It’s just the luck of the draw who you get.

 

[SilverDuck284]

The problem is, even if its only a 6 hour drive, the PO isn't going to make a straight run. They get sent from PO, to sorting, to another PO, and then delivery. Throughout which, dozens of people and machines are handling and possessing those eggs. I'm all for it, because I can't find many different breeds near me. But I won't expect more than a 50% hatch rate.My best was 75%. worst was none at all (also my first tho, so who knows what I might have messed up). Its just luck of the draw.

 

[Chick CJ]

After thinking it over (and hearing the 50/50 chance), I have decided not to have eggs shipped. I will drive all over the state of California!

Just kidding, but close to it!
Cathryn

 

[Ridgerunner]

I messed up a bunch of eggs I collected locally. It was on a dirt road with a lot of pot-holes and I did not have them protected enough against shaking. I got 10 chicks out of 30 eggs that time. The reason I picked them up was I didn’t want them shipped. Didn’t work. So if you do go get them, keep them out of direct sunlight, cushion them real well, and slow down on rough roads.

Something can always get you.

 

[Chick CJ]

For sure really good advice, thanks!