Shipping hatching eggs in the winter - - - Whatch think? ?

After the eggs are warpped for shipping I would guess they would stay pretty warm. I think fall and spring are better than summer and winter. Winter doesn't start until 12-22.

 

It depends where are are coming from, here you never ship eggs in the winter, its just too cold

 

Buy close to home. In the spring I would purchase from Maine with no problem (I am in CA), but this time of year I would only buy west of the Mississippi.

 

I have some coming in the post today from Virginia to Georgia...they should be here wed or thurs...I hope they will be fine...spoke to my post-lady and I am leaving a blanket out for her to wrap them in if I am not home when she delivers them...

 

I have only done this for a year, however, I started last fall and had eggs shipped to me all winter. Where I live the days avg 20 to 30 degrees and the nights 10 degrees. Make sure the post office holds them for pick up. I have had no problems YET. I dont feel the hatch rate has been effected by the cold. I still get 33% to 50% from Georgia or Iowa eggs. 3 to 4 days shipping.

 

It really just depends on the weather along the route and if the eggs freeze or not. You definitely want to pick them up at the post office unless your mail person comes early in the morning. The less sitting around in cold places the better. If you do Tennessee to Florida, you'll likely be fine. Not much of a chance for a big blizzard to trap the mail for a day or more.

You would want to avoid a bidding war online in the winter with eggs that would travel long distances, keep the cost down and cross your fingers. I bought eggs semi-locally when the weather was gorgeous, but when shipping time came, it dropped dramatically, the post office took 4 days on a 6 hour trip south so they sat around who knows where, but I have development showing through candling so I can't complain.

It's all a risk.. buying from someone you've never heard of, from chickens you've never seen, seasonal hazards of shipping, shipping itself and trusting the treatment of the box to who only knows. Then when you finally get them... you have to hope there isn't a serious storm that knocks your power down for days, or temperature fluctuation in the incubator, or anything else that can happen during incubation. This is why sellers don't guarantee a hatch, there's too many things that can happen. Their job is to get fertile eggs to you, nothing more. If they don't develop at all, that doesn't exactly mean they weren't fertile. There are a lot of reasons why a fertile egg doesn't start developing.

 

I have had better luck in general with shipped eggs in the winter and early spring than the warmer months here in Fl. I have refrigerated my own hens' eggs, even those of newly laying pullets and had excellent hatch results afterwards.