Should I ship hatching eggs or pre-hatched chicks?

[think_fast_chicklenuts]

When my chickens are old enough, I will put up a sign in front of my house and sell eggs for food. But, I'm considering breeding some of my chickens and setting up an online store to sell to people. The problem is that I don't know whether to ship eggs or chicks. Even with proper packing, the hatch rate of shipped eggs are pretty low because of the conditions the eggs are in. But, shipping live chicks puts alot of stress on the birds, and even then some, but less, may not make it. Should I ship eggs, chicks, only sell locally, or just ditch the idea altogether?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

When my chickens are old enough, I will put up a sign in front of my house and sell eggs for food. But, I'm considering breeding some of my chickens and setting up an online store to sell to people. The problem is that I don't know whether to ship eggs or chicks. Even with proper packing, the hatch rate of shipped eggs are pretty low because of the conditions the eggs are in. But, shipping live chicks puts alot of stress on the birds, and even then some, but less, may not make it. Should I ship eggs, chicks, only sell locally, or just ditch the idea altogether?

You'll have to get paperwork to sell eggs or live birds over state lines

 

[Horsehead520]

I ship hatching eggs at the moment. People say that selling chicks isn't that complicated, but I've been too nervous to try that, yet. (Plus I don't quite have the flock to support shipping live chicks yet... so maybe in the future). Shipping eggs isn't the easiest thing, but I've shipped quite a few, and a lot of it depends on the instructions you give to the buyers, and how you package the eggs. Before you ship/have orders coming in, I'd highly recommend researching different shipping materials so that you have materials on hand. You should also have a plan for what you'll do if an order gets lost or damaged in transit (ie, shipping insurance/do you have enough eggs to replace orders if necessary). If you give people a little support on how to best ensure success, and make sure that you're on the same page as them, I've not had too many problems. I had a couple people with small orders who only got one chick, and that was a struggle, but they also only ordered four eggs and understood that they didn't have a super reliable incubator. Most people have been pretty reasonable, as long as you don't change your story after they've experienced problems.

You should also look into NPIP requirements for your state/anywhere you're shipping. I will say that my personal post office hasn't ever asked, so I'm not sure how strictly it's enforced, but you should be prepared for that potential issue to arise, as well.

I'm far from an expert, I'm only a few years into this chicken ordeal, and it's mostly a hobby that will pay for itself, at this point