Thank you diggypaws!!

[RiverOtter]

The postman brought me 140

quail eggs in a very well packed box today!!
There was a little rough handling by the PO but only few were broken, the rest made it in great shape (Before any package gets to me, it is sent to a hub where they only employ trolls and gremlins who all enjoy football) The eggs are now resting big-end-up and will go in my incubator tonight. I've had it on and getting the temp settled for 2 days and she's holding steady.

Thank you SO much!

You'll get my thank you card in a couple of days!

 

[Fat Daddy]

Sounds like we have similar postal facilities. When mine says "eggs" they send it from the facility 30 miles north of me, to the handling facility 25 miles south of me. It takes a extra day but the egs are sure to get the most cold and shaken well... But hey what can ya do. I got 20+ 3 week old coturnix in my spare bed room and 50 Georgia Giant eggs on the way. Got the bator idle'in too. Man I hope spring comes early!!! Bill

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

I thought you two were going to wait for Spring to hatch. Got the fever hugh.

YaI going to look for the CO-OP thread.

 

[Fat Daddy]

Quote:
Well.....I keep tell'in myself "it'll be 3 weeks before they hatch", "spring will almost be here by then"....ya right, In Kansas its snowed on a lot of easter eggs too. Bill (who is really ready for spring)

 

[RiverOtter]

Quote:
There's been a good break in the weather and this lets me get some more experience before doing the co-op. I've never hatched quail before, I got my few pet ones at 5 weeks old. My DD is really excited about this and has already asked if she can have a trio out of this hatch for her very own. She'll be the only one in 4H with quail

These are from diggypaws Quest for Big Quail so I'll be posting weights and all that fun stuff. Current count is 140 shipped, 9 broken, 6 with cracks in the shell but membrane intact, so those are incubating in a carton, separate from the others. I don't expect anything from them, but I home school and we have a science home school group so those will be the eggs we pull out for lots of candling and if (when) they fail they'll be opened for a study on development. One of those sad/icky/cool science things.

Quote:
Everything here has to go 4 hours south of me to Little Rock and then back up. Devil knows why. I'm about 6 hours from Cackle but my chicks still take 2 days to get to me. This package came very well. It looked like it had just been dropped once. THE eggs were very well packed with lots of padding. It was unmarked (at my request) because it seems that anything marked "Fragile" gets special treatment and the last box I got marked "Careful, Hatching Eggs" was actually hit by a truck.
Something with wheels anyway - it had tire tread marks on it.

 

[Wifezilla]

There was a study once where they put sensors inside packages and shipped them across country to see who service was the worst and what was the best. The scores between the PO, UPS and FEDEX were pretty close, but the ones marked fragile are the ones that got treated the worst.

 

[diggypaws]

You're welcome

Last summer, we had some eggs with cracks in them, and put Elmer's wood glue on them, using a q'tip or such, and even some of the bobwhites hatched (they take longer to hatch, so there's more time for things to go wrong) - the biggest problem seemed to be if the glue was thick where they were trying to zip.

Here's hoping for lots of little fluffy butts

I think it was JJMR that said he gets a better hatch rate by picking them up at the PO, because sometimes the roughest part of the ride is the last leg out in the mail truck.

 

[JJMR794]

Actually I Pick Mine Up At The Po So They Dont Get Chucked Over The Gate And Left To Bake In The Florida Sun All Day Until I Get Home

My Po Actually Has Me Spoiled... My Carrier Is Great And Takes A Good Deal Of Effort To Watch Out For Me, Calls Me At The 1st Sign Of Egg/ Birds. Had A Few Bad Ones Over The Years--- Really Makes You Appreciate The Good Ones When They Come Along. Had Some Dingbat (not Even My Carrier) Pick Up A Package Of Live Birds Today From The Po And Drive All Over Another Route Before Calling Me This Afternoon To Say She Had Them.... Why I Have No Idea? Live Birds In Horizon Boxes Are To Be Held At The Po--- Especially When Marked "hold For Pick Up" With My Phone Number On It. Now I Am Not Overly Enthusiastic About Having 6 Wood Ducks Get The Grand Tour Of My County After Being Shipped 2000 Miles To Begin With... Like I Said Makes You Appreciate The Good Ones When You Get Them

I Have Gotten Many A Package That Was Tore Slap Up! And Have On More Than 1 Occaision Tore Up A Post Master Or 2

 

[Rozzie]

JJ, you "really" don't need those wood ducks. I suspect I could find room for them somewhere here...

 

[RiverOtter]

I'm pretty lucky that the local branch is great. Our mailman is a gem, (lol, with a far nicer, smoother ride then my old beater) careful with the packages and comes right up the drive and beeps to deliver them. It's just some place I'm guessing between here and Little Rock. I know our PO has complained about it because they get all the grief.

I'll try the Elmers glue, that's brilliant. I can't wait to post pictures of little fluffy quail! When they go into "lockdown" I'm going to separate them with little desk trays so I can give info on each pen.
LOL, we don't incubate often and I feel as excited as a little kid!