I would not get eggs from you!
I bet you would pack them correctly, or at least try packing my way if I asked you too!
To be serious for a minute though, if a seller constantly has eggs broken in shipping, they are not packing correctly. You can get smashed boxes every once in a while but it should not be a regular thing with good egg packing.
Oz posted this letter:
An open letter to egg shippers
Dear Sir/Madam
I am excited about our business arrangement and look forward to your eggs arriving here in the best possible
condition. While I am sure you have had plenty of experience shipping eggs, I am glad that you have agreed to try shipping
my way. I would like to share what I feel is the ideal way to receive eggs.
1. Eggs must be fresh. By that I mean that they should be less than 2 days. It takes 3 days for USPS to get the eggs from
you to me and then they need to rest for 24 hours. Any eggs over 2 days old when shipped will be over 6 days old when I
get them into my incubator. Also remember that the older the egg the larger the air cell so the more damage. Please never
ship me an egg laid on a Wednesday.
2. Please label the eggs before you wrap them. You may only have one breed of birds but I may be buying several orders
at once and sometimes I have to look up the shipping label reference in order to find out who they came from and what
breed they are. I am always impressed when the date laid is also on there. A lead pencil or non-toxic marker such as a
sharpie is great.
3. Packing. I prefer the Sally Sunshine method. I’ve attached an in depth article on packing them this way and believe that
it will minimize impact damage. Lots of heavy and odd shaped items will be in the same trucks as these precious lives.
Alternatively, you could ship with foam inserts available from
www.texaspoultry.com. I personally use these to ship eggs
overseas. They are more costly but the best solution I have found for this application.
4. Shipping. Shipping typically takes 2-3 days to get to me, for this reason alone never ship on Thursday. Even if you
ship fresh to 2 day old eggs on a Thursday I won’t get them until Monday or Tuesday at the best and this will guarantee you
will give me old eggs. Old eggs mean I will have a harder time incubating them and this is not acceptable. The best shipping
days are Saturdays, Monday and Tuesday. This gives the post office wiggle room to mess up the shipment and still get here
with time to salvage. A Wednesday shipment is risky but doesn’t leave any wiggle room for the post office to mess up.
Fridays are OK but occasionally the USPS can get eggs here in 2 days and Friday shipments remove that possibility.
5. Ask me if it is my preference to pick them up at the post office (reducing handling) or not. Some people who work
cannot get to the post office, while others would prefer less handled eggs.
Thank you for taking the time to read and review my preferred method of receiving shipped eggs. I thoroughly
understand the risks I am taking with shipped eggs and accept them. However I believe that following the Sally Sunshine
method will greatly reduce some of these risks.
I use a variation of this but double box and pad the space between boxes:
I set 42 eggs and only six hatched. I’ve finally gotten decent fertility but it seems I still have a bunch drowning in the egg.
Now I have to figure out if 30-35% is still too high or if I increased too much at lockdown.
and would raise some to lay. Let her take my stinkers, or the older ones. I ways had good layers. Now, will only get three girls. Will see if I can let them go this fall. I do get attached with some. Where there will only be three................?
