The 5th Annual BYC Easter Hatch-a-long!

[Cynthia12]

I got it out without breaking it!

 

[chickenlisa]

Most of my Easter hatch eggs are here!! Still waiting on Dorking and Ameracuana eggs. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow!

Same here- I got my Speckled Sussex eggs and my Birchen Maran eggs today- waiting on my Rare Assortment from Texas (to NJ) and hopefully they arrive in great shape tomorrow. Will set them all on Friday then...getting so excited for a bunch of eggs in my incubator!

 

[TJChickens]

Americana eggs. They came from GA to Maine

You just never know how they are going to be handled through the USPS. I ship tons of eggs and for the most part, they do well. I recently had a 100% hatch rate shipping eggs from west coast to east coast. There have been several occasions where I shipped eggs just a few hours away and they arrived in smashed boxes and scrambled....It is a gamble, but often a very worthwhile one, especially to get eggs that you can't find locally. I hatch a lot of shipped eggs as well. So far, the only ones that have been total losses for me, and with messed up air cells have been duck eggs. Chicken, Guinea and quail seem to fair the best for me. Peafowl don't seem to like to travel much... I'm thinking turkey and goose might be difficult as well.

If you pay extra for USPS Exress shipping, they are guaranteed to arrive within two days and are personally handed off. It's a much better way, but I find that buyers will seldom want to spend that much extra. ($20-$40 ish) If you ever order special eggs that you don't want to risk, request the express shipping... things can still happen to make them less viable of course but it's just another way to improve their chances.

It also makes a difference to have them held at a post office rather than delivered to your house. You can request that it be written on the box with your phone number so the po can call you as soon as they get there. Otherwise, they bump around sometimes for hours in a delivery truck in hot or cold weather and then left outside on a porch....

You can't totally count on the postal workers to notice everything that's written on boxes, so once in awhile they may get sent out for delivery regardless...

And about letting them settle...Very important, but if there is any chance that they got warm during shipping, especially during warm months, I recommend putting them right into the incubator and not using the turner for the first day to let them settle. Just in case they started development.

Just my experience....

Oh, and somewhere on here I read that silkies don't fair well, but I have yet to have a problem with them.

So, please, don't worry too much! You'll know very soon if they are okay and chances are good that you will at least get some chicks!

 

[coopsbyty]

About to flood the thread with a few of the fuzzy butts that have already hatched here. First some of my backyard crosses from the rainbow project. Given their tufted cheeks and shape of combs, it appears my Ameraucana/Araucana roo is likely the dominant roo in my mixed breed flock. We'll see for sure when we see if any of them frizzle. [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] And a couple of the d'Uccle mille fleurs. They are so tiny, much smaller than the crosses.

To cute!!

 

[coopsbyty]

I got it out without breaking it!

Yeah!!! They are terrible when they break!

 

[quailtrail]

You just never know how they are going to be handled through the USPS. I ship tons of eggs and for the most part, they do well. I recently had a 100% hatch rate shipping eggs from west coast to east coast. There have been several occasions where I shipped eggs just a few hours away and they arrived in smashed boxes and scrambled....It is a gamble, but often a very worthwhile one, especially to get eggs that you can't find locally. I hatch a lot of shipped eggs as well. So far, the only ones that have been total losses for me, and with messed up air cells have been duck eggs. Chicken, Guinea and quail seem to fair the best for me. Peafowl don't seem to like to travel much... I'm thinking turkey and goose might be difficult as well.

If you pay extra for USPS Exress shipping, they are guaranteed to arrive within two days and are personally handed off. It's a much better way, but I find that buyers will seldom want to spend that much extra. ($20-$40 ish) If you ever order special eggs that you don't want to risk, request the express shipping... things can still happen to make them less viable of course but it's just another way to improve their chances.

It also makes a difference to have them held at a post office rather than delivered to your house. You can request that it be written on the box with your phone number so the po can call you as soon as they get there. Otherwise, they bump around sometimes for hours in a delivery truck in hot or cold weather and then left outside on a porch....

You can't totally count on the postal workers to notice everything that's written on boxes, so once in awhile they may get sent out for delivery regardless...

And about letting them settle...Very important, but if there is any chance that they got warm during shipping, especially during warm months, I recommend putting them right into the incubator and not using the turner for the first day to let them settle. Just in case they started development.

Just my experience....

Oh, and somewhere on here I read that silkies don't fair well, but I have yet to have a problem with them.

So, please, don't worry too much! You'll know very soon if they are okay and chances are good that you will at least get some chicks!

thanks! Shipped Mon and delivered this am.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Same here- I got my Speckled Sussex eggs and my Birchen Maran eggs today- waiting on my Rare Assortment from Texas (to NJ) and hopefully they arrive in great shape tomorrow. Will set them all on Friday then...getting so excited for a bunch of eggs in my incubator!

Hope they arrive safely!

Most of my Easter hatch eggs are here!! Still waiting on Dorking and Ameracuana eggs. Hopefully they'll be here tomorrow!

I got it out without breaking it!

Phew!

 

[Gardeningmama]

Checked on my Call Duck cells today. Out of 14, 4 were good from the beginning, 7 appear to have reattached, and 3 I don't think will do anything, they are sloshy and watery. The one has actual air bubbles floating around. My 2 there is streaking, and many of the others had a small faint light red circle on the side

. I don't know anything about duck eggs but if it's red, I'll take it! So YAY!

 

[tommysgirl]

With the 2 day leeway does that mean that I can collect two more eggs and set monday morning?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Checked on my Call Duck cells today. Out of 14, 4 were good from the beginning, 7 appear to have reattached, and 3 I don't think will do anything, they are sloshy and watery. The one has actual air bubbles floating around. My 2 there is streaking, and many of the others had a small faint light red circle on the side

. I don't know anything about duck eggs but if it's red, I'll take it! So YAY!

With the 2 day leeway does that mean that I can collect two more eggs and set monday morning?

Yep. Or you could set them and add to it until Monday.