The Great Egg Shipping Experiment!

[kodster]

I wanted to show the packing job of the 2nd shipment of eggs I received today, off eBay, from a breeder in Arlington, WA. The difference is night and day, between this breeder and Marans2XL. These are Blue Orpington eggs.



Shredded newspaper surrounds the egg carton that contained 10 eggs, and stuffed inbetween the eggs and the lid of the carton, which was then wrapped in packing tape. There were extras in the box, too, that were wrapped in the shreds and then taped with packing tape, 2 separately, 2 together, for a total of 4 extras.


This is the egg carton.


One of the individual extra eggs.


Now here's the damage of the eggs that were to be part of the 10 I won in the eBay auction... if it wasn't for the extras she sent, which came through intact (albeit covered in poo!), I would have been shorted!


Needless to say, I wasn't too enthused about her packing job, or the fact that most of the eggs were coated in poo and I had to clean them off before I set them, in order to avoid contaminating my eggs that were already in the incubator. I'm staggering hatches, moving the ones ready to go into lockdown, into a separate hatcher.

 

[ronott1]

As promised, here are the pics of the packing for the Black Copper Marans I received today from Marans2XL.com! Took pictures of the box (stupid me, opened it first, but then just closed the flaps for the pic):


This is the top of the box, with the flaps opened, so you can see the top packing material. It's sheets of newspaper folded in on itself:



Underneath that layer of newspaper, are the eggs, individually bubble-wrapped, fat end up, with the breed marked on each egg on the fat end. The outer edges are cushioned with the same newspaper, folded as the top layer was, and there's a layer of the same folded newspaper under the eggs:


This is one of the eggs, close up:


You'll note in the pic of the eggs in the box, bubble-wrapped, there's 15 eggs. In this pic, there's only 14, because 1 of the eggs was broken and leaking in the middle of the top row of the box in the pic. In the 2 shipments of eggs I received from Marans2XL, this egg is the only one that was broken.


Out of the first dozen I received from Marans2XL, today is Day 10, and I've candled and weighed them. I culled 3 because 1 quit at Day 3, 1 was scrambled, and the 3rd one, I killed the embryo by accidentally dropping a turkey egg on it, cracking the shell

on Day 3. That leaves me 9 that are developing.

On a side note, I have 7 eggs in lockdown, today is Hatching Day, and 6 have pipped! 1 of those 6 is already zipping, and the 7th is still rockin' and rollin', so there's still hope for it! This is out of 57 eggs that I set 21 days ago.

Those are very nice eggs!

Packing makes a big difference with shipped eggs. Marans are hard to hatch sometimes too.

Thank you for sharing the packing job. The broken one seems to be in a place where egg seem to break. Packing the eggs with peanuts between them and double boxing seems to help with lowering the pressure on the eggs in that spot.

 

[ronott1]

I wanted to show the packing job of the 2nd shipment of eggs I received today, off eBay, from a breeder in Arlington, WA. The difference is night and day, between this breeder and Marans2XL. These are Blue Orpington eggs.



Shredded newspaper surrounds the egg carton that contained 10 eggs, and stuffed inbetween the eggs and the lid of the carton, which was then wrapped in packing tape. There were extras in the box, too, that were wrapped in the shreds and then taped with packing tape, 2 separately, 2 together, for a total of 4 extras.


This is the egg carton.


One of the individual extra eggs.


Now here's the damage of the eggs that were to be part of the 10 I won in the eBay auction... if it wasn't for the extras she sent, which came through intact (albeit covered in poo!), I would have been shorted!


Needless to say, I wasn't too enthused about her packing job, or the fact that most of the eggs were coated in poo and I had to clean them off before I set them, in order to avoid contaminating my eggs that were already in the incubator. I'm staggering hatches, moving the ones ready to go into lockdown, into a separate hatcher.

I posted a picture of a similar packing job from earlier this year. They came from Arkansas to CA--set in an egg carton and packed in tissue paper.

Packing like that makes me sad for the poor chicks that will not hatch because of poor packing. Sadly, the Post Office is usually blamed instead of bad packing. Personal responsibility is lost sometimes.

 

[ozexpat]

having received in excess of 50 shipments, I concur with Ron.

I rarely have had a box physically damaged but poor packaging has seen many an egg destroyed enroute.

i tend to get hatches of 50-70% or nothing if i am incubating eggs shipped to me and hatched in cali.

this number then drops by half when I transport them overseas. air transportation and increased time to hatch plays a big part in hatchability.

next trip I will have 72 australorps from 3 vendors and 60 marans from 3 vendors. Each breed will have 1 vendor each from local, norcal and out of state. its will be interesting to hatch them side by side

the shipped eggs will only arrive 5 hrs before my flight so i wont have time to photograph but i will post results here

 

[Wisher1000]

7/57? Yikes!

Is it just me or am I noticing a trend of single eggs in the middle of the package being the ones that get broken more often? Interesting, I would guess this is due to something pushing in the center of the top or largest side where there is less structure to the box and therefore, less support?

Just a thought.......... What about a large tin can in the center of the box? Eggs inside and out.

 

[ozexpat]

7/57? Yikes!

Is it just me or am I noticing a trend of single eggs in the middle of the package being the ones that get broken more often? Interesting, I would guess this is due to something pushing in the center of the top or largest side where there is less structure to the box and therefore, less support?

Just a thought.......... What about a large tin can in the center of the box? Eggs inside and out.

What I often see is 12 eggs packed well then 2 or 3 extras on top. There is not enough padding between them and the eggs below and the lower eggs break.

If packed in foam, some of the outside eggs will get squeezed - especially if they squeeze the eggs into the foam - the key to foam is sizing correctly.

I have lost very few eggs to breakage that are packed in egg cartons with shredder paper in and around the eggs but they get low hatch rates as the packaging does not absorb shocks and the air cells are messed up. If I get them in egg cartons and packed on their sides I can guarantee detached air cells.

The same goes for saw dust and pine shavings - not enough shock absorption.

 

[chickadoodles]

This is how my Blue Andalusian eggs came Wed. I was only expecting 12 but got 16! Yahoo!





14 Eggs were standing in the box large end up then two extras were laid on their side on top with peanuts all around them all. None were broken or damaged! They came from NY to AL.

 

[kodster]

7/57? Yikes!

Is it just me or am I noticing a trend of single eggs in the middle of the package being the ones that get broken more often? Interesting, I would guess this is due to something pushing in the center of the top or largest side where there is less structure to the box and therefore, less support?

Just a thought.......... What about a large tin can in the center of the box? Eggs inside and out.

Yes, 7 out of 57... infertile, bacteria, et al. I had 24 from PapaBrooder, but I don't know what happened to the majority of his... most of them were scrambled, and some were even curdled, like they were exposed to high heat after being scrambled. I had the best luck with Ameraucana eggs out of South Dakota (I'm in northwest North Dakota)... 5 out 11 (last 1 has externally pipped, and is still alive and working on zipping now, for day 22). I did get 1 of PapaBrooder's Lemon Barred Cuckoo Orps to hatch, which I'm tickled pink about... it was 1 of the ones that I really wanted (they go for $55 per day-old chicks!). Of course, for the money I paid for them, it was about the same cost, LOL! Oh well, I have 6 more of the Lemon Barred Cuckoo Orps and 6 more Lavender Orps in the 'bator now that are looking promising, plus 12 more Lavenders on the way to me next week, after I have a chance to move some of these eggs I have in my 'bator over to my hatcher. The 7th chick is a mystery chick out of a heavy breed egg assortment from McMurray Hatchery... trying to deduce what it is... right now, it's got yellow down, but it's not completely dry and fluffed out yet... might be a New Hampshire Red.

My 'bator is full to capacity, between 17 turkey eggs, and 23 BCMs, 6 LBCOs, 6 LOs, and 11 Blue Orps. Nine of the BCMs will be moving over to the hatcher, and I'll be culling some of the turkey eggs as well as some of the LBCOs and LOs. I should have room for the 12 LOs coming next week, as well as 12 standard cochins. Can you tell I'm an addict already?

The 1 egg that broke in my BCM delivery was actually in an outside row, not in the middle of the package. It was the middle egg in that outside row. The box wasn't damaged, but it's possible that it was grabbed by mechanicals at the USPS sort facilities, and too hard.

 

[ozexpat]

Yes, 7 out of 57... infertile, bacteria, et al. I had 24 from PapaBrooder, but I don't know what happened to the majority of his... most of them were scrambled, and some were even curdled, like they were exposed to high heat after being scrambled. I had the best luck with Ameraucana eggs out of South Dakota (I'm in northwest North Dakota)... 5 out 11 (last 1 has externally pipped, and is still alive and working on zipping now, for day 22). I did get 1 of PapaBrooder's Lemon Barred Cuckoo Orps to hatch, which I'm tickled pink about... it was 1 of the ones that I really wanted (they go for $55 per day-old chicks!). Of course, for the money I paid for them, it was about the same cost, LOL! Oh well, I have 6 more of the Lemon Barred Cuckoo Orps and 6 more Lavender Orps in the 'bator now that are looking promising, plus 12 more Lavenders on the way to me next week, after I have a chance to move some of these eggs I have in my 'bator over to my hatcher. The 7th chick is a mystery chick out of a heavy breed egg assortment from McMurray Hatchery... trying to deduce what it is... right now, it's got yellow down, but it's not completely dry and fluffed out yet... might be a New Hampshire Red.

My 'bator is full to capacity, between 17 turkey eggs, and 23 BCMs, 6 LBCOs, 6 LOs, and 11 Blue Orps. Nine of the BCMs will be moving over to the bator, and I'll be culling some of the turkey eggs as well as some of the LBCOs and LOs. I should have room for the 12 LOs coming next week, as well as 12 standard cochins. Can you tell I'm an addict already?

The 1 egg that broke in my BCM delivery was actually in an outside row, not in the middle of the package. It was the middle egg in that outside row. The box wasn't damaged, but it's possible that it was grabbed by mechanicals at the USPS sort facilities, and too hard.

you need a mega bator

 

[kodster]

you need a mega bator

LOL! Oz, you and Sally have inspired me! I'm getting a Coleman 24-can Party Stacker cooler next week that I'm going to convert into a coolerbator. I saw your post on the Diary & Notes ~ Air Cell Detached SHIPPED Eggs thread, for the Bordeaux Bator, and liked some of the features you used in yours. So, now I'm on a mission to find the parts, and make my own. I just don't have the space for your "display" 'bator!