The Great Egg Shipping Experiment!

[Jessshan8]

The ducks at TSC nearly talked me into taking them home, they're so cute. I have to build some breeder pens, and some quarantine cages, and THEN maybe I can get some ducks - NOT before ( <--- for my benefit!) I may take you up on that in the fall or maybe next spring. I have a really great creek running through my property and it really needs some ducks in it.

deal

 

[ozexpat]

The ducks at TSC nearly talked me into taking them home, they're so cute. I have to build some breeder pens, and some quarantine cages, and THEN maybe I can get some ducks - NOT before ( <--- for my benefit!) I may take you up on that in the fall or maybe next spring. I have a really great creek running through my property and it really needs some ducks in it.

the first three sentences of this rationalization should be deleted. A true bird-a-holic only needs the final sentence to justify taking ducks home.

 

[ronott1]

The Wisher chicks are hanging out With a Broody.

The ones without the blue bands are from Wisher:

 

[Bama1]

The Wisher chicks are hanging out With a Broody.

The ones without the blue bands are from Wisher:

They are soooooo adorable! I have ~9 more days. I can't wait to candle again on Monday! or Sunday, or TODAY! It has been torture, absolute torture, but I have been sitting on my hands like Wisher said, and leaving them alone!!!!!

 

[buckabucka]

[COLOR=800080]My shipping box was crushed on the corner so I know they did not have a good ride from N.C to Maine[/COLOR]

how was the packaging inside?

I would also be interested in how they were packaged.

Mine were not double boxed like Wisher's, but I liked that the shipper had all the eggs upright in cartons. I think this really helps keep the air-cell intact. Especially since everything is becoming so automated, I think packages are left upright for easy scanning of the labels.

An egg was cracked so shipping might have been rough, but of 29 intact eggs, 9 are alive, 10 at least started developing ( still not sure about those) and 10 look clear, which might have nothing to do with shipping if I find them to be infertile.

 

[henney penny]

I would also be interested in how they were packaged.

Mine were not double boxed like Wisher's, but I liked that the shipper had all the eggs upright in cartons. I think this really helps keep the air-cell intact. Especially since everything is becoming so automated, I think packages are left upright for easy scanning of the labels.

An egg was cracked so shipping might have been rough, but of 29 intact eggs, 9 are alive, 10 at least started developing ( still not sure about those) and 10 look clear, which might have nothing to do with shipping if I find them to be infertile.

One box,the eggs were in bubble wrap but not in a egg carton,they were on their sides and news paper stuffed in around them.I think they would have faired better if they had been in a egg carton and more news paper to make it tighter.

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote: There you go, Ozy! You are right, it's much more conducive to acquiring ducks now, what was I thinking.........

 

[Wisher1000]

Quote: My concern is that there is no "give" to individual eggs in an egg carton. In the batch I sent to Jess, there was a lone broken egg in the center of the cluster. What this says to me is that there was downward pressure on the center of the box causing that egg to be crushed from above. If it had been in an egg carton, would the top of the carton have distributed the force across a larger area, crushing more eggs?

I don't know, it's all speculation. If I had more eggs, and more money, I would send several boxes of eggs to the same destination, each packed differently to see which worked best.

So far in this experiment, I have determined that 1) This method, a modified Skyline (or Wisher Method

) works quite well and there is little room for improvement without substantial increase in shipping cost. 2) There appear to be more issues with the parent flock than with the perils of shipping. I have heard many, many people who have had terrible luck with shipped eggs and believe that it is a combination of rough shipping, poor packing, bad eggs (infertile, vitamin or calcium deficient, old stock, low ratios, etc.)

I have been contemplating a cardboard infrastructure that would support the center of the box better. Maybe an 'x' of sturdy cardboard with the eggs packed properly in the spaces.

Do you think that I could get a research grant for that?

 

[bamachicks8]

Way better way to spend tax money than some things it's going to. Also I'm sure there is some crazy experiment out there receiving grant money who's research benefits no one this will at least benefit the whole egg shipping community. Now who to contact?

 

[eggorthechicken]

The eggs are turned during incubation to keep the chick from sticking to the shell causing deformities. The first week of incubation does not effect this, so not turning them does not hurt them. Likewise they do not need to turn during the last week either. They are very fragile during the first week and being scrambled by shipping makes them even more so. Setting 30 eggs and hatching 5 is not the way to figure out hatch rate. The number that developed and were alive at day 18 compared to the number that hatched is how you calculate hatch rate.

How many of the shipped eggs made it to lockdown? If 7 made it to lockdown and 5 hatched then that was a great hatch rate. Not turning the eggs for the first part of setting them helps them hatch but does not help if the eggs that have been invaded by bacteria and get a blood ring because there was a little crack in the shell. The eggs will also not develop if they were not fertile.

People ship eggs so terribly that I am often happy to have any of them hatch. Some eggs are beyond saving and that is one reason why I am so happy that Wisher is experimenting with this packing method. Too often USPS is blamed when the eggs were packed poorly.

Oh I get what you are saying. I had several fully formed chicks and then I had some that just didnt even develop. I consider my last hatch rate fair but I wasnt having high hopes. With my own eggs I have 100% hatch rate so far. Its the shipped eggs im tweaking to see what works best. Im also really loving candling duck eggs....wow...lots going on in there!!