Right! I am investing in Jubilees in the Spring, you have better believe I will be triming them. I was told that many of the fertility issues are due to all of that fluff.
Off topic, does any one know why Orpington eggs have such a low hatch rate for shipped birds? I had a great development with some Ameraucanas I had shipped but I just had some Lav Orps and I had low fertility (7 out of 9 fertile) and very little development from the remaining eggs (only 2 made lockdown and those I wasn't sure on). 0% hatch.
I know it wasn't my incubating because I set some control eggs of my own, and had 90% hatch!
I had just awful luck with hatching eggs shipped by mail. My first and last attempt at this were with Jubilee eggs. First, some were poopy. I would not select poopy eggs to send someone as hatching eggs. Only two of 8 eggs were developed visibly. I dropped one while candling and killed it. The other one made it to lockdown but never pipped and was dead in the shell, fully developed. I wasted so much money on them, and even paid $50 for overnight instead of two-day Priority shipping. It made no difference in the outcome. So, my hatch rate for these birds was zero.
When I want hatching eggs, I drive to get them. I once drove 250 miles each way, but 6 of the 7 eggs were fertile, and all 6 hatched. Another time I drove 150 miles each way, was allowed to hand-select the hatching eggs myself, and had a 7/7 100% hatch. Unfortunately, I also selected 5 cockerels and 2 pullets, but I try to look on the bright side and consider the amount of choice I had on which cockerel to keep myself!
I've talked to a schoolteacher who has frequently hatched eggs obtained through the mail, and it is a crapshoot. It depends on the PO handling to a very large degree, how far the eggs are traveling, as well as temperature variables. She once bought 30 hatching eggs and had a 0% hatch because it was below freezing the day they were delivered, and she was at work. She said she typically had a 10-20% hatch rate, which is pitiful, but since they are for classroom instruction, she is satisfied. I bought a black English Orpington pullet from her out of one of these hatches, and hope that speaks to the chick's vitality (it has so far--she's big, beautiful, and very sweet!). I don't think any of us here would be satisfied by that rate, though. I keep hearing that the hatch rate for shipped eggs is about 50%, but I don't believe it myself.
