The NEW Crazy 24hr AUCTION thread

[abserbean]

I wanted to bid, but am running out of space in our suburban yard! Trying to convince the hubs we need to move to more land, then I can have all the chickens I want!

 

[Chickenman01]

I would like to have bid but was afraid the eggs would freeze in shipment.

 

[PlatteRiverPs]

I would like to have bid but was afraid the eggs would freeze in shipment.

Same here, I would love to get an early start but its COLD!

Does anyone have any experience with heat packs and 4 degree temps?

 

[chick-among-us]

Aren't the eggs inside in the mail hubs and at most travel points, inside? Even in trucks unheated trailers they would be insulated to a Degree by other boxes. I would think planes would be the same. Until they are put out at someone's place where they could be possibly frozen...I mark my package to customers...DO not FREEZE! So the carriers will not put them out....( hopefully) allowing someone to go pick them up at their po. So I've never had eggs freeze.( knock on wood)..and none of my customers want those heat packs...I think if we could put the heat pack under some styrofoam in the bottom of the box away from the eggs,then they would work ( heat rises) keeping them warm but not started...my customers still don't want them though...I just sent some to WV it's cold...no problems at all thus far.

 

[jan12]

I would like to have bid but was afraid the eggs would freeze in shipment.

I was afraid of that too when I had eggs shipped during the polar vortex a couple of weeks ago (lows were around 0F and highs in the teens), but the shipment was fine. I guess mail hubs are heated? The eggs felt barely warm to the touch. No frozen eggs! And the lil' beans are growing!
Of course, I always pick my eggs up from the post office (I don't wait for them to call me).

 

[Farmer Viola]

I received shipped eggs through the polar vortex and had a $3 heating pad inside the box. It was a pretty small heating pad, much smaller than the size of the eggs but it did it's job, 25F outside and the eggs were 58-60F when I took their temperature (with a laser pointer thermometer).
Quote: do you call ahead and ask them to hold? or does the seller have to put a hold on it for PO pickup? because I would do that too!

 

[Pozees]

I always ask to have my boxes marked "Call for pickup" with my phone number, which occasionally doesn't work - carrier thinks she's doing me a favor and turns out the gate is closed and no one home, or once the phone number was left off, but both times she just put a note in the mailbox and I picked up the next day.

 

[jan12]

I received shipped eggs through the polar vortex and had a $3 heating pad inside the box. It was a pretty small heating pad, much smaller than the size of the eggs but it did it's job, 25F outside and the eggs were 58-60F when I took their temperature (with a laser pointer thermometer).
do you call ahead and ask them to hold? or does the seller have to put a hold on it for PO pickup? because I would do that too!

My shipment didn't have a heating pad and it was fine. But it sounds like a good idea.

I track my shipments on my smart phone, and when I see that they have arrived at the post office, I do call them and ask them to hold it. The packages always have my number on them and I ask the sender to put a post office hold... But _sometimes_ the USPS overlooks this and it still ends up out for delivery. So when I find out it has arrived at the PO, I hightail it to the post office before anything bad happens. I'm obsessive that way! Lol

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:

I received shipped eggs through the polar vortex and had a $3 heating pad inside the box. It was a pretty small heating pad, much smaller than the size of the eggs but it did it's job, 25F outside and the eggs were 58-60F when I took their temperature (with a laser pointer thermometer).
Quote:

do you call ahead and ask them to hold? or does the seller have to put a hold on it for PO pickup? because I would do that too!

I always ask to have my boxes marked "Call for pickup" with my phone number, which occasionally doesn't work - carrier thinks she's doing me a favor and turns out the gate is closed and no one home, or once the phone number was left off, but both times she just put a note in the mailbox and I picked up the next day.

I ship in polyfoam (like the kind in your sofa cushions) which goes into a sealed box, then that gets put in another cushioned box. There's enough insulation with dividing barriers to do fairly well for any stints these are exposed to the outdoor temps- and I say that in a balmy 7˚.

The real damage comes during your local delivery. They bounce around all day in a cold milk-carton-looking delivery truck until it's your house, then they may get left outside!

I used to always mark to hold for pickup, but some POs ignore it no matter what. When I print out my labels now, I use the POs software's HOLD service, which DOESN'T PRINT the street address of the recipient, but rather the street address of the PO, so it CAN'T get delivered against your wishes. It also lets me enter an email so the recipient gets updates along the way, so they don't have to rely on the PO calling them- they get an email when it arrives.

This is the best way to handle non-compliant carriers, by far! After the crazy heat of the last few summers, I'm glad this is now available...I've had folks who got eggs that were developing when they arrived due to heat- they were still alive...but I don't want either extreme temps to hit the eggs if I can help it.

Off to suit up in my insulated overalls and North by Honeywell blue/black gloves. If you have cold climates, look these things up. You'll thank me later.

 

[dak]

It is probably not critical at the moment with so few auctions being listed, but when thing get moving we will probably need to move the chat over here,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/826325/chat-thread-for-the-new-crazy-24-hour-auction