The woes of shipped eggs

[arteacher]

I have also spent a lot of money on hatching eggs and have very little to show for it. I know my sportsman incubator is doing fine because I have been hatching my pheasant eggs with good results. Most shipped eggs are clear after a week or so. I have just about given up also. I have recently received about 5 orders and all were boxed about as good as humanly possible! Has anyone tried overnight with UPS or FedEX? I know it is expensive but not as expensive as throwing money away on dozens and dozens of eggs and have a couple chicks.

 

[matte]

I've wondered about the FedEx option as well, but have never seen it offered. It would be expensive, but still a drop in the bucket compared to some of the egg auctions we see.

I've never hatched over 60% from shipped eggs and usually average 40%. Yes, it is disappointing, but there is no other way for me to get the breeds/quality that I want. (Each breeder I've purchased from would be over a 12 hour drive from my home.) At some point, if you are sticking with a particular breed(s), you will have enough to perpetuate your own flock and need to buy shipped eggs only occasionally.

My incubator hatches over 90% every time with anything that I throw in from our own flock...so shipping is obviously the culprit.

I hope the good breeders don't stop offering to ship eggs. I will certainly never complain about hatch rates (to the seller) and I hope that others who read these complaints understand that the reputable breeders are not at fault.

I should add that...I've only purchased from breeders on BYC and no Ebay.

 

[Azriel]

Quote:

So I wonder if the hatch rate is - something if the eggs are $200.00 a piece like those Crele Orpington Imports on eBay?

I'm actually hatching Crele Orpington eggs as I type this, 7 made it to lock down, 5 chicks hatched so far. Good strong chicks, going from pip to hatch in an hour or less.

 

[chikincrazee]

HI the post office right now is just awful with all my deliveries in January I got some shipped silkie and ameraucana eggs...got all my shipments overnight and had very decent hatch rates...so i got some more eggs last month from the same people and one carton was so damaged it was creased from the posties dropping something on it and many of the eggs were smashed and all my eggs took 2 to 5 days to get here from the same places....my day old chicks took 4 days they survived but im sure some will die as they were close to starve out....I wont sell hatching eggs because its just to easy for the eggs to get damaged during shipping...i always figure if you get a 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs thats is very good....Chris

 

[goatsoap]

Quote:
Could this possibly be your problem since your eggs hatch for others??

This would mean you have eggs hatching every few days....how are you handling humidity for this rate of hatch & when do the other eggs get a chance to lose the extra moisture??? This may explain your air cell problem.

I have hatched eggs like this for six months, without any problems. I took out two turning racks. On day 18, I take off the turners and put on the wire racks for hatching. We just look through the window and when a chick is up crawling over the eggs, we open and take out. I generally only incubate polish eggs, and only have 4 hens laying right now. Soon there will be about 15, so maybe I can fill an incubator up.

I have finally officially stopped even looking at hatching eggs for sale. After someone was nice enough to sell me 24 tolbunt/crele eggs, had one hatch, and it just died at two weeks old.