Very Unhappy with My Pet Chickens Egg Delivery

[veraschickens]

Anyone else have the same problem we did with MyPetChicken in getting a refund for eggs delivered cold and therefore unsuccessful on arrival?

Here's what happened: We ordered 8 fertilized eggs for our daughter. We live in PA, we paid 32 dollars for shipping. We expected next day delivery so they would arrive warm. Instead, MyPetChicken shipped on a Friday, and they arrived on a Monday. They clearly did not use overnight delivery. We know this because they sent us an email saying that they had shipped on Friday. When the eggs arrived cold on Monday, we emailed them and asked what had happened and why they hadn't done overnight delivery. Their answer was that the US Post Office works on Sunday, even if it's not open to customers. So in other words they shipped it slow boat.

When we asked for a refund, we were told we could have a 50 percent discount on our next shipment. It goes without saying that we are not interested in ordering from them again. Has anyone else been more successful in getting refunds or getting a prompt or reasonable answer from this company?

 

[keesmom]

Have you ever hatched eggs before? Why would you think they would arrive warm?

 

[grannychicken54]

I have a question I just ordered eggs for the first time and had a hot pack put in are they supposed to arrive cold is that normal way it works

 

[tls_ranch]

Have you ever hatched eggs before? Why would you think they would arrive warm?

x2. Normally hatching eggs ship best in cool temps. Eggs that get to warm or too cold don't handle the shipping well. Cool/fresh eggs are in "stasis" and won't start developing until you put them in the bator. Shipped eggs won't hatch well if they get too warm and start developing because they were left in the nest box under a hen for too long or during shipping because of hot weather. Shipped eggs also won't hatch well if they get too cold and freeze due to being left in a nest box or shipped in freezing temps. 2-3 days travel time is ok shipping time for fresh hatching eggs that have been handled correctly.

 

[BackyardAnita]

Why are you ordering eggs when its winter?

 

[Cheeky Chick]

Why are you ordering eggs when its winter?

Lots of people hatch in the winter so they have laying hens by mid-spring. I'm in NY, I'll be ordering in January or February-by March/April I can acclimate them to out doors.

Seems like something fun to do in the winter!

 

[featherz]

As others have said, that's not an unreasonable time to ship eggs and as long as they weren't frozen the cold is fine. (although I'd order from sellers here rather than MPC - better quality birds and it will usually end up being cheaper!). =)

(and I'm also in NY and hatch in the winter sometimes.. my january 1 birds start laying right in prime time! =)).

 

[featheredmom]

I also just received my eggs from MPC, but unlike you I was very happy...even though mine took an extra day since we live in a rural area(shipped Friday, arrived Tuesday).

The eggs were all clearly labelled, which was quite impressive since I just ordered a variety. They were packaged extremely well and not a single egg broke. They also included 2 extra eggs beyond the 24 that we ordered.

Yes, they arrived cold, but read the trader joe's thread, people are hatching eggs after a week of refrigeration, eggs can get cold as long as they don't freeze.

As to the question why eggs in the winter...we have to have 10-14mos old chickens next October for my children's 4H projects, so as long as we had to house them for the winter, we might as well add on to our flock at the same time and then this spring we will have eggs AND we will be able to concentrate on the garden/landscaping that I meant to get to last year but the plans went kaput when I fell in love with my babies ;-) So for us it is multi-faceted, mostly for a kids' project, partially because then we will have spring eggs...both are legitimate reasons, however I'm not sure if I would tolerate the chickens in the living room just for spring eggs-especially since we have an existing flock that gives us year round eggs ;-)

 

[veraschickens]

Wow, you (featheredmom) really got a different package than we did! We ordered 3 varieties (8 eggs) and none of them were labelled. Good to learn that eggs can get cold -- even refrigerator cold (really?!) -- and still be OK. We asked MPC why the eggs had sat in the postoffice and didn't that hurt the eggs. MPC didn't explain to us that sitting overnight without incubation is OK for the eggs. As soon as we got the eggs we put them under a neighbor's broody hen but not a single one hatched. They all rotted, and only one egg had what looked like an embryo. The rest were just rotten eggs. (We broke each one open to see what was inside after 5 weeks of laying).

Where is the trader joe thread? I'd like to learn more about how eggs can survive a few days' cold. Thanks!!

 

[goldfinches]

Not only can eggs survive cold, but they can survive a few days between being laid and starting incubation. Glad you tried to hatch them, but sorry it didn't work out.

Unfortunately, I think it's got a lot to do with your hatching method. I've hatched using an incubator with 6 out of 7 eggs hatching, but with my broody, only 1 out of 9 hatched. It was her first time and I'm sure she did something wrong like get up too much.