Well that was depressing...

[SterlingAcres]

I bought 15 eggs from Meyer. I candled them on Day 6 and was pretty certain most were viable. There were 1 or 2 questionable ones...

I candled again today, which is Day 8... I opened the box hole bigger to let more light into the surface of the eggs.

Here's my outcome-

Growing Chicks w/ Veins

-
2 white eggs
3 tan/khaki eggs
1 dark brown egg with speckles
1 cream egg

?'s

-
1 EE I cannot see inside
2 tan eggs that are dark inside, but I cannot see eyes

Clears

-
I believe I only see yolks inside 4 tan/khaki eggs
And I have a dark ring that doesn't seem to move, but I cannot see anything else. Maybe a bloodring in the brown egg.

Total- Possibly 10 viable. I'm thinking only 7 though. That's less than HALF.

That sucks soooo bad. I hope I get better numbers with my orphingtons later in the year.

 

[yellowdragon]

sorry about your eggs. I bought 3 dozen from different people last year. NOT ONE HATCHED. I was so upset. This year we are doing better. Hatching our own. I have bought 2 dozen so far....waiting for day 21.

 

[skeeter9]

That's the frustrating thing about buying eggs that have to be shipped. The USPS is very rough with the boxes (even when you put huge FRAGILE, LIVE EMBRYOS, and DO NOT X-RAY stickers on them) and you just never know if the eggs will arrive in good shape or not. Sometimes it takes several batches of eggs before you get the number of chicks you want. Unfortunately, shipping eggs is about the only way for most of us to get the breeds/quality we want. Don't give up!!! I'm sure you'll get what you want eventually!!!

Lori

 

[SterlingAcres]

Thanks guys. I suppose it's okay. The eggs are being hatched for my sister in law and she was hoping to get 6-7 laying hens. If all 7 of these hatch, I've got a 50/50 chance for males. LOL With my luck, it'll be 2 pullets, 5 cockerels.

No one I know locally has chickens anymore. I have a friend down south that is willing to send me free eggs if I pay for the shipping, but I'm not thrilled at the idea of having RIR/Silkie chickens.

I'll have to find someone who has pretty buff orphingtons and hopefully knows how to ship an egg properly. I'll most likely be buying here, since everyone pretty much knows what they're doing.

 

[jnjross]

i set 42 orps and now at day 12 i down to 22

 

[SterlingAcres]

Wow. I'd really be depressed with those numbers.

I feel your pain man.

 

[Katy]

I'd say less than 50% is the norm with shipped eggs......most times I'd be tickled with anywhere close to that. Shipping is just hard on eggs...some breeds more than others. They can be the best wrapped eggs in the world and still have none hatch when the shipping gets done with them....so I wouldn't be depressed, I'd be thrilled!!

 

[Mystary]

I have also had problems with the "shipping system".

Tina

 

[onthespot]

i have shipped eggs twice. First time i bought a dozen and she sent 25, thirteen hatched. The excellent thing with that hatch was... drum roll.... so far it only looks like two or three of them are roos! The rest have little yellow combs!!! woo Hoo! The second time I shipped, I bought six eggs, he shipped twelve. Only ONE hatched. It was a roo (which is what I would have chosen for it to be if I had to choose between roo/hen) I am trying to breed mille fleur cochins, and I just guess it would be easier to do more quicker with a singl roo mille fleur than a single hen. Time will tell. I just won some buff silkie eggs on ebay yesterday from the seller that has those midget white turkeys. I asked her to combine an order and send me some turkey egg too. I can't wait to see how those turn out. I am also going to take a tiny side track on color breeding and see what I can create in the way of a mille fleur sizzle chick. Wouldn't THAT be wild!

 

[NoSpringChick]

Oh Shellie, I'm hoping and praying that the eggs that are still viable will be the best darn chickens you ever had!

I myself am waiting for 3 shipments of eggs the end of this week...Buff Orp, BR's & Silkie/Crested. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Terri