What's Your Shipped Egg Experience?

[CT Coop]

I recently had only a 23% hatch rate on eggs shipped from Mississippi to Indiana. I am incubating for a friend who got her eggs from Texas and Florida. I just candled and one group doesn't appear fertile, but maybe damaged in shipment? The other are Welsummers, so I can't really tell progress. I am thinking of never buying shipped eggs again, because they are expensive and the end result is far fewer chicks, so I thought I'd see what others have experienced. Please share!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've never bought shipped eggs but I do ship eggs all over the country. Reports are good on them but I pack very well.
I am hoping to get some shipped eggs in the next year or so from people I have shipped my eggs to.

 

[CT Coop]

Yes, the eggs I received were quick to get here and extremely well packaged. They shipped end of February so it was still cold here, but I don't think temp could have affected them with such good packaging. Solid styrofoam surrounding the eggs and then they had individual foam around each egg. I spent over $125 and got 5 chicks. I was hoping for better for my friends and to compare I did put locally purchased hatching eggs in with the shipped eggs and the local eggs are doing great. I would love to be able to get some new breeds that aren't local, but can't afford it at those hatch rates. And I am not blaming it on the breeder as he had very good reviews, but on the shipping process itself.

 

[Uff Da]

I hatched 8 out of 18 my first time with no experience of any kind. I hatched 0 out of 12 the second time, but the eggs were so filthy with sheep poop that they smelled up my whole living room. I am trying again next month, using tips I found here, with the same seller as I used the first time.

 

[mdees88]

How did the outside of the packages look? Every box of shipped eggs I've received had bright, fluorescent green, yellow, or pink stickers saying hatching eggs, I'm alive, do not X ray on them.

I've read on here about someone mentioning postal "dead zones" before. Basically they hatched shipped eggs from the same seller several times with good results then the moved to a different state. When they ordered eggs from the same supplier at their new home they had horrible hatch rates. They blamed it on the shipping service. Just what I read but seems likely.

I've had a very good shipped egg experience so far. I can't comment on chicken eggs but out of roughly 500 shipped quail eggs from three different suppliers I have averaged a 74% hatch rate on all eggs set and a 93% hatch rate on viable eggs at lockdown. My worst hatch was 62% on total eggs set and 86% on viable eggs at lockdown.

You also want to rule out your incubator as a possible reason for poor hatch rates. Buying a separate thermometer/hygrometer and testing its accuracy is extremely important in successful hatches. Obviously if you're getting great hatch rates with local eggs the incubator is probably not the problem...

 

[KYBOY]

I’ve shipped a bunch and bought a bunch. It’s in the wrapping and the handling.
Honestly you just never know...
I’ve got a 80% hatch from shipped eggs that had been beat to death then I’ve gotten 10% hatches from boxs that looked perfect..
I consider myself lucky to get 60% and expect 40%-50% honestly. That’s with very good incubators and many years practice.. 85%-95% hatches from my own eggs at home..
I remember one season about three years ago that almost every package I got was handled like a football
Now quail eggs I always do very well on shipped quail eggs. Much better than chicken eggs
Regardless I’ll keep ordering. If I want good stock I have no choice

 

[CT Coop]

Thank you all...this is excellent information! I have a Sportsman cabinet incubator with it's own thermo/hygro, but I have a separate one, which I stick in the ventilation hole from time to time to ensure things are accurate. I borrowed it from my company, which is a Research and Development laboratory, so it gets calibrated every 6 months...I know it's accurate. Now I will say I'm not really sure what the humidity should be as info is all over the place. I'm keeping it at 45% until lockdown and 99.5 degrees. The eggs were very clean and the box was in great shape and was marked "handle with care" and that is all. Nothing about X-raying, but I assume since I got 5 to hatch that was not it. I don't know about the boxes from my friend...I will ask her if anything was marked on the box. The eggs were fairly clean. I will try shipped eggs again after hearing of your experiences.