When do YOU first candle your duck eggs?

[TennesseeTruly]

Let me explain please. I have been selling eggs on Ebay. Sales have been great!

On March 28th, I had 2 sales of Pekin duck eggs. One for 6+ eggs, one for 4+ eggs. The same person bought both sets of eggs and asked me to combine shipping, which I did. I have 3 days to mail out eggs. But of course my girls weren't cooperating and I didn't have enough eggs to mail out until Monday, April 5th, which I told my buyer. He was fine with that. They went out at 8am Monday, April 5th to PA. He got them Thursday, April 8th. Yesterday, April 12th, he sends me a nasty note telling me that only one egg is developing. And that this is the worse bunch of eggs he's ever gotten in his 15 years of hatching, blah, blah, blah. He's complaining about shipping time, (they were in transit from Monday to Thursday).

Ummm he's only had the eggs 4 days. I've candled at 4 days and sometimes I have nothing and a few days later, I have several. I just want to chomp on this guys butt. Just one bad buyer can make me want to stop selling.

So when do you candle?

Laurie

 

[kare21162]

I candled on day 3 and saw nothing. So I waited until day 7 and I saw the veins and the ducklings eye moving around. Check out my post that's titled "The Duckling Project". Sorry about that buyer...don't let one crab face get the best of you

 

[duckluck]

I candle at 5, 7 and 10. After 10 they go in the garbage if I don't see veins. 5 is a bit early to tell, but my patience can't be kept waiting to look!

ETA: I haven't looked at your auctions, so I don't know...do you have any disclaimers about the fact that shipping can affect eggs? He should realize that there are no guarantees on shipped eggs...

 

[kelseygirl707]

I candle at day 3, but usually don't see much in duck eggs, I usually have a better Idea of what's going on inside them on day 5 to 7. Ask the buyer to give it until day 7 at least before they complain.

 

[tigerrrrrrrlilly]

I sometimes don't see anything for a week either. Is it his first duck eggs? Maybe he is used to chicken eggs, my bantam eggs are much easier to see and I often see the veins at 3 days.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I will sometimes have a look day three and can sometimes make out a lighter circle appearing- but nothing like a vein or embyo until at least day 5 and day 7 for sure. Leave all my eggs in the bator for at least the first week- and if Im not too sure wait til day 14 to chuck them out when room permits.

I also always rest my bought eggs for 24 hours before putting them into the bator- and day 1 really only starts once they have been in and reached the required temp- so he shouldnt have seen anything at all if he had also rested the eggs.

 

[kelseygirl707]

Quote:
Good point about the resting period.

 

[BeckyBird]

You can see development in call eggs around day 3-4. I'm not sure about Pekins though. Sorry about the nasty letter. It's not your fault at all, even if there are no fertile eggs. That's the risk people take with shipped eggs, and he should know that.

I've gotten shipped eggs that were in very bad shape--they looked old, dirty, and had those weird grease spots on the shell. I candled them on the first day, and they looked awful inside. You know, with strange misshapen markings around the air cell (not broken air cells, which is usually post office damage). Clearly the eggs were bad from the seller. Even then, I did not complain to the seller, even when I was 99% sure it was his fault. Of course, none were fertile, and I did give the eggs a full 7 days in the bator. This happened to me 2 separate times by the way. I know the eggs were bad to start with because I had my own eggs to candle day 1 and compare with the bad ones.

Anyway, the point is that this guy sounds out of line. You sent him fresh eggs, and that's all you are required to do!

 

[katharinad]

I see it from both sides. I just had a bad shipment myself. Not only did I have strange sized eggs, but only 30% showed signs of fertility. I always give it the side of the doubt, and I know that there are many factors playing part of it. I did email the seller in a very nice way telling him how sad I've felt, but he choose to ignore it. That was when I gave him a bad feedback one week later. He had enough time to think about it. It was just rude to ignore the message, just like in this case it is rude from the buyer to attack the seller in the first place. You get further with nice messages.

Well aside from that I feel it is not fair to the buyer to assume all the loses. I think anyone who spends 50 dollars, should not be left stranded with nothing. I think the buyer and seller should come to a nice understanding and help each other. It's just the right thing to do. In my case I would have loved to hear from the seller. Even if he just said sorry to the bad outcome. Just some sort of sympathy and he would have not gotten a bad feedback at all. I did not expect a replacement shipment, even though I hoped to hear some sort of counter offer.

I've seen auctions where the seller offer replacement eggs at a low cost plus shipping. I know the seller does not earn much on those eggs, but it shows good faith and promotes happy customers. I've also seen sellers stating that a 50% hatching rate is good, considering the stress shipping causes to eggs. I totally agree with that and find a 70% or more to be excellent.

Katharina

 

[miniwhipkey]

I am sorry to hear about the note. After I get shipped eggs, I normaly never see anything for the first 5 days. I also do not expect more than 50% to hatch and I am always glad when more do. Just take what they said with a grain of salt.