Who has purchased eggs from ebay ? and what was your hatch rate ?

[Cynthia12]

You will get different results from different eggs sent. Nice P.O. handling really makes a difference.
I also do what is considered a dry hatch. You will see an amount of humidity in your bator right now, because the eggs are putting off moisture. A good thing, the air sacs are developing. Then you watch at day 7. How do the air sacs look? Getting too big? Then you add a bit of water, bring the humidity up to the mid 40 range to slow down the air sac development. You don't want the air sacs too big. Same goes if you have you have air sacs looking too small. Bring down the humidity if you have had it up in the 50's. Make sense?

 

[mattsinger]

I got 17 Marans eggs off ebay from 2 different sellers....12 from one and 5 from another. Out of those , the group of 5, 4 did nothing and one stopped very early on. Out of the 12, I had 4 fully develop...but only one made it out of the egg

 

[GeorgRodway]

Do you think it has something to do with posting them ? If they did get tossed about during delivery then surely they wouldn't develop at all in the incubator ?I'm not sure if i would blame the fact they were bought on Ebay if they pretty much went full term ?

 

[Cynthia12]

I buy from e-bay often. I really do watch the feed back though. You can tell which ones are doing well. I watch for the follow up feed back too. And, I take note of how the seller handles things that go wrong..are they nice? Or are they little stinks, blaming the buyer for Not letting them know before they posted a follow up, which is hard to believe, but I'm sure sometimes folks don't. But I see that a lot. Don't buy from them. I want a nice transaction. More often than not, I get them.
The eggs go though so much. I once had my Post Man tell me that they are often put on belts. Think about it he says. There they go, down the belt, to a bin that has been placed at the end for them to drop into. Well, if the bin was just emptied..replaced, the eggs have a long drop, plus, they are having other boxes dropped on top of them. But, it the eggs are going into a bin that has been there a while, and mostly full, they don't drop far, and don't have many other boxes falling hard on them. That was an interesting thought. The P.O. people get blamed a lot, but a lot of times it's out of their hands..literally. They use the belts, or, they have to pull a box once in a while for X-ray. Yes, there are those that don't handle them too carefully once they are in their hands. Poor eggs don't have much of a chance whether you buy from e-bay or from here, or a hatchery. It's a miracle we get any to hatch.

 

[GeorgRodway]

I buy from e-bay often.  I really do watch the feed back though.  You can tell which ones are doing well.  I watch for the follow up feed back too.  And, I take note of how the seller handles things that go wrong..are they nice?  Or are they little stinks, blaming the buyer for Not letting them know before they posted a follow up, which is hard to believe, but I'm sure sometimes folks don't.  But I see that a lot.  Don't buy from them.  I want a nice transaction.  More often than not, I get them. 
The eggs go though so much.  I once had my Post Man tell me that they are often put on belts.  Think about it he says.  There they go, down the belt, to a bin that has been placed at the end for them to drop into.  Well, if the bin was just emptied..replaced, the eggs have a long drop, plus, they are having other boxes dropped on top of them.  But, it the eggs are going into a bin that has been there a while, and mostly full, they don't drop far, and don't have many other boxes falling hard on them.  That was an interesting thought.  The P.O. people get blamed a lot, but a lot of times it's out of their hands..literally. They use the belts, or, they have to pull a box once in a while for X-ray.  Yes, there are those that don't handle them too carefully once they are in their hands.  Poor eggs don't have much of a chance whether you buy from e-bay or from here, or a hatchery.  It's a miracle we get any to hatch.

How do I view the follow ups ?

 

[mattsinger]

Do you think it has something to do with posting them ? If they did get tossed about during delivery then surely they wouldn't develop at all in the incubator ?I'm not sure if i would blame the fact they were bought on Ebay if they pretty much went full term ?

No, I dont blame the PO for tthe ones that developed....as it was my first time ...im really not sure what happened. I am trying to find a source for some Blue Copper marans locally. Id love to try it again

 

[GeorgRodway]

Yeah totally ! I just hope my 12 do hatch out !! They are all growing so much !

 

[scottmostl]

This year was the first time I bought eggs on e~bay. I got ten speckled sussex; Two were quitters; two began to pip and then died; two hatched out very small and lived for three days and two hatched healthy. Out of five Black Copper Marans only three began developing and only one hatched (she has become my baby. Such a great personality.) I ordered six White Ameracaunas and one was broken (my fault); the other five are due to hatch on Saturday and all seem to be developing well. And I ordered six Cream Legbars...NOT ONE WAS FERTILE! I contacted the gentleman immediately and was sent a barrage of e-mails from him (5 total) calling me an idiot, accusing me of not knowing what I was doing, claiming that I should have done research and that I wouldn't know if they were fertile because it hadn't been 21 days and that I couldn't expect them to hatch at 90 degrees (I had never mentioned temp and my incubator consistently runs at 100.5).

I think on e~bay it's a real throw of the dice. I have a hard time blaming the post office or my incubating techniques as, in the past, I've ordered from hatcheries all over the country and (with the exception of my very first time) I've always had at least a 75% hatch rate.

I probably will try e-bay again. I'm very encouraged by the development of my Ameraucanas. I think, however, that you have to realize that some sellers don't manage their flocks appropriately and are not necessarily the the most experienced or knowledgeable about their birds. The up side is that you sometimes get great results and can usually save some money. And, with each order and hatch, you know and learn more for the next one. Good luck!

 

[Trefoil]

Its a crap shoot. I've had more good hatches than bad but I had pea eggs that none of them hatched or even started.I've had several duck and chicken hatches that were 15/16 or 24/25. So you are taking a risk, sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. I don't hesitate to try ebay eggs, but I wouldn't pay big bucks unless I really wanted them and that was the only way. One of the first times I bought ebay eggs the seller told me to set them small end down and leave them for 24 hours before putting them in the incubator. I believe that has a lot to do with the success I've had with them.

 

[Cynthia12]

How do I view the follow ups ?

You just scroll through all of the feed back, sometimes folks will add a follow up under the original feed back. Then sometimes, the seller will have a come back if it's bad. If it's good, they usually don't, but may come back with a thank you, or, glad you got so many to hatch.
Here is an example of a great follow up! http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...-1&de=off&items=25&interval=0&mPg=107&page=15

12th one down.