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

[Sonja73]

Perhaps the parent flock has some inbreeding going on.
I did eggtopsy and unless underbites are what happens when a chick drowns... Looks like that would've been a deformity for four of them had they hatched (or perhaps the underbite prevented them from pipping!)
I did also notice that every chick who died in shell was positioned strangely so had they been able to pip it would've been in the middle of the egg, not in the air cell.
I've not eggtopsied such fully developed chicks before. Is it normal for them to have one foot curled up and the other outstretched completely? This was a common theme in all eggtopsied today.

Both legs should be tucked up by the head, like behind the "ears". I wonder if it is part x-rays and inbreeding that cause the deformities. I don't inbreed, even a single generation, so I don't know...

 

[starlingdaly]

Tell me about it i was shocked my self, she is such a pretty bird too, and shes good with my chicks tells them off every now and again but what hen doesnt ? me too I bought 22 eggs from eBay totalling around £50 so I paid £25 per chick as i only had 2 hatch, so i bought 6 more day old chicks, but I've had one die this morning upsetting but he was a roo. but out of the 8 chicks I have 6 are pullets and well I think that's a pretty good percentage of pullets. So I'm happy but in glad you got 2 chicks rather than none at all, what bator do you use ?

That is an excellent percentage of pullets!!
My two hatchlings are continuing to do well and already stealing food from the big kids. They were SO ready to get out of the hatcher on Sunday. They figured out the ecoglow, food AND water in about five minutes and ran out all their pent up energy zipping around the brooder.
I use a styrofoam Little Giant still air. It was given to me by a friend who upgraded to broody guinea hens. I have has no issues holding temp and humidity despite my skepticism when I first started using it.

Both legs should be tucked up by the head, like behind the "ears".  I wonder if it is part x-rays and inbreeding that cause the deformities.  I don't inbreed, even a single generation, so I don't know...

That's what I was thinking... Even the ones that hatched had one foot differently shaped at hatch but worked it out in their time spent in the hatcher. Very strange. I've never seen such a consistent deformity before. Even the egg that quit on day 15 had it.

 

[starlingdaly]

The curled toe chick worked her toes out by herself in the hatcher.
Unfortunately my third chick hatched but did not survive long after she fluffed up. There was a strange bubble around her umbilical cord area.

I candled the remaining eggs and only one is showing signs of movement. I will keep the rest I just in case but if looks like at best I will have 3 hatch out of 12. Not unreasonable, but probably not worth the $35.

I met someone on here who knows a local person who sells chicks of the breed I'm hatching and I will probably pick some up since this particular hatch has been a bit of a bust.

I've still got 8/14 Cream Legbars going.
Hard to tell with the BCMs but 2/12 from one seller are possibly developing. The other set of 15 BCMs could have ALL developing except one but it is of course super hard to tell with those dark shells!

My laced lavender orpington eggs are 4/8 right now. Those eggs were shipped on a plane.

I was using my candling flashlight to check in baby chicks and momma hen outside since it is raining and they are sleeping in a new nest and noticed the light was dimming. So I changed the batteries and it was suddenly 10x brighter!
I thought maybe that was my problem when I was candling the other day (I thought I was just two tired and couldn't focus on the eggs. Didn't occur to me the light was too dim!)
So I re candled and could see SUPERBLY into all the eggs.
It's official that 14/15 BCMs are developing. The one that isn't looks like it stopped pretty early on.
The other set of BCMs only has one developing... And not one that I thought was the other night! Those two were both quitters around day 7-10 looks like.

The 8 Cream Legbars are still going and so are the 4 Laced Lav Orps.
So that was a nice way to end the night.
Though I am a little disgruntled about 11/12 BCMs from the one set not even starting or stopping VERY early on. They will get a positive review on packaging,though.
I am hoping that that single egg hatches into a rooster that also happens to be my ideal roo

 

[Cynthia12]

Handling IS the problem with shipped eggs. If, they are shipped like this. Wait...did I just see my fragile marked egg box get dumped onto that belt? Just after the guy asks, you didn't think that we handled all the mail did you? :/ Those eggs get scrambled in so many different ways, and times before they reach our hands!

 

[mrstomcat]

I worked for the post office for 36 years and I took very good care of delivering chicks to my customers. When you are inside the building and there are day old chicks that have come in maybe one box are maybe many boxes the peeps gets very loud. The reason being the clerks do not know the chicks are cold. I would always go and cover the boxes with mail bags. They would get really quiet so everyone learned how to handle the day olds in the office I worked in. Back then the po didn't call the people to come pick them up. I've delivered many boxes of chicks especially when I had a feed store on my delivery route. The feed store was almost my last mail delivery but when they had chicks I would deviate and take the chicks to him first. Clerks should never put shipping eggs on a belt. It says on the box not to X-ray and in big letters you always see hatching eggs "fragile". I can't speak for anyone else but I was the good girl when it came to chicks and eggs and that was before I even had a chicken. I loved them back then even. I met my best friend over 30 years ago when I delivered her day old chicks. I will admit some clerks think they are being cute by doing dumb things like putting eggs on a belt. Maybe that's why the po is in trouble now for not caring about the customers they are being paid to care for! I loved my job when I was there. Hope your eggs reach you safely. I just received 13 welsummer eggs today.

 

[Sonja73]

I worked for the post office for 36 years and I took very good care of delivering chicks to my customers. When you are inside the building and there are day old chicks that have come in maybe one box are maybe many boxes the peeps gets very loud. The reason being the clerks do not know the chicks are cold. I would always go and cover the boxes with mail bags. They would get really quiet so everyone learned how to handle the day olds in the office I worked in. Back then the po didn't call the people to come pick them up. I've delivered many boxes of chicks especially when I had a feed store on my delivery route. The feed store was almost my last mail delivery but when they had chicks I would deviate and take the chicks to him first. Clerks should never put shipping eggs on a belt. It says on the box not to X-ray and in big letters you always see hatching eggs "fragile". I can't speak for anyone else but I was the good girl when it came to chicks and eggs and that was before I even had a chicken. I loved them back then even. I met my best friend over 30 years ago when I delivered her day old chicks. I will admit some clerks think they are being cute by doing dumb things like putting eggs on a belt. Maybe that's why the po is in trouble now for not caring about the customers they are being paid to care for! I loved my job when I was there. Hope your eggs reach you safely. I just received 13 welsummer eggs today.

If everyone was as dedicated as you were, this forum would not exist.

 

[kodster]

I worked for the post office for 36 years and I took very good care of delivering chicks to my customers. When you are inside the building and there are day old chicks that have come in maybe one box are maybe many boxes the peeps gets very loud. The reason being the clerks do not know the chicks are cold. I would always go and cover the boxes with mail bags. They would get really quiet so everyone learned how to handle the day olds in the office I worked in. Back then the po didn't call the people to come pick them up. I've delivered many boxes of chicks especially when I had a feed store on my delivery route. The feed store was almost my last mail delivery but when they had chicks I would deviate and take the chicks to him first. Clerks should never put shipping eggs on a belt. It says on the box not to X-ray and in big letters you always see hatching eggs "fragile". I can't speak for anyone else but I was the good girl when it came to chicks and eggs and that was before I even had a chicken. I loved them back then even. I met my best friend over 30 years ago when I delivered her day old chicks. I will admit some clerks think they are being cute by doing dumb things like putting eggs on a belt. Maybe that's why the po is in trouble now for not caring about the customers they are being paid to care for! I loved my job when I was there. Hope your eggs reach you safely. I just received 13 welsummer eggs today.

In today's world, good customer service is a rarity. When you find someone like you (and me, because I'm the same when it comes to taking care of my customers), you're the one that is exemplified and outstanding. If everyone had the same attitude as you and I, then we wouldn't be outstanding, but the norm. Then those that don't care would stand out like glaring thumbs, and be fired. However, our society has deteriorated so much, it's pathetic. I don't want to bring up the cause of it, because I know what it is, without being flamed for it and causing more drama than what the moderators will tolerate.

 

[janurism]

I've just put some Bourbon Red Turkey eggs, in the incubator, bought them on ebay this past weekend, then discovered this great thread. I am wondering if there is any way to compile a list of 'good' and 'bad' sellers on ebay through the experiences.. It sounds like some of them are legit, sending fertilized eggs that were well packaged, and it sounds like others are a waste of time. I was careful with the feedback rating of the seller I chose, I know sometimes it's a crap-shoot as far as the eggs arriving safely, but it seemed like it took forever to find one that had a lot of positive secondary feedbacks..
It would be great if there was a list on here of verified sellers that we could check against, or a list of no-no's as least...

 

[lisaequine1]

I got 20 eggs off eBay, 10 Midget White and 10 Bourbon Red, 2 of the Bourbon Reds hatched. One of those had a cross beak and a bad eye. It died after about a week. So, that makes one very expensive Bourbon Red poult!

 

[mrstomcat]

forgot mention I have been very successful buying eBay eggs from bluewaterranch. She has different birds and she is usually always on eBay. Her name is Helen. That's where I've gotten most all my eggs that hatched. I just hatched out some Marans from her. I've tried others but nothing good from those.