Why I will probably not buy shipped eggs anymore

[SkyWarrior]

Today I candled my eggs 5 days in that I got shipped from a BYCer. The eggs were packed well and looked really good. The seller was obviously very conscientious. That being said, I noted that one egg was developing and the rest were doubtful. Now, many of them were dark marans eggs, but of the three EE eggs, one was definitely not fertile or too damaged from shipping, one was debatable, and one was definitely developing. I thought I might have seen veins and an embryo in a Marans egg, but beyond that

who knows? I threw out the one I was sure wasn't developing and kept the others.

After having several successful hatches of eggs from my own chickens in a 7 egg incubator (7/6/6), I can pretty much say I have a good record, so it isn't anything I'm doing. I think that hatching eggs from the mail is risky and not worth the money. There are too many factors going on that don't come together with shipped eggs.

That being said, please note that I am NOT blaming the seller. I think that shipping is just too hard on the eggs and it's unlikely that I will get the breeds I want unless I buy chicks. I'll let you know what the hatch rate was, but I feel I'll be really lucky to get 2 birds.

Sigh.

 

[Illia]

So after just this one experience you're giving up?

My first time hatching shipped eggs, I got 2 fertile out of 18, but both hatched. So I do feel your pain. The seller packed them well, was very nice, very trust-worthy, but guess what? I tried again, and tried with many other breeders and with many other breeds too as well as during different times of year and from different states. I've yet to come across such a bad experience, actually.


So,

and I hope you do get a good hatch rate, but keep your hopes up! Even with the risks out of mind, consider all the wondrous breeds, colors, egg colors, strains, whatever you want, available to you through hatching eggs. Much cheaper and more reliable than chicks and especially than adult birds being shipped, and much more available than searching locally for someone who has just what you want.

 

[kidcody]

I've had good luck with shipped eggs and very bad luck! I'm sure it's the way they are handled during shipment.

 

[chittyn]

i bought shipped eggs and got 4/6

 

[CapricornFarm]

None of the first few shipments of eggs I got that were shipped hatched. I was disappointed. But I keep on trying because of all the wonderful breeds people have, and not so many available around where I live. And I have fun trying.

 

[KandiandJerry]

Yeah, I have been thinking about buying shipped hatching eggs myself...but the more I read about the careless shipping of the Postal Service....the more I don't think I want to do it...I don't want to end up paying for a bunch of scrambled eggs....I thought about running an ad on Craigslist to see if anyone in our area that is NPIP Certified would sell me some hatching eggs of my desired breeds.....sorry about your luck...

 

[FrenchToast]

I would definately wait few more days to see if there is any veining. Especially in the dark maran eggs.

With shipped eggs it is alway best to try to get a few extra eggs and the more the better since you are doing good with a 50% hatch rate on shipped eggs. Sometimes that is the only way to go if you have specific breeds in mind and you can't locate chicks locally.

Good Luck with your hatch, how many shipped eggs did you get ?

ETA, I don't think I will be ordering from the hatcheries again. I lost every single Black Copper Maran chick i ordered and they were housed with all of my other chicks I ordered and they survived. ????? You never know with eggs or chicks. Buying adult birds can bring serious illness into your flock. So can hatching eggs at times.
They say shipped eggs are a gamble but so is buying chicks, adult birds or local eggs for hatching !!!

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
Actually, I've tried hatching before and tried hatching 5 other shipped egg batches from different breeders. The record went 3/8, 0/9, 1/12, 1/6, and 0/4. Granted this was a different incubator, but I felt really disappointed with the low numbers. Now, it looks like I'm getting the same low numbers with shipped eggs, which suggests I wasn't doing anything really wrong.

I'm kind of disappointed, but of course, I will let the eggs incubate and see what comes up. But I'm unlikely to have eggs shipped again.

 

[Faerytalefarm]

I've had 4 separate shipments of eggs come in the last 2+ weeks. A total of 64 eggs, so far 38 are on day 13 looking great and 12 more on day 4 ( 7 showing definite development). I'm sorry yours have not worked out.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
I got 10 eggs total, so I have 3 more stored away to play with. Unfortunately, my incubator takes only 7 at a time, so I stored the extras in case there were some obvious duds. As much as I hate staggered hatches, I felt I had nothing to lose to replace the tossed egg. Yes, it will hatch 5 days later, but who knows?