Why I will probably not buy shipped eggs anymore

[BunnyMomma]

I also feel your pain.

I have a small hatchery and I have ordered eggs from different breeders. I actually spent 150.00 on hatching eggs and I ended up with 2 chicks to show for it. I have had very good success hatching my own eggs, so I know it is not someting I'm doing wrong. I think that the PO plays soccer with anything marked "hatching eggs".
As a breeder, this has me wondering whether or not to sell hatching eggs in the future. I am thinking about just offering chicks and adult birds. I really want people to get something for their hard earned money. It is no fun to spend 150.00 for one chick or two!
A person could buy very nice adult birds for that much money.

Thanks for posting this topic, I think a lot of people will agree with you.
Bunny

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
Well, I don't fault the folks who breed and offer the hatching eggs, but the value is not good. I'd take my chance with chicks for the same price. I realize that I'm missing out on some very exotic and wonderful breeds, but having no hatches is disappointing. And while I realize there's a risk, it's something I don't want to take if I get at best one or two chicks.

 

[Illia]

I spent $180 on just a dozen eggs before, got 2 chicks out of it, both boys, and guess what - They're both still here, almost 2 years old, and I'd never think of selling or butchering them.

$150 on a pair of chickens, especially shipped, is really really cheap

My Buff Ameraucana pair aren't show birds at all and cost over 150 for the both. My Shamos aren't show birds but are a rare breed, and cost over $200 for the both. And that's actually really cheap for them. I was lucky.


Now, I have actually spent about $100 on 2 dozen eggs and honestly got more chicks out of there than I would out of a single order of chicks that would cost me over $100

It's all a matter of opinion and luck.



Now, back to the topic of time of year -- I always recommend early spring into mid spring, and early fall to late fall. BUT it really depends on the weather between you and your seller. Over here we rarely ever freeze and rarely ever get over 75 degree weather so shipping is great on our side, however most of the midwest is very picky about time of year, (really hot vs really cold) so that can be a risky area to ship across.

I think time of year all boils down to where you are and where your seller is, but in most cases, early to late spring is the best time to ship. It's when I always get good rates both receiving and sending.


The best thing to do is look for cheap eggs to test with your incubator, see perhaps if they prefer less or more humidity when shipped eggs?


How long do you let our shipped eggs sit before incubating them?

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
The eggs sat at room temperature at least a day before I incubated them.

Spring is really wonky weather here. This spring was COLD to the point where we were getting snow in June. We were wondering if we would get a summer at all. Then, summer hit and we hit record highs in September and October. We had 1 and 1/2 weeks of fall. We're supposed to get SNOW Sunday night.

 

[lincolnsilkies]

I just did my first hatch i had 9 eggs of my own and 8 hatched i had some eggs shipped from a wonderful lady and had about a 75% hatch which for shipped egss i thought was awesome

and at the same time i had another group of shipped eggs and out of 30 some none hatched so to me yes it may be kind of a gamble (dang post office ect) with shipped eggs but after seeing these little babies

and having a very good hatch with the one set of shipped eggs

it is so well worth it. It was like being a kid again waiting to x-mas day to open all your

presents!!!!

 

[bustermommy]

Lincoln silkies, where were the different batches from and were they packed alike? Was one batch shipped from closer than the other? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Allbreeds]

Any shipped egg is a gamble, that is why there are not usually any guarantees when buying shipped eggs.
I will however feel it isn't always the post office. We buy a great many from a lady and have them shipped. We have gotten anywhere from 75-80% hatch rate on all eggs except for ONE breed. It can all come together but the ONE breed never develops.

 

[lincolnsilkies]

They were both packed great!!! i think the one i had great luck with traveled about 900 miles and the one i didnt have much luck with traveled around 1500 miles so... a big difference in distance and the might have had alot to do with it but another thing the one package i picked up from the post office the other one was delivered to my house and ya never know how people are handling those packages when they are in the truck bouncing around and what not!

 

[lincolnsilkies]

Oops forgot one was wrapped in bubble wrap and tapped plus had newspaper stuffed all around the box to hold the cartons still the other batch was not wrapped in bubble wrap but had some stuffing type stuff with the eggs and newspaper in it also to prevent the cartons from shifting all over.

 

[lincolnsilkies]

Oh no i know it's not always the post office but i have shipped a case of candles to my aunt all wrapped in bubble wrap and the glass was very thick and when she got them 9 of the 12 were broke and it said handle with care glass and for those to break the box would have had to be dropped pretty good to break them so that is why i say the post office.