Would like to know more about shipped eggs.good and bad

[lil'turkeymama]

OK i need to know if anyone ever gets shipped turkey eggs to hatch?I have not had any live but did have 2 of 60 hatch.About half candled clear and the other half had partly developed chicks.I'm still kinda new to hatching,this is my 5th year with various results.The quail eggs I bought locally hatched great.The first turkey eggs that were gave to me hatched great.Most all my own chicken eggs I've set have done extra great.The worst trouble I have is with my turkeys being too large to zip after the pip and have helped alot of them with great results.I just ordered 6 more turkey eggs and need to know what I can do to increase my hatch rate,if anything.I know to let the eggs settle after receiving them,but what else should I do or not do?Thanks in advance,Lisa

 

[turkaholic]

Shipped turkey eggs are always a gamble. I've had some great hatches and also some that were complete duds. Over the years I found that the further the eggs travel, the more likely your hatch will be low, but it is not engraved in stone. A lot depends on the packing, fertility to begin with, the bumps and jolts the package experiences during transit and the temperature as well. Air travel for eggs can have negative effects, but I have had eggs hatch that were definately shipped by air, so I'm not too sure of that.

My best shipped egg hatches have come from those that were within 250 miles of me. Maybe because of the shorter distance they went by postal truck, and not exposed to air travel. I had two excellent hatches this year from shipped eggs. One from S and S poultry here on BYC (13 of 16 hatched) and another from an ebay purchase (6 of 6). The 13/16 definately went by truck and the 6/6 by air! So, as you can see there is no exact science to this. If you are getting your shipped eggs to develop, but not hatch, it is more likely an incubation problem .

 

[Kansaseq]

I hatched out 3 of 5 from somewhere in Southern Kansas. Got 7 more in the bator that seem to be developing, so my experience so far has been good. These have all been Slate, if that makes any difference.

 

[newnanchic]

I don't know where you are in Alabama but Nancy (bargain) on here is in Bowdon Ga. and has numerous turkeys and eggs for sale maybe you could drive to her place and pick them up?? Even if you have to ship them they would possibly get there the next day with much better hatch rates. Look her up !!!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

50% percent from shipped eggs is about average. Like Turk said if you are getting them to develop but they aren't hatching that's an incubation issue. There are so many factors with shipped eggs. Some of the most important are the age of the birds, how long they have been laying and the outside temp. Turkey eggs do not ship well at all in hot weather, there are lots of people still selling eggs this time of year with temps in the 90's+ so that's buyer beware. Freshness of the eggs - if a seller has pics of just a couple birds, how many days does it take to get a dozen+ eggs? Big changes in elevation seems to effect them. We are near sea level and when we send eggs to the Rocky mts. for example they get a lower hatch. Shipping distance plays a part but I don't think it's major factor. Packing is also a big factor.

Steve

 

[ziggywiggy]

I've never had any shipped turkey eggs hatch, even ones I've put under a hen and at $4.00 an egg plus shipping it's not worth it. If 50% is a good hatch rate, you might as well buy poults. It comes out to about the same price.

 

[Denninmi]

I had a really good experience with the one and only time I've tried this last month -- I ordered 6 eggs via Ebay at the end of April, the seller actually sent 9. Of the 9, one was clear at about 8/9 days, so I discarded it. Of the remaining 8, 7 hatched, one died close to the hatch date in the shell. One of the 7 was crippled, couldn't walk, and died. The other 6 are doing fine now and are about 3 weeks old today -- they hatched out on Memorial Day and June 1st over about a 24 hour period.

As I said on another post, the eggs were packed extraordinarily well, IMO -- it took me a lot of time to open the package, so it was obvious the seller put a lot of time and thought into packing them.

They were shipped out to me on a Saturday AM, by the way, and arrived Monday afternoon May 3rd. I did put them right into the incubator, I didn't know you were supposed to let them sit and settle first, but I guess it was fine.

 

[OmaBird]

I am a e-bay junkie. I spent thousands on eggs with very little luck. I don't waste money on eggs anymore.

 

[Lotsapaints]

I had 2 good hatches 4 out of 7 and 7 out of 15 another batch of 18 zip nada only 2 tried to develop one made it to lockdown must have died soon after....just got 6 eggs yesterday for my last try for now but hatching eggs is like that not just turkey eggs. Ordering poults isn't a sure thing either and I like the ones I hatched the best they seem stronger.

 

[Lotsapaints]

Quote:
I've met some wonderful poultry people on EBAY and this board and spent hundreds not 500.00 counting shipping too....I wasted more money on hatchery birds than on eggs I hatched......