Should I ask for a refund? eBay eggs quality and fertility does NOT look good.

[FranzBear]

I bought 6 red/blue laced wyandotte eggs, 1 arrived cracked in the mail, another developed a crack a few days in under the broody hen, and yesterday after candling the remaining 4 eggs at day 5/6, only 1 had any development. The shells appear thin too on all the eggs.

Disclaimer: I did not place them under the hen right away upon arrival by post as she was not broody yet when the eggs arrived, they sat for about 5 days in room temp. I bought them because I knew that she would go broody soon (she's very dependable, lays for 2 weeks and then goes broody, hatches eggs and looks after them for 8 weeks before starting laying again, rinse and repeat. She can go broody 3 times a year). So the eggs were sitting in her nest box for less than a week before they were incubated, which should not have seen a decrease in fertility if they had been good healthy fertilized eggs, and before that they came by express post and were (supposedly) laid fresh that same week.

So my question is, should I ask for a partial refund of these eggs? 1/6 eggs showing embryo development, without guarantee for a chick to actually hatch...I don't feel like this is a good rate.

 

[Slothinc]

Have you ever purchased shipped eggs before? It is very common for shipped eggs to not develop due to rough handling in shipping. (And these sound like they may have been roughly handled since one arrived broken.)

Every egg shipper I have ever purchased from has said that there is no guarantee that any will hatch, which really isn’t fair but it is what it is because they can’t control what happens to the eggs after they leave them. If I ever ship eggs and they don’t develop, I would gladly send more, but I haven’t ever met an egg shipper that will do that.

Your best bet is finding local eggs to stick under your broody. In my case, I can never find what I want locally so I ship a lot of eggs. I have lost hundreds, probably close to $1000 on shipped eggs that haven’t hatched through the years. It’s ridiculous and sickening. But it is what happens when you take that gamble

 

[nuthatched]

No. Shipped eggs are a gamble with no guarantee. Shipped eggs also do better in an incubator.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

No. There are never guarantees for shipped eggs, even when you put them in an incubator right away. They were likely sent at 2 or 3 days old so that enough were gathered, and then spent time in the mail, and then sat for 5 days, so that's likely when fertility for even home laid eggs starts to go down

 

[FranzBear]

Have you ever purchased shipped eggs before? It is very common for shipped eggs to not develop due to rough handling in shipping. (And these sound like they may have been roughly handled since one arrived broken.)

Every egg shipper I have ever purchased from has said that there is no guarantee that any will hatch, which really isn’t fair but it is what it is because they can’t control what happens to the eggs after they leave them. If I ever ship eggs and they don’t develop, I would gladly send more, but I haven’t ever met an egg shipper that will do that.

Your best bet is finding local eggs to stick under your broody. In my case, I can never find what I want locally so I ship a lot of eggs. I have lost hundreds, probably close to $1000 on shipped eggs that haven’t hatched through the years. It’s ridiculous and sickening. But it is what happens when you take that gamble

Fair enough...I will let the seller know to use the protective foam containers for the eggs, which I believe is the industry standard, as they only sent them in the paper egg carton with a thin layer of bubble wrap, without any 'FRAGILE' warnings which probably greatly contributed to the eggs being jostled.
I have bought fertile eggs before from a different seller, most recently some Easter eggers. 10/12 developed embryos, I was very happy, and in the end 6 hatched which is what I consider a success. They came in the proper foam packaging with the 'FRAGILE' tape which I'm sure greatly helped and gave the impression they actually cared that the eggs arrived safe.
I understand of course buying eggs online is a gamble, but it greatly helps when the seller does their part to make sure the eggs arrived in a decent condition in the first place...

 

[FranzBear]

No. There are never guarantees for shipped eggs, even when you put them in an incubator right away. They were likely sent at 2 or 3 days old so that enough were gathered, and then spent time in the mail, and then sat for 5 days, so that's likely when fertility for even home laid eggs starts to go down

Hatchability drops after 10 days, but not significantly after 5 days - after all, most hens lay an egg a day until they reach 10-14 before they start incubating them, where the oldest eggs are sometimes 14 days or older. No, it's not that, it's more likely the postage was rough which is not the seller's fault at all. What COULD have been improved on the seller's behalf was that they wrapped the eggs better and included a 'fragile' label or sticker which they did not do (I also replied to another post). It was a single layer of bubble wrap around eggs wrapped in tissue in an egg carton.

 

[Slothinc]

Fair enough...I will let the seller know to use the protective foam containers for the eggs, which I believe is the industry standard, as they only sent them in the paper egg carton with a thin layer of bubble wrap, without any 'FRAGILE' warnings which probably greatly contributed to the eggs being jostled.
I have bought fertile eggs before from a different seller, most recently some Easter eggers. 10/12 developed embryos, I was very happy, and in the end 6 hatched which is what I consider a success. They came in the proper foam packaging with the 'FRAGILE' tape which I'm sure greatly helped and gave the impression they actually cared that the eggs arrived safe.
I understand of course buying eggs online is a gamble, but it greatly helps when the seller does their part to make sure the eggs arrived in a decent condition in the first place...

Oh I agree completely. The shipping method makes all the difference. I have started asking people before buying exactly how they ship. I *hate* when breeders ship in the egg cartons with the bubble wrap. I will say I had a great hatch recently from someone who sent with that method, but they packed the box around the egg carton with the interior of a pillow which really really helped. And then I had another batch from someone who packed with the egg cartons and bubble wrap but she put pine shavings around the eggs, and the air cells were decimated. I was so lucky to get 2 eggs to hatch out of the 12. And I thought she would have packed much better, because of how expensive her eggs were. But now I realize I have to ask every single breeder exactly how they ship before I place an order.

Honestly it is maddening that some breeders are selling their eggs for over $100 per dozen and they package so poorly -I have started wondering if they do it on purpose because they don’t actually want people to hatch their stock. Just be careful in the future - don’t make the mistakes that I have made. And don’t automatically trust breeders that come recommended. It’s not a friendly egg-shipping world out there.

 

[FranzBear]

No. Shipped eggs are a gamble with no guarantee. Shipped eggs also do better in an incubator.

Interesting! The eggs I bought last time which were 12 Easter eggs did quite well in the incubator, but I actually fretted that a broody hen would have been better! I wonder why an incubator is better?
That said, THAT seller did a much better job of packaging the eggs, and the eggs had really good thick shells I had trouble candling. I would never consider asking a seller for a partial refund if they did a good job packaging/did everything on their end to make sure the eggs arrived safely, even if no eggs hatched...it's just that this seller didn't do it.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Seller is only responsable for fertility not hatchability....

 

[FranzBear]

Oh I agree completely. The shipping method makes all the difference. I have started asking people before buying exactly how they ship. I *hate* when breeders ship in the egg cartons with the bubble wrap. I will say I had a great hatch recently from someone who sent with that method, but they packed the box around the egg carton with the interior of a pillow which really really helped. And then I had another batch from someone who packed with the egg cartons and bubble wrap but she put pine shavings around the eggs, and the air cells were decimated. I was so lucky to get 2 eggs to hatch out of the 12. And I thought she would have packed much better, because of how expensive her eggs were. But now I realize I have to ask every single breeder exactly how they ship before I place an order.

Honestly it is maddening that some breeders are selling their eggs for over $100 per dozen and they package so poorly -I have started wondering if they do it on purpose because they don’t actually want people to hatch their stock. Just be careful in the future - don’t make the mistakes that I have made. And don’t automatically trust breeders that come recommended. It’s not a friendly egg-shipping world out there.

Yes!! I bought from her seeing her great reviews, and was shocked by how she packaged it! Below was the pic I took of the first cracked egg when it arrived, you can see the box below was just a small cardboard box with a line of bubble wrap, then an egg carton, then some tissues...I sent it to her explaining I was not happy but she just blamed it all on the postman. I mean... interestingly, she charged more for postage as the super well packaged eggs (Australia wide, it should have been the same price).