e bay hatching egg experiment

[petal]

Some eggs are real, some are not... who knows what you are getting off e bay and does the postal system render them infertile to start with? Or were they 3 months old, already been incubated, had no cockerel near them for 4 years...?ok, got a cunning plan. I am going to save 6 fresh eggs off my chickens(they run with cockerel and I have had chicks in past from them) I am going to place in polybox and put in boot of car for a whole week, then I will incubate and see what happens. Anyone else up for the test?

[MrsC]

Petal, would be interesting to see. I hope to hatch myself next year.

[its hilly]

Petal..yes the postal system does reduce fertility. Try collecting some fresh eggs, leave for two or three days (till buyer pays) then shake several times a day for one day. Then stand one day and set to hatch. You'll be copying the gpo . A pal of mine actually did try it with eggs of proven fertility, and got lower than normal hatch.

I'm really curious to see what your experiment produces. My MIL has hatched eggs shes had in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and got healthy birds. Has anyone else?

All my eggs have come from ebay. I've had one 'surprise' hatch which were supposed to be pure Orpington, but hatched with feather on their legs, so are probably silkie x (going off other picis of orp/silky x) but are still super birds. One batch with zero fertility after candling at ten days, returned and all money refunded. All the rest have been exactly what they were supposed to be, and hatched at around 50% or more, which seems to be average for me. Never tried my inci with unposted eggs to see if there's a difference..maybe that could be my contribution to experitment central. If I can find anyone near here who has fertile eggs. Could always shove a couple of roosters in with Roy (nex dr Neighbour) warrens

[MaureenHall]

Sounds good to me My best eBay hatch was 50% Vorwerk, others have been 1 out of 6 (what's that as a percentage? no good at hard sums ) or 0 out of 6

[Bramble-Poultry]

we are collecting some eggs for the incy in a week or so, but as the breeder is in Brum, we are going to drive and collect in person rather than risk Postman Plod the Miserable S*d

we are going (hopefully) to collect some porcelain sablepoots to boost our numbers with some unrelated stock. the hen from this batch came second at the Fed this year so fingers crossed!

[RedThorn]

you need a control too Petal .... perhaps 6 eggs from same batch kept at home and incubated at the same time?

[petal]

Yes, I will try a control too. I want to satisfy my curiosity and also understand the effects of time and postage on eggs before I start selling them on ebay.

[RedThorn]

Good luck in your ventures, I for one would rather buy from someone I know loves her girls and boys

[matthew2riches]

I did this a little while ago. I put 12 eggs in the glove box in my Transit and left them there for a week. Exposed to the cold, lumpy driving and a general rough ride. After a week they were incubated and 4 out of 12 hatched and 3 of them were cocks!

I'd like to hear of other people that have done this as it is interesting.

Just bare in mind that my eggs were not subject to grumpy postman, large sorting machines, etc... so they were still treated better than going through the post ;-)

[petal]

I wonder though, as we have had some excellent hatch rates from ebay eggs (5/6) and some eggs that were not fertile in the first place!! Its going to be an interesting experiment, I will try it in about march.