How Many of You have won Ebay Eggs?

I got brave enough to try bidding for eggs on Ebay, and I WON!!! Im so excited! I won 10+frizzle Cochin eggs. I cant wait for them to get here. I am a bit worried about the lateness of the week though.... hoping they get here before Sunday and have to sit in the PO til Monday!

Have any of you done this? How was the hatch? Would you do it again? Did you use Incubator or Henobator? Sooooo many questions but I sure would like to hear your stories!

if you get them quickly and they are fresh & fertile you should at least get a 50% hatch provided the P.O. doesn't treat them badly detaching the air cell or x-raying

I have had lousy luck lately with the shipped eggs. Seems anywhere north of Ga has been taking 8 days to get here(Gulf Coast) and getting zero hatch under broodies. Really makes me angry

I have some Brabanter eggs that were delayed(8 days) in incubator now. Guy said he would work something out with me if none hatched. Also have some Bantam Black Mottled Houdan eggs from Ga under broodie that came in 3 days & are due Oct 1. I am holding my breath. Also SQ Gray Runner Duck eggs out of Holrreads(spelling) stock in incubator too and really holding my breath and all fingers and toes crossed for them to hatch. Due Oct 15
day 4 but mail hasn't run yet today from Pa for Black/Blue Mottled D'Uccles eggs

I would honestly say to get eggs from the closest to you that you can get for the best hatch

DonnaB that sounds scary! Well I hope all your eggs hatch and the ones that are delayed get there soon!
Mine are being shipped from North Carolina, crossing my fingers!! I emailed the sender and asked if I could get a delay on eggs and have them sent on Monday. The answer I got really surprised me, They said that that would really put a long delay on shipping the eggs!!!! So My guess is that the eggs were already gathered before the auction! I thought they would be gathered after auction ended and sent according to PO scheduling.

as a rule they are already gathered and more being gathered to the end of the auction and shipped the next day if payment is made. They usually post it in the auction if they will begin gathering eggs after the auction ends.

N.C. to Ga might get them in 2 days. Sometimes closer is faster. I have gotten them from north MS. and Fl in 2 days before

have orderd three times this year,all silkie eggs,the first one got lost in the mail and it was 10 days or so when they got here and I put them under broody and none hatched.Next hatch was5 out of 10 that hatched and this last one was four out of four hatched.I use broody silkie to hatch mine

I've gotten ebay eggs many times.. (more than I'd want to count) LOL If you get a seller that is good at packing, you stand to get a good hatch. Most sellers know when is best to ship. Although I've gotten some I didn't even bother to incubate they were so filthy.. and poorly packed.
Good luck! It is totally possible to build a flock from ebay eggs.. Just expensive and hatching shipped eggs usually end up with more roos than home hatched.

Thank You all for your input! I couldnt find any Frizzle Cochin Bantams in my area so I decided this might be a good way to get them! I hope I have a good hatch but now im hearing from everyone not to expect but about a 50% ratio !! OH well the birds would just be a cute novelty and maybe some thing for show later on! As a matter of fact, getting Roosters in a Frizzle wouldnt be a bad thing! You actually need a great Friz Roo to put with a beautiful Smooth Cochin Hen to get pretty babies!
Day 1 over so now Im really getting excited..come on snailmail!!!!

You you get your eggs and set them? Using an incubator or a broody hen?

I am also aware of the conventional wisdom as to the 50% hatch rate from shipped eggs but you never know and you could get really lucky and do much better. I think the less distance actually traveled the better. I know that letting them rest fat end up for 12-24 hours before setting is supposed to really help in settling the air cells. Plus hopefully it wasn't really really hot during shipment so that they get overheated.

At any rate please keep us posted as to your progress. Much good luck for your hatch.

I keep looking at those ebay hatching egg listings myself. I am sure I be buying one sometime in the next few months as I will not be able to stop myself if I see just what I want LOL :-))

Ohhhh Yeah!!! I was getting the Empty Incubator Syndrome!! LOL!!! I really had not intended to hatch any more this year but when I started going over the Ebay listings and saw the Frizzles.... Wellllllllll, lets just say the twitches hit even harder!
I saw my snailmail carrier Saturday and let her know the eggies were coming and she got my number to call me when they came in so they wouldnt be put into her delivery car. Instead I could run to the PO and pick them up early.
Our temps here have really cooled at night but the daytime is still in the upper 90's. So cross your fingers guys!
Its monday and NO call ... waiting...waiting..............

Whooooo Hoooo!!!!, its here!!!!!! Uhhhh, I cant believe it ! The mail carrier brought it up to the house in her car and I met her, I was so excited! She reached down and got the big ole box and DROPPED it in her lap!!!! ARRRRRRRGH! I told her that it was Hatching eggs and please be careful, She got a startled look on her face and sail " I am Sssssssssssooooo sorry, but the box isnt marked fragile eggs or anything!" I was soo upset. Hopefully the eggs will be alright.

I carefully opened the box and removed a couple of layers of wadded up newspaper and there they were... each teeny tiny eggie wrapped in bubble wrap!

11 eggies! I read that I needed to set them with the large end(air sac) side up for a couple of hours to settle. CHECK

This message was edited Sep 27, 2010 1:24 PM

plug in the incu and make sure the thermometer reads between 99.5 and 100 degrees.
CHECK.
Now just waiting to put the eggies into the bator! I think around 6 tonight should be just fine!

I had the best luck with eggs I ordered from people here:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=36

Susan

I hope it really goes well with your hatch. Don't worry about the mail carrier, I am sure that was not the first time that box got tossed around.

Oh No, According to her it was probably thrown and rolled all the way from North Carolina! NOT the PO employees fault at all! I just thought the Shipper would have marked the box a little more carefully to at least let people know their was fragile cargo in it!

I have read arguments for both marking and not marking. Some people seem to believe that marking the box as FRAGILE simply invites bad behavior on the part of the handlers and therefore do not indicate that they carry hatching eggs. I myself do not ascribe to that particular view and would definitely ask for careful consideration, but my point of view isn't often the prevailing one.

Susan

I know how excited you are,I was the same way with all my hatches,good hatching wishes

gooooodness! Im as excited as if I were 4 years old and Santy was a'comin!
Yep we all have it pretty bad! Chicken Lovers anonymous is probably already in the works somewhere for us, but I just dont want to go!!!! Who would want to recover from this addiction???
I either run to watch the incubator thermometer, the babies in the brooder in the barn , draw up my chair next to the "Playpen" of chicken wire where the teen Pullets and cockerals are learning to scratch and Play on the ground for the first time or , checking the nesting boxes for eggs, What a life..... What a Wonderful life!!
Oooooohhh! I just heard of a new banty......... gotta go and look up some info.... Modern Game.... so ugly they are cute..... Bantams on Stilts! LOL!!!! Gotta have me some!!!

I was just noticing an auction for 4 Wesummers on e-bay and the seller is here in upstate NY. Only problem is that 4 eggs is not enough for shipped eggs in my opinion. Cut it back to the expected 50% only hatch and one has a really good chance for only one chick. I think it would not be good at all to have only one chick.

I am one of those people that look at the eggs on ebay most everyday. Haven't bought any (yet).

I second what Landperson says..

I've gotten my best from here..
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=36

(besides direct from the breeders) In my opinion that is the best place left to get eggs..

I got a box of Serama eggs from a girl there and had an amazing hatch rate from her eggs!

I agree, that small amount of eggs is hardly worth the Shipping costs let alone the bid price! I cant for the life of me understand how they can allow a $12.00 to $12.50 Shipping cost on the box , and when you get it , you find that the total shipping was only $8.00 . This is on pretty much every Auction from 4 eggs to a dozen, with the shipping calculator!
Ive never tried BYC for eggs, are they auction or straight sell items? Do they use Paypal or personal checks? I am going to have to go over and check them out. Havent been there for a while. I do however like to compare their advise and wisdom with what I learn over here on DG.

They have a regular auction section on BYC but in there are also buy it now items with the fixed price. I got both my batches of hatching eggs on BYC. These last ones were it buy it now flat price. As far as I can see everyone needs to be paid by paypal right after the auction so the eggs can be shipped out very quickly, just like on ebay as far as that is concerned.

If the sellar uses a priority mail large flate rate box then shipping would actually cost $14.00. If they use just the larger size non flate rate then of course it depends on were its going. So I would say a seller has no way of knowing if the winning bidder will be close so that the postage is less or far away so that the postage is much more. And I want to point out that the actual postage is not the total cost of shipping as all that bubble wrap has to cost something.

But my complaint with that 4 egg auction I was pointing out in my post above is that I just don't feel that there is a decent chance to get afew live chicks, especially girls from that small a selection.

In defense of the high shipping price, I also agree that $12. is not high for shipping.. it's not the postage.. it's the bubble wrap, paper, tape, and time and money to gather everything for shipping. I've shipped eggs many times, and trust me.. it's not worth the money. It's not easy to do.. and there is no guarantee they will survive the trip even if everything DOES go right.
It sounds easy enough.. and the product is free... but take into consideration from gathering... packing.. getting it to the post office on time... there is 0 profit, Especially if you count the time it takes to do all that.. (Not to mention gasoline to get to town)

I don't even bid on 6 egg auctions either.. Like Rita says.. it's just too much of a gamble and then the roo to pullet ratio has to be factored in... so even with a 6 egg auction, if you get a 50% hatch rate.. you might not even get a hen!

Okay it is The 21 day!!!! My Chihuahua ,Mr. P.P., woke me up at 5:00am..... he let me know that something was happening!!!

As you see I have one very healthy little guy Struggling!! The other two pipped and died almost immediately afterwards. Tooo sad!

Its now 7:30 I have to go to work!! Ding Dangit!!! I have to leave him!! He is stronger now and trying to stand!
Next up date this afternoon......

I hope you get lots more chicks. So sorry about the ones that immediately died. Will be waiting for updates.

I am at work and just got a call from my Roommate.... all is not well with the other babies! No pips no anything... sooo sad!!! The one little guy is hopping around like mad though! That is a good thing!!! Cant wait to get home!!!

Maybe they are just late hatching.

Hope So!

I am no help as I really know nothing about these things as you all know. My only hatch so far started early and anything that didn't hatch on that 21st day just didn't make it. But I have read were people get hatching still on day 23.

Sending good hatching vibes!!!!!

Well here is little Precious. Mr. P.P. has become its Nanny! Out of 11 eggs only 3 survived. I am not going to be upset or sad... just happy about ......................

My Three little Frizzle babies....... Precious....Drizzle..........and......Crystal

They are so cute.

That is just too awesome.

My question is always .. what do you do with them all after you hatch them?

I would love to hatch and watch the babies grow, but then what?

Guess some sell them, some eat them, and some give them room and board.

Congrats Eufaula, always enjoy reading and seeing these pictures.

If I had my way I'd have a ton of chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys.

I can't keep very many but I just want to keep right on growing them out and hatching. I would love to have bunches and bunches. But I figgure if I do a batch then give away the roosters and duplicate type hens. For instance if I get lucky with the Lavander Orps, don't need to keep a big batch of hens, only one or two. But I should get so lucky I have so many to choose from.

Oh my ...What do I do with them??? LOL!! Ive asked myself that same question many times!!
First and foremost there are the Layers , My buff orps. and soon(I hope) my Black Copper Maran Girls in the Hen house. I will be adding my newest babies born in july, for spring laying, soon.... My baby Wyandorps!!
Since I didnt have a Buff O roo and only had a beautiful BLRWyandotte I needed at least on BLRW Hen!
I got interested in Seramas( thank You Haystack) and decided it would be fun to raise a couple of pairs(LOL) and maybe show them. Those couple of pairs have now increased to 3 pairs and a trio!!
I was gifted a pair of beautiful Blue Cochins.... strictly pets . Then I got the idea that since I had the Cochins well I might as well see about getting at least one pair of Frizzles, hence the Ebay babies I just hatched.
Then another friend Gifted me 6RIR's....all are Hens One Roo!! I think I will keep a Trio and trade or sell the rest.
Oh and yes.. I have a pair of Cuckoo Marans.... Im hoping to get a lot of darker eggies this Spring!
Now at present I have 5 Chicken Houses and enclosures and one big brooder (ex- Rabbit Hutch) and one 50 gallon Chick/terrarium brooder.
All I can think of everyday is building another beautiful Chicken house and breeding more beautiful birds.... ooOooops! Did I mention my Little Guineas????

Eufaula I'm glad to hear there is someone worse than I am about gradually accumulating chickens! Years ago I started with three Barred Rocks that were a mothers' day gift and I now have four overflowing coops - mostly of gift chickens! Time to build another coop!