The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: the great composto on August 13, 2012, 03:16:10 pm
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I am giving up buying hatching eggs through ebay. :rant: Another batch of 12 eggs (2 sets of 6 from different suppliers) and just 1 lonely chick as a result.
I Checked the eggs and the other 11 not fertile.
The only goods news is that both the suppliers did instant refunds when I contacted them - i wanted chicks tho'
The quick, no quibble refund is suspicious I think.
Has anybody used a supplier of Light sussex and got success?
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cluck-cottage chickens on ebay. monster chickens, good hatch rate.
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Where abouts are you, maybe you'd be better off finding someone local to you??
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thanks for the replies that ebayer seems excellent - i think i will try that one.
There are people local but not local enough compared to a few pounds of postage.
I am a bit dubious about the disclaimer about the affect of posting eggs.
I will try again with cluck cottage who claim 100% success for two years witht he light sussex - surely I cannot fail with that guarantee.
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We bought hens from the Canny Chicken Company, she sells on Ebay.
The set up was presentable, hens are fine but don't know how good a rate of success she has with the eggs she posts out.
HTH
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I have just bought eggs from Cheshire Poultry. 3 French Copper Blue Marans and 3 Barred Wyandottes. They are under my broody at the moment and due to hatch at the end of this week. :fc:
Sally
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I bought 24 LS off a guy on ebay that were supposed to be very good birds.
2 chicks.
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We sell eggs from our LS and our RIR on ebay. We've had excellent reports from buyers of both. I think if the eggs are good when sent out you should have no problems but there are some unscrupulous sellers who'll sell any old shite just to get a few quid in. I had some goose eggs earlier in the year that were rotten I reckon they were failed incubations but the tw&t sold them anyway.
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we havent had great results with buying eggs thru post, never tried ebay.
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Thanks again for the info sounds like its not just me.
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The disclaimer regarding the postal service is a valid one TGC. Also depends on your incubator of course, but isf you are sure they were infertile perhaps that is OK. No substitute for fetching the eggs yourslf -you can see the parents and the condition they are in while you are there. We never post our hatching eggs -collect or go somewhere else.
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i dont think its fair to slam poultry farmers for selling on ebay, we considered it, and wudnt like to be thought of as poor quality producers because of it. i know a v good poultry farmer up the road used to sell on there and there eggs are in good demand at market.
we have bought many eggs by post and always had poor results, about 40% was the best, and that lady still send us extra eggs as she wanted us to have a good hatch rate. top quality birds too.
i wouldnt like to sell on ebay and then have to refund either as there r sooo many variable beyond the sellers control with incubation alone.
the only seller who has got my goat were britannia rare breeds in england, they were so expensive £2.50 per egg plus p&p and sent me golf balls shaped eggs, which were never gona hatch even if the queen sat on them. u would always discard such an egg, not sell it. grrrr
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We have had some good and some bad from ebay. To be honest I'm not going to bother again, last lot (Cream Legbars) we ended up with one cockerel. I don't think its worth the risk really. Quite exciting as you think you can get anything, but the reality is, its costly and there are no real guarantees.
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We have had some good and some bad from ebay. To be honest I'm not going to bother again, last lot (Cream Legbars) we ended up with one cockerel. I don't think its worth the risk really. Quite exciting as you think you can get anything, but the reality is, its costly and there are no real guarantees.
totally agree it is a risk and the single chick I have will be a cockerel if sod's law has any say in it.
Still fun to do as long as you dont think too hard about the real costs.
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I've had good results from eBay - used southyeofarmeast they are in Devon and sell alot of hatching eggs through the post. I had all but one hatch- bantom crode langshan. I also had almost all hatch from another seller-(silver laced wyndotts)- even though one egg was brOken when they arrived. The damn chicks died at 6 weeks old as a storm blew the font of the house off and they died from getting cold and wet- damn things!!
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I have had mixed results over the year, i would buy off some one who's only selling occasionally (you will see on feed back( can some times see hatch rate also)) that way you will know they had been hatching for themselves and only selling the surplus few, secondly you can search by distance to your location - try finding some one close and collect this would hopefully improve the hatch rate.
The post definitely changes things i have had eggs from the same breeder twice over the period of a month and a half, first one i got 3 out of 12, second i got 10 out of 12 - i know the person and they were out of the same pen who was getting 8-10 out of 12 for her hatches.
It is very variable on breed / cross some more highly bred birds seem harder to get fertile and hatch whilst your cross bred with hybrid vigour may hatch after half a dozen power cuts - no rhyme or reason. If the advert says they are using breeders pellets that's a bonus also. Don't pay silly money for eggs, i always work it out that if i got 1 out of 6 would i have payed that for an adult bird of that breed/ strain that means anything else is a bonus. You are defiantly taking a chance but its a good way to get strains that aren't near you
I always rest my eggs for a day ( don't know if its an old wife's tale but i do it anyway)
Also buy more than half a dozen - a dozen / 2 dozen ( get them to send a doz at a time as otherwise they will be sitting to long) - that way if 1 hatched per 6 you at least have 4
I have big light Sussex but breeding pens are done for this year, (Plenty of growers but i am in central Scotland a bit far from you) if you are still struggling let me know next spring if you are still looking for hatching eggs out of a fertile pen.
Also Re golf ball eggs there are a few big breeds of hens that will lay them i have hatched them before not what you want for selling eggs but a few heavy breed have a tendency to produce these
Cheers
BL
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Also Re golf ball eggs there are a few big breeds of hens that will lay them i have hatched them before not what you want for selling eggs but a few heavy breed have a tendency to produce these
these were from old english pheasant fowl, which we also kept at home, so know they normally lay regular shaped small white eggs. we got one hatch out of 12, priced at £2.50 each egg.
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Try Rosie Posie for light sussex.
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iv sold hatching eggs on e bay and on here .i think iff not good send a nother lot ,But do remember iff eggs sent first class they go through the cylinder sorter in the post .they could be in there for 40 minutes and more .The golden rule no e bay next day delivery and local or on here .I think we should have a place for eggs so members can pic up eggs .say £10 for 12 iv done chicks naw we sex them .
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Thanks Omni - I will try rosie posie too - be good if they are in collecting distance.
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I asked where you are because I have light sussex and anyone else on here might know someone in your area too
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Henstock - sorry I didnt realise - I am in northampton. There are local suppliers here and i have emailed 4 or 5 trying to get young chick to be with my single hatchling but not luck.
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I have had very mixed results. Not just from ebay either. I do think that the lugging about of the postal system does not help at all. I have much better results from picking up eggs locally. Problem is when you are trying to get breeding stock you have to look a little further. I gor some Lavender Cuckoo LF Orpington eggs at a premium price and got 5 out of 6 hatch also gor LF Chocolate Orpington Eggs again at a premium price and only got 1. Quite dissapointing. Oh and not to mention the expensive miniature Bearded Silkies from Ebay that was a big fat ZERO result. Contacted the seller and not even a reply. I only wanted to advise that the fertility could be poor. I should have said his cockerel was a jaffa ;D Mabe not. ::)
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What really annoys me is the postage costs some put on.
To post 6 eggs costs £2.70 and they usually add a £1 for the polybox. (Which is about 60p each) so thats around £3.70.
Most of them charge over £6 + another rip off.
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More often than not it's the posting that damages the eggs, not the fault of the breeding birds. Even eggs in polyboxes will rupture the air cell if handled roughly, try candling the eggs on arrival to see if the air cell is intact at the blunt end and not floating all round the egg, if not they will not hatch.
Although time consuming, the best way to send eggs through the post is to wrap each one in bubble wrap, sandwich them between two egg trays taped together firmly and place in a box surrounded evenly with shredded paper, enough to fill the box so the eggs can't move.
I've posted many eggs like this with great results.
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the best results I have ever had incubating was to buy some eggs from a farm off the side of the road and stick em all in. Nearly everyone hatched...all were fertile and I had a gorgeous range of light sussex x rhode island red, a bluebell, a couple of grey and french copper bantams as well as a cream legbar. AND I ONLY PAID £1.50 FOR 12 FERTILE EGGS! 10 hatched. 15pence a chick! Brilliant!
Needless to say, next time I incubate....guess where I am going.
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the best results I have ever had incubating was to buy some eggs from a farm off the side of the road and stick em all in. Nearly everyone hatched...all were fertile and I had a gorgeous range of light sussex x rhode island red, a bluebell, a couple of grey and french copper bantams as well as a cream legbar. AND I ONLY PAID £1.50 FOR 12 FERTILE EGGS! 10 hatched. 15pence a chick! Brilliant!
Needless to say, next time I incubate....guess where I am going.
i bet...ha
i rem someone hatched a duckling out of supermarket duck eggs once, was in the paper, rem the farmer trying to say they had no drake in with the ducks...ha
;D ;D
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I have had some poor hatches this year both from eggs off ebay and my own eggs , at the start of the season I was getting 95% hatches from my own eggs then suddenly the last 3 lots have only hatched 3 or 4 chicks out both with the incubator and under broodys
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Sokel - do you think its just the luck of the draw and i should try again then?
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Try Rosie Posie for light sussex.
I can definitely recommend Rosie Posie. I bought 15 turkey hatching eggs from her this year and I had 100% hatch rate. All her birds are in fantastic condition. I think if you want decent hatching eggs then sometimes you need to be prepared to travel for them.
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Thanks Brijjy - i did try but no light sussex available from rosie. I have managed to buy 2 local chicks to keep my lone LS company. I have also bought some better quality eggs from a recommended source & will just have one more go - i will keep you posted.
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my dad hatched his quails from a box of a dozen off the shelves of Waitrose!
the only point of ebay is that you don't have to take time out to travel looking for stuff. but I would be checking here first! (thankful for the lovely Scots greys hatched from eggs found here)
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Sokel - do you think its just the luck of the draw and i should try again then?
I have found that the eggs from sellers that sell a lot of eggs are a lot more reliable than the sellers that just sell the odd half dozen, I have had some really good hatches in the past some have been 100% hatch rate
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Hi,I have bought lots of eggs off ebay from lots of different vendors and have generally had fairly good results 50% +. The couple of times there have been a problem the sellers have been incredibly helpful and have sent replacement egg straight away.
The worst eggs I ever bought were from a local person who sells them as part of a business,I emailed them to inform them of the poor hatch rate the said yes we think roger there cock buff orpington was getting a bit over weight so they even new.£24 for a dozen mostly infertile eggs what a rip off.
Graham.
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Try Rosie Posie for light sussex.
I can definitely recommend Rosie Posie. I bought 15 turkey hatching eggs from her this year and I had 100% hatch rate. All her birds are in fantastic condition. I think if you want decent hatching eggs then sometimes you need to be prepared to travel for them.
oh thanks both of you, always nice to have personal recommendations, much appreciated :thumbsup:
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What really annoys me is the postage costs some put on.
To post 6 eggs costs £2.70 and they usually add a £1 for the polybox. (Which is about 60p each) so thats around £3.70.
Most of them charge over £6 + another rip off.
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EGGACTLEY.... Its no yolk shelling out for postage.]