The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: HesterF on January 13, 2014, 09:47:11 pm
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So I'm hoping to sell a few hatching eggs this year and looking to pick the brains of those of you who've been there, done that (or bought for that matter):
1) Where do I buy the polystyrene boxes to post them in? Including duck eggs?
2) I was planning to sell via eBay - is that the best option?
3) If via eBay, do I set the price or should I just fix a price with Buy it Now?
4) What postal service have you used? Is Royal Mail the best option and if so, just first class or .....?
Anything else to consider? I'll be selling four different types of eggs if that's relevant - buff Orpington chickens, gold laced Orps, Cayuga ducks and Silver Appleyard ducks.
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For the last few years I've sold hatching eggs via ebay. It's a good way to sell them but there are some pitfalls which I'll come to in a minute.
I used to buy my egg boxes off ebay there are loads of sellers.
I always set a buy it now price rather than an auction. Ocasionally eggs will fetch a higher price but once the season gets into full swing there are so many sellers you can end up giving them away.
I always used 1st class post and never had any problems.
I've decided not to sell on ebay this year for various reasons. Partly because it's very time consuming packing eggs and getting them posted. Buyers expect it done NOW this minute. I also became frustrated with the unrealistic expectations that some buyers have. For example one complained that only 8 out of 12 had hatched. Another left negative feedback without even contacting me, I would have sorted out any problems if they had. I shouldn't be too down on it the majority are great, pay promptly and are happy with what they get but the few idiots are the ones that stick in my mind.
The other reason I've stopped is ebay and paypal's charges. They have become really excessive I think. Capped by ebay starting to charge commision on the postage and packaging fee that you charge your buyers. I think this is just taking the p155 so I'm not having any of it.
I 'll continue to sell eggs via forums and locally but ebay's not for me anymore.
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I used to sell hatching eggs and just put a ad in the local paper and found there was more than enough demand locally. That was 15 years ago, and I still get the odd person ringing me up to see if I have any. (I usually have a few.)
My sister has bought several lots off ebay, from different sources and hardly any of them have hatched, or even started to hatch. This could be because the eggs were not fresh enough, not been stored or produced properly, or various other reasons. But the fact that they were from different people, so you would expect a good hatch from at least one source, led me to believe that perhaps the postal service is not a good way of transporting fertile eggs.
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We sold hatching eggs on a 'collection only' basis at £2 each. If someone is serious about hatching their chosen breed and not just playing at it they will travel. We had someone expressed real interest in Leghorn Bantams, or so we thought. When they discovered we were 30 miles away and then that half the hatch would be cockerels they changed their mind!!!
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led me to believe that perhaps the postal service is not a good way of transporting fertile eggs.
Its definitely not.
I appreciate sometimes there is no other way but I would only advise people to use it as the VERY last resort.
I spent many years working in commercial breeding and hatcheries and great care is taken with the eggs to prevent any sudden movements which could damage them, even the lorries for transporting the eggs are fitted with specialised suspension and temperature/humidity controlled trailer units.
Eggs can certainly be securely wrapped for posting to stop the shells breaking but there is nothing that can stop them suffering shock damage internally.
it doesn't take much of a jolt for the chalazae which hold the yolk in place to become detached and stop the egg developing.
(http://www.geauga4h.org/poultry/egg_labeled.gif)
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Great diagram! :thumbsup:
That helps the understanding of why the post isnt great but then surely travelling any distance - even collected by car has a fair old risk to it.
I assume the post office handles the packages with some level of care ( sometimes) because there are eggs that hatch and survive the postal service.
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I've sold eggs in the past to 'forum mates' at the same price that I'd get for eating eggs at the gate plus carriage.
I have some friends out there with very good chickens thanks to my efforts. I love doing it and I don't begrudge them benefitting from my efforts one bit. To me, its just a hobby and all part of forum life.
That's not to say that I haven't considered selling on E-bay but I never have and never will. You're always going to get complaints whether real or made up and in just the same way, there are always going to be cheats and incompetents amongst the genuine people. Selling eggs on E-bay IMO, is far too much hassle.
Edited to say that I'd also have to be pretty desperate to buy from E-bay too.
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Great diagram! :thumbsup:
That helps the understanding of why the post isnt great but then surely travelling any distance - even collected by car has a fair old risk to it.
I assume the post office handles the packages with some level of care ( sometimes) because there are eggs that hatch and survive the postal service.
Someone collecting by car is usually going to be gentle with them, they'd be placed in the car and unless they go for a bit of impromptu rally driving or hit some serious potholes then the eggs aren't going to get too severe a treatment, they certainly won't be getting turned over etc.
The post on the other hand is a whole new ballgame, have you ever seen them take your parcel in the PO and DROP it into the collection sack?
Then every time it gets moved, checked, scanned, transferred etc the eggs get turned/flipped/jolted etc
The chalazae that suspend the yolk in place are basically just like two rubber bands, they suspend the yolk in place.
It is possible to twist them so tightly by turning the egg repeatedly in the one direction that they break, just like over tightening the rubber band in one of these model planes.
Thats the reason when turning eggs during incubation, its better to mark them on either side and turn them back and forward the same way between the marks, it stops the chalazae tightening up and breaking.
Certainly it does work, I regularly see people reporting 100% fertility/hatch rates from posted eggs so it can be done but overall there must be a decrease in the hatch rates to varying degrees in posted eggs
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I wouldnt buy postal eggs again if I couldnt help it. Hatch rate went from 20% via postal eggs to 98% using non-postal. unfortunately now, ebay is really geared in the favour of the buyer so personally think selling eggs on eBay wouldn't be worth the hassle.
fwiw the best packaged eggs I had (the best hatch) was from eggs wrapped in kitchen towel, put in an egg box that was also padded with cotton wool, which was then put in a cardboard box with more packing-didnt have much luck with the polystyrene packaging. I got 9 chicks from 16 that time.
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Before 9/11, every year I used to send hatching eggs to my mate in NYS America. I always sent them at Easter time, always marked them as Easter eggs, they always got through and he always got a 50% or more hatch rate. So while travelling long distances must have an effect on the eggs, it certainly isn't the be all and end all. There are other factors at work too. Its also down to how you look after your breeding stock, how you store and then pack the eggs and what the would be hatcher does at the other end. There are many many imponderables when it comes to buying and selling hatching eggs.
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Thats certainly true but nothing will have a greater effect on the hatch rates than being bumped about in transit or the effects of temperature and humidity etc.
Hatchings eggs should be stored point down and a decrease in hatch rates will be seen in eggs which aren't, even though they are stored in otherwise perfect conditions.
Once they are posted there is no control over what way up they are, so that alone can make a difference.
I have actually considered buying some through the post myself so I would have certainly tried it had I not managed to source some nearer home.
But yes, as you say there are many factors, I see sellers blaming buyers for poor hatching practices and buyers blaming sellers for infertile eggs etc but I suspect the majority of the problems they have are caused by the actual transporting of the eggs themselves.
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I don't see a problem I have stock in the north of England and durum .egg boxes pact in a box .Just had some from durum I look at it if I'm after a cock bird and I get 3 that's fine I push for 12 if you're eggs are sent 50 to 100 miles all will be OK .post curia post is better for over 12 eggs next day should be the one 6 pound and 12pound post about 10 pound .I had 53 breeds with 5 hens and 2 cocks the better the stock the more you will get .My best was chocolate or pingtons 12 made 27 pound .If you had large silk is i would say 12 to 15 pound.when I was winning the shows I would put a tray in the Mart 50 pound plus .There are 6 breeds that will sell like hot cakes .Silver lace wyndotts 2 pound each silkis large blue black white 2 pound Marians dark egg only 1.50 each copper blue Scots dumpy and good roads and the best sex Link legbars and copper tops if the stock is good you could make 25 pound a day sale days 100 no problem 2 cocks in a group of 5 geese I paid 35 for pilgrims west of England 40 so 1 big pen of silkies 15 hens and 2 cocks 12 eggs 20 pound a pop gum tree face book etc .I have the national and federation winners pend up together 1 egg from them would be 10 each 60 for 6 good luck.
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I bought some on Friday via ebay, not expecting much due to time of year and as mentioned above, but they were very well wrapped, outer layer of 'fragile tape' this way up etc, all eggs packaged the right way up. I've just left them in a cool dark room to settle. It's our very first time so I'm not expecting great success if I get 2 out of 12 I will be a happy new chick mum. I went for eggs that were at 'buy it now' due to watching and setting a minimum bid on a few eggs they went for ridiculous sums (had the buyers gone direct to the sellers website they could of bought twice the amount for less - ebay - 6 eggs £32!! Website 12 eggs £20) anyway!
I'm quite excited to give it a go! Postage for the 12 eggs we bought was £4.50 next day delivery via Royal Mail.
Good luck on your venture :)
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I've bought from ebay many times. You get what you get. We've had 100% on a batch of silkies and utter failure on others. Luck of the draw. I suspect you are not only contending with the post but also the care the seller has taken to make sure they are fertile, or even the right breed. We've had all kinds of mungrels but also some very nice birds so it's a matter of getting to know who are the good sellers. We bought some legbar eggs last year that were tiny and not one hatched. One was fertile but it wasn't strong enough to get out. Pullet eggs I guess.
If buying postal eggs I would always expect about 50% success, that seems to be what we get on average. I will be selling some on ebay this year but then I run an eBay business anyway with over 100k feedback (not poultry related) so am well used to dealing with those 'special' customers. My advice would be to set up a dedicated egg selling ID, don't use your main one as feedback may get trashed. Also consider selling something small like leg rings or whatever just to keep the feedback ticking and the averages up.
As for packing, the few we have sent in the post go in a standard egg box with some 'eco flo' which is like poly chips but softer in there to stop them rattling. Then into a double walled A4 box filled with more eco flo. You could swap the eco flow for scrunched up or shredded paper maybe? Never had any complaints. I don't personally like those poly box things, I think they would transmit far more shock than my method.
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As sterio said boxes I don't like the polastirene box ether.
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I keep a record of whom I have bought from on eBay, how many showed signs of fertility and how many actually hatched. A pattern very quickly emerges of those that are doing their best to ensure they are sending good quality eggs and those that are putting any old egg in a box. It's worth keeping the record in case you see an auction a few months later that interests you, then you can quickly check to see if you have encountered the seller before.
Most of my sales pass without incident, but there are always a few that are difficult. Sometimes buyer expectations are too high, or they feel that a threat of negative feedback can extort more free eggs from you which sort of ruins the whole experience. It always strikes me as odd that a person may want a refund but refuses to return the original eggs. In what other scenario would you ever expect to get a refund if you don't return the original goods?! On the positive side, it is great to hear positive feedback from buyers letting you know they have had a good hatch and the chicks are doing well.
Don't expect to make a profit - as previously said ebay and Paypal fees take all that from you.
I use Special Delivery for most sales. On the theory that the eggs are handled a bit more gently and it is guaranteed next day. But anyway, it is a tracked service so it prevents any claims of 'it never arrived ... send me some more', and also if someone is generally interested in the breed and their welfare, they will be prepared to pay a bit extra to ensure a smoother quicker delivery.
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Some misguided punters even associate blood spots as being a sign of egg fertility, so what chance have you got? :roflanim:
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On reflection, and having read other people's experiences here, I think the main reason I've stopped selling on ebay is because I got fed up of dealing with idiots. I used to go to great lengths to ensure fertility was top notch and that the eggs were looked after as well as possible. I got a lot of positive feedback from very satisfied customers but the few that weren't reasonable spoilt the whole thing. I've just remembered one who demanded that I send out a batch of fresh eggs because they hadn't been in when they were delivered and the postman had left them in their porch, where it was quite hot.. How is that my problem?
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Interesting Scribble. Why wouldn't you expect a profit? It seems the general buy it now price for eggs is £1 each plus £9 or so postage.so £15 for 6. Given that with a PPI account you can send them 1st class for about £2.50, ebay will take maybe £1.50 plus your listing fees, paypal £50p or so, packaging 50p. Seems like a profit to me.
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Thanks all - some really useful information.
I am reluctant to use eBay because they are no longer the site they used to be when it was mostly individuals selling stuff. Now it's mostly businesses that are often just specialists in selling 'stuff' on eBay. I prefer Preloved and have bought some lovely birds through them plus sold a couple but you can't sell hatching eggs. Having said that, I'm with Stereo - there must be some profit to be made, even if it's less than it was. Given I sell eggs for eating at £1.30 for half a dozen (chickens) or £1.50 for ducks, surely I'd still make more than that through eBay even if I don't sell huge amounts?
I've never bought hatching eggs via eBay but I did get three lots posted last year and was pretty impressed with the fertility. One lot of ducks, I hatched six out of six eggs and overall I had 12 fertile out of 19 which is not far off what I'd expect at home. I was talking to a big breeder recently though and she said she's pulled out of eBay for the reason many of you have mentioned - the few that just complain that they haven't got 100% fertility and are completely unreasonable.
It sounds sensible to set up an alternative ID just for selling eggs so I don't trash the rest of my profile (I have other stuff to clear when I get my act together) and I need to look into packaging and postage (special delivery charges vs. first class, what's a PPI account?).
If anybody has any other suggestions of where else to advertise (apart from on here), shout them out!
Thanks.
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It's not a PPI account as such, but packetpost which is a bulk mailing service. The PPI is the stamp you see on some post which now say 24 or 48 etc. There are much wider size limits and you can send a 1kg box for about £2.60 I think. Google it. Only problem is that you need to send 5000 packets a year but you can get away with a lot less. I guess there are also things like Myhermes or whatever which are cheap.
We use the 48 service and average under 1kg for our bulk posting so pay £1.80 per packet. A guy sent something back to us the other day and it cost him £9.10 at the PO counter. So maybe finding a way to use packetpost is the key. Any internet mail order businesses nearby? They might be happy for you to use their account for a small premium.
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If you're a bona fide fully participating member, then most forums will only be happy to allow you to sell your hatching eggs through their trading post sections. What they don't like, are members who register just to advertise. :chook:
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Interesting Scribble. Why wouldn't you expect a profit? It seems the general buy it now price for eggs is £1 each plus £9 or so postage.so £15 for 6. Given that with a PPI account you can send them 1st class for about £2.50, ebay will take maybe £1.50 plus your listing fees, paypal £50p or so, packaging 50p. Seems like a profit to me.
Personally I only charge my P&P at cost as I know it annoys me when I buy eggs and pay so much for posting knowing it will turn up with a first class stamp. In terms of profit per egg, on first glance it would appear like a profit, but when you consider you will have had to feed a cockerel and other hens who may not have contributed to the egg box, plus bedding, medicine, your own time, etc the profit is minimal. I prefer to consider it a self-funding hobby. Certainly more profit could be made around the P&P, but I tend to avoid sellers charging high postage costs as it feels like profiteering. Personally I would prefer they charge more for their eggs as it would indicate they place a higher value on the quality of their product.
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I used to charge 12 quid for a dozen and after fees I reckon I came away with just under 9 quid, That is a big difference from £1.50 for half a dozen eating eggs but it does come with an awful lot of hassle. My original plan was to increase the number of breeds I had in order to sell more eggs but you have to think of all the background costs like separate housing and runs for all the different breeds. Plus you'll end up with a lot of birds that still need feeding in the winter when they're not laying and nobody's buying the eggs anyway. Not to mention the difficulties of breeding a flock worth breeding from multiplied by however many breeds you're keeping. I know there are a lot of scallies on ebay selling any old crap but if you want to do it properly it's not as simple as it first looks.
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To keep a particular breed of chickens properly, you need to keep several pens of that breed. The exercise should be a science rather than just throwing a few birds of the same breed in together. Doing it well is expensive, so I look upon selling the occasional setting of eggs more as of a way of offsetting the cost of what should be a pleasurable hobby, rather than trying to make a profit.
IMO, there's no way that someone who offers eggs from a 101 different breeds can be doing the job properly. I've never bought eggs from E-bay but when on occasion I've spotted something that I fancy, I always check to see what else the vendor has up for sale. There are loads of chicken peddlers out there and it pays to steer well clear of them if you can.
Selling hatching eggs can come with a lot of hassle and that's when the pleasure part of your hobby can disappear. That's why I don't do it, who needs the pressure for just a few quid? :chook:
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I've already worked out that the poultry will never really pay for itself - certainly never enough to make a living out of. It just seemed that since I've gone to the trouble of assembling some beautiful pure-breed birds, I'd be better off selling hatching eggs than eating eggs (because I sure as heck can't eat all the eggs myself so I need to do something with them). So when I look at the profits, I'm just looking at 'does this transaction make money?' i.e. if I sell six hatching eggs for £8 or whatever, am I bringing in more than I would if I just sold them at the school gate? And unless eBay is taking over £6, the answer is yes. So since I've already got all the birds, and they're all laying eggs, I've nothing to lose by trying. I may well throw in the towel for the sake of the hassle after a year and sell all the eggs via the local farm shop but it'd be nice to try first.
I'm not planning on showing my own birds (that really is a time consuming hassle) but I'm partly in it to support rare breeds and so it's better for those breeds as well if I can sell decent quality hatching eggs so other people have got them too. The only breed I've got more than one pen of is the West of England geese because they are so rare, it was worth getting two, relatively unrelated, top quality pairs so that I can breed unrelated pairs to sell on. But I'm hoping to raise them myself - they're too precious to send eggs off all over the place. With the others, most people don't seem to offer unrelated hatching eggs so I'm happy to have one pen and just make sure I don't end up with inbreeding myself in the next generation or two.
H
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I sold half a doz egg on ebay and that was enough for me. They were excellent eggs and they got a good hatch rate and left feedback to say. Received ok or something similar. Paid a very low price then pm'd me saying they would have as many as I could supply at that price.
It might be worth setting up your own website, especially for the West of England Geese. It always worked well for me.
I had one for my Cuckoo Marans and one for my Cream Legbars plus a few odd ones for the Crested Ducks etc.
And you can often put adverts in the local papers free, but whether its worth waiting round for an hour for someone to turn up for half a doz eggs, who then wants to look at the stock and have a chat, may be worth taking into consideration.
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That was the problem we had. Everyone wants to have a chat and I'm not particularly happy with strangers wanting a look around my pens which are tucked away down in a valley for a good reason.
It is hard getting good stock. I could sell CLB eggs on ebay tomorrow. I've got 3 excellent hens, 4 skyline crosses and 2 poorly marked unrelated cockerels (from ebay eggs). All the hens lay blue eggs and the chicks would look like CLBs but with too much brown. But I won't go down that route. I want to get more good hens and find a really good cockerel. Maybe a bit too honest as I'm sure most ebay sellers would just go for it.
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Hester f The west of England only go fertile for a few weeks i notice if we have eggs the first 2 or 3 weeks arnt fertile. The pilgrims are the same .The eggs i put up on e bay made 35 pound the silkies only made 10 pound .I think if the stock is right you get a good price .Remember you could sell 6 and then sell another from second or 3 rd chance .So you've sold 3 lots .Face book hatching eggs is good pr loved etc.
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I suppose, thinking about it, this opens up a wider debate about breeds and quality. We know that over the years breeds have been changed by selection, mainly for showing and are not really what they were. I'm thinking of my Welsummers which are lovely birds but the strains I have are poor for meat and egg quantity but the eggs you do get are stunning to look at. But is that a useful bird? Looks nice and produces a few stunning eggs but is not the dual purpose bird most sources say it is.
I've got a pen on LS where the hens are excellent layers but not particularly well marked. The cockerel is nicely marked but not too meaty. What I suspect you will get is a load of really good laying offspring with OK markings and some cockerels that are barely worth raising. So this strain has gone more towards eggs. Should I not sell the eggs as the markings are poor? Would a buyer want super layers or do they want show quality feathering and less performance? Or are they more into the meat but wouldn't mind a few eggs from the hens?
Going back to the CLB's I mentioned before. I have all the ingredients to sell blue eggs that will look pretty much like a CLB, will lay a lot of blue eggs but will not make breed standard. If I was upfront about it, why shouldn't I sell them? Maybe people want a few cheap eggs to get blue laying mungrels. Is that wrong? Will they then line breed brothers and sisters of said mungrels and sell the eggs as show quality CLB eggs with stolen pictures?
I'm starting to see that breed quality is out of control. Everything and anything is going on out there. The problem is that anyone who has tried to get really good standards and a quantity of top quality unrelated birds together will know that it is a long and expensive business. This is a different business altogether than most of what goes on in ebay land. You might get a few sales at £3 per egg for your top quality lines but the guy charging £1 an egg for OK strains will outsell you 20 to 1.
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its an interesting debate and dilemma Stereo.
Although there's a difference between utility and show birds, at some point a breed falls so far short of the breed standard that they aren't actually that breed any more. I am choosing to not sell hatching eggs from my breeds except to existing breeders or those breeds if they want them. At least then those not good enough will be culled out of the gene pool.It might work with some breeds, but with two of my chosen breeds I don't think the quality (with my SGs and with most everyone's MDs) is good enough at the moment. Its especially true of Marsh Daisies, there are some extremely unscrupulous breeders and sellers around but have also been offered some very dodgy Scots Greys in the last three years.
By the same token though, those that want the breeds they want will go and find them, maybe its better if reputable breeders do make themselves available :D
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I'm after utility and nice stock .Cream leg bars fetch good money if the breed is right the best iv seen is a breeder in the borders .The bared rock roads Sussex are very good the mart at Dingwall has more good breeders than ENE were else .Its took me since 2006 to get mine right . I always use best hen and layer to breed .if the stock was not up to a descant standard i would sell them for back gardens and start a gain .IM having time out from march and i intend to do some think else iv done cream lag bar or pingtons roads Sussex am rock bared rock probable a large silki ha vent seen ENE size for ya res .
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I sell at the poultry auction at Hereford Market, every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month, and also at the rare breed sales at Ross-on-Wye, which are four times a year. I always test the breeding group for fertility first and only sell if I get a good hatch rate. I also collect eggs no more than three days before the sale and label them accordingly. Not everyone has the same approach to fertility, etc., so it's always a big of a lottery if you're buying, but the regulars have got to know my stock is OK and they're getting what it says on the box. I have sold on eBay in the past and got a good price but have always been concerned about how well the eggs will have fared in the postal system.
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I don't know the science on the fertility of eggs but there seems to be a big emphasis on freshness. Now if a hen raises a clutch of 12 chicks naturally, the oldest egg was 12 days old before she started sitting. So I wonder if it's so critical to get them in the incubator as soon as possible or whether failures are more likely to be down to other things like postal damage, poor incubation etc.
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Bear in mind the hen is a better incubator than anything else on the market! But, yes, point taken, there are loads of other influences on fertility than just age of the eggs.
As for the exhibition stock vs. utility stock vs. rubbish stock debate, it's got to be about finding a bit of a balance. Many rare breeds have been around for hundreds of years without any breed standards until the last century. And many are rare just because they've fallen out of favour. They're even more likely to be endangered if people feel they can't breed them because their stock is not up to it. I have no idea whether any of mine would do well at a show - I've only even been to one show and that was the poultry section of the Kent County Show which is pretty small. All I can do is read the breed standards and ensure that I only breed from those birds that meet the standards (which is why the Cayuga with the odd white feather is going). I do know that every bird I breed that meets the breed standard makes it less likely that that breed will die out - and every hatching egg that I sell may also help.
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Having explained my reasons for no longer selling hatching eggs on ebay here are my thoughts on the show vs. utility vs. mongrel debate. I've decided I'm going to keep just the one breed for now thus reducing the problems associated with keeping several breeds separate. I have four chicken coops and fencing for pens and I'll put this all to work in breeding from my RIR flock. They are pure bred, breed standard birds that I've had for about four years and my plan is to select hem for breeding based on egg laying and quality of eggs. I'm not into showing or any of the chicken snobbery that seems to be popular these days I just want to improve the performance of my flock. The reason I've chosen the RIR is that of the pure bred traditional breeds that I've kept they seem to be the best basis to start from in terms of laying and fertility. I want to continue to keep pure bred birds rather than go the hybrid route which would undoubtably give me more eggs but just isn't cricket really.
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Spot on Hughsey. There shouldn't be but there's a world of difference between a utility bird and a show bird.
In an ideal world this shouldn't be the case but in the real world, there is and I know which sort I'd rather have.
There's nothing wrong with the hobby of showing chickens but the showman breeds for rosettes and cards in mind and not for eggs or meat. I endeavor to breed pure breeds for utility and if they look the part as well as act the part, then that's a bonus. There's a big difference.
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I am not a showing fanatic but the fact remains that without showing, some of our traditional breeds may not have survived their most unfashionable periods. I'm not saying people shouldn't breed if they feel their stock isn't good enough, otherwise how could you improve it?they should just give a second thought as to where that stock ends up if that particular breed is not strong. I am only going on the breeds that I am involved in, I don't presume to talk about any of the others.
and of course, as said, its about balance-no good having a traditional breed that can't do its job. part of the problem is that many chicken breeders, me included, can't breed in the sorts of scale old time producers did anyway.
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I don't know the science on the fertility of eggs but there seems to be a big emphasis on freshness. Now if a hen raises a clutch of 12 chicks naturally, the oldest egg was 12 days old before she started sitting. So I wonder if it's so critical to get them in the incubator as soon as possible or whether failures are more likely to be down to other things like postal damage, poor incubation etc.
Fertility rates actually improve once the eggs are two days old then gradually reduce each day from then on.
at the hatchery I worked in we hatched Cobb broilers and the fertility rate was reckoned to be reduced around 0.3% per day of age (above 2 days)
Once they reached 7 days the fertility rate dropped around 0.5% per day.
We very rarely set eggs much over 10 days old.
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I don't suppose it helps when breeders keep the best birds for their own use but flog off the not so good ones to anyone who'll buy them. The not so good birds are then bred from etc etc. Your only hope when trying to improve your flock for either purpose is to concentrate on your own.
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It's also a matter for most people of actually finding good breeding stock in the first place. It took my months to find a good LS cockerel. I could have bought eggs from a good breeder and picked the best I suppose, but again that's months.
The more I think about it, if I can't find a good CLB cockerel this year, why should I breed from my poorly marked one? The resulting birds will not be brilliant but I'm sure they will look nice and lay blue eggs. Nobody is ever going to show them and if they are poorly bred again, and again, you wont even be able to recognise them as anything. The question is, does the existence of poor examples harm the breed? We can all aspire to pick the best birds and hold the standards but if we can't because we are not quite there yet with the right parent birds, what's wrong with knocking out a few sub standard birds?
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You can have LS that look fantastic but hardly lay an egg and IMO, they're a waste of space. Getting them to fulfill both criteria? Now that's the real trick these days and especially so when many of the old utility strains have disappeared.
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I got rid of my LS for that very reason. They looked fantastic but their laying was below par.
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:innocent:
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My LS hens lay like crazy. Is that a good indicator? The cockerel has better markings than them so I was hoping that he would bring better markings to the offspring but they would keep their mum's laying performance. Is that a reasonable assumption / hope? Or is it a case of wait and see.
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There isn't a reason why they shouldn't. Select resulting offspring for laying performance and markings. Its a long process and it could take a number of years before you know whether or not you're on the right track.
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Yeah, I can see that now. It's a long road.
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Its interesting though.
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This is a garantee of top stock presintation pics results grand parents markings etc take a look haw its done http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161198492129?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161198492129?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649) The hens over 100 pound each best stock in uk by far and this is haw it should be done .We have roads as good as well as silver lace wyndotts .
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Feathers are only feathers but at least the guy only has the one breed for sale.
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Well i did say who would win the eggs in the natshnal MIck grogan win 3 egg clases and in 1 he got 1/2/3 as said very good bredder.