Shipping Hatching Eggs

I sold my first hatching eggs! I had not gotten my incubator ready and I really wanted to separate the Bourbon Reds from my last two Blue Slates so I could try to increase my breeding flock, but I really hated to waste perfectly good fertile eggs. I thought that surely someone would be interested in them, so I listed them on the local poultry swap Facebook page. I didn't have high hopes that anyone would want to buy my mixed breed turkey eggs, but figured that someone local would at least save money by not having to pay shipping. The response was amazing! And most of them lived several hours away and were willing to pay for shipping! My sweet little turkeys have always been impressive to me and people would have thought that the eggs were made of jewels or gold as excited as I have been about them, but I was a bit surprised to see that others shared my point of view. I have a waiting list of people that want me to get in touch with them when I have more eggs or when I hatch out babies. I'm kinda worried that I might not get any of my own! I'm going to have to put some in my incubator as soon as I get them separated before I sell more because I don't know how long they will continue to lay.

I made sure that the buyer knew the risks of shipping eggs. The USPS is the only service that will ship hatching eggs and they are not always the most gentle with packages. It makes me a nervous wreck when I order chicks, but they are loud and make it difficult to forget that the package is fragile and needs to be processed quickly. Even so, I had a box of chicks lost in the mail last year. I called everyone I could find a number for, eventually getting in touch with the person in charge of postal service for the entire state. By the time we located them and they were sent on to me they had been in the mail for more than 3 days and over half of them were dead. The hatchery was wonderful and gave me a full replacement, but it didn't make me feel better about all of those poor chicks dying needlessly. Loosing or smashing the box aren't the only things you have to worry about when shipping eggs. Temperature fluctuations, shaking or jarring of the box, and even turning the box upside down for long periods are enough to damage the eggs and make them unhatchable. The air cells in the eggs need to remain intact. Even if the eggs are not cracked or broken, the contents can be scrambled inside the egg!

I went to extremes to ensure that the eggs arrived in one piece. I found a small box that all of the eggs would fit in with about twice the amount of room than the eggs would need. I padded the sides and bottom of the box with foam. Then, I wrapped each egg in a sheet of bubble wrap and taped it. The wrapped eggs were placed on their sides (I figured that it was more likely for the USPS to turn the box upside down than sideways, upside down would disrupt the air sac). After covering the wrapped eggs with another sheet of foam, I taped the box up well. I wrapped that box in a larger sheet of bubble wrap and placed it inside a larger box that had been lined with crumpled up shopping bags (I hate paying for something that gets thrown away when I can reuse something that would have been thrown away or recycled, anyway!). I padded the entire box with the crumpled shopping bags so that there was no movement of the inner box and I felt that it would add enough of a bumper area, including the top of the box. I then took the box to the post office and had them tape it closed really well for me. I wrote on the top and all four sides that the contents were fragile and that there were live embryos in the box. The postal worker told me that it is actually illegal to ship live embryos, so I made sure I added on the outside of the box that they were hatching eggs. I wanted to make sure that they would not X-ray the package and damage them in any way. I had them shipped express and asked them to hold the package at the post office, rather than having it ride around even longer, on potentially bumpy roads, with the postal worker, and the have it delivered in conditions that may not have been favorable. I put the customers phone number on the box and wrote that they should call her on arrival.

 Because there was tracking on the box, I knew when it had arrived at the post office. I texted her and made sure that all of the egglettes had arrived and she was happy with her order. She said they all made it in perfect shape, and that her and her children were really excited about hatching turkey poults! Of course, they could be internally damaged and it not show on the outside. Unfortunately, turkey eggs are really too thick to candle, so we won't know for 28 days. I sure hope her and the kids get to enjoy some sweet baby turkey-heads soon! She promised to send pictures of my grand-chicks if/when they hatch! I think I am just as excited as they are! I wish them all the luck in the world and hope that they enjoy their round-headed babies as much as I have enjoyed their parents!