hatching eggs

[charliefox]

hi all has this ever happened to any other members just recently i was looking to buy hatching eggs .after serching the net i came up with several possibles bearing in mind all the the ones i contacted by phone were all poultry stockists of one kind or another the responce was always the same sorry mate hens not laying yet try in a fortnight ok so how come in every case they were all selling hatching eggs on Ebay and of the type i wanted SO I WOULD LIKE TO WARN ANYONE BUYING HATCHING EGGS ON EBAY IN LIGHT OF MY RECENT EXPERIENCE MOST OF THE EGGS I PURCHASED ARRIVED IN GOOD TIME THANKS TO ROYAL MAIL EXCEPT ONE BATCH OF SIX POSTED FRIDAY STUCK IN SORTING OFFICE OVER WEEKEND ALL EGGS RECIEVED WERE EITHER A BAD SHAPE IE ROUNDED AT BOTH ENDS,TO SMALL, OR STALE,OVER TEN DAYS OLD THIS THING ABOUT THE POSTAL SERVICE HAVING AN IMPACT ON FERTILITY RATES NEEDS TESTING ITS STRANGE BECAUSE ONE BATCH OF SIX FIVE HATCHED ONLY THREE SUVIVED OTHER TWO DIED BOTH WERE DEFORMED EGGS TWO SMALL SO MY ADVICE DO NOT BUY EGGS OF EBAY AS I THINK THEY USE IT AS A DUMPING GROUND IF WHAT I THINK IS INCORRECT THEN I AM SORRY THERE IS ALWAYS AN ECEPTION ALL THE BEST UNCLE FOX

 

[Lordcluck]

I have yet to buy eggs on Ebay, although I can see it maybe a valuable source for those without contacts for a breed, or who are unable to travel to buy them. Like any auction there seems to be plenty of mediocre to downright rubbish stock offered, but there are a few pearls to be found amongst the dross.
It would appear there are a number of chancers that use photographs of other peoples birds to palm off eggs from sub standard stock, and yet others that either through ignorance or greed misrepresent a breed by making spurious claims about a bird's rarity, or quality, or indeed it's breed! I have seen eggs for auction from crested Pekins, Non Silky Black silkies, blue egg laying Dorkings etc etc, and eggs offered from birds that most breeders would have sold as pets, being given an Exhibition standard label complete with tall tales of their show successes!! I know not everybody wants show specimen birds , but to make such claims is Fraudulent and misleading!! People may sell eggs from whatever kinds of fowls they choose, but they should be honest about the stock these eggs come from!!!
Any such open Auction site lays itself bare for all kinds of abuses, and the Examples you give charliefox come as no surprise. However, there are genuine, Honest Breeders that care about the breeds they keep as well as making a little money, that do use Ebay, and offer the best quality eggs they can from the actual birds you see in the Pictures, You have to sift through the rest to find them, but they are there!!!
I would encourage anyone looking for eggs from which to hatch good quality, pure bred stock, to contact the Breed club of the variety they are interested in. Most club secretaries have a breeders list with reputable suppliers who will supply eggs by post if need be. That or search the for sale ads on the Forum, there are many good breeders to be found there also.If it's pretty garden birds you seek, and your happy to take a chance, then by all means get Bidding on Ebay!!
It's a case of of ' you pays yer money, and takes yer chances!'

 

[Marigold]

There has been a lot of discussion recently on another forum about the dangers of buying hatching eggs from unknown sellers on e-bay. Often photos are purporting to be of the parent birds but actually these are stolen from other people's websites or postings and bear no relation to what is being offered. It appears that eggs are sometimes being bought cheap at poultry auctions and then put on e-bay, so they are too old by the time they are bought and dispatched, apart from not being what is advertised. One way to reduce the risk is to see if there is a link to a suppliers website in the ebay posting. Check out the website and see if it looks genuine in its own right and has some customer feedback. Nowadays, anybody who is seriously breeding good quality stock is highly likely to have even a minimal website and to accept personal contact through this method. Also of course check feedback ratings and comments on ebay. Also be very clear when you expect the eggs to be posted and say you will only accept them if they are posted on Monday or Tuesday by first class recorded delivery. It is possible to find good suppliers via e-bay, I found an excellent contact for quail hatching eggs and was impressed by her website which gave a wealth of information and her eggs were fine and she was very helpful.

Or of course contact established genuine breeders direct through their Breed Club, or through the Forum, to find what you want, or to get personal recommendations to other breeders who may be able to help you. and if you are a breeder, watermark any photos you post in an area which can't be cropped out, so they can't be used to advertise other people's dubious eggs. Very definitely an area for 'buyer beware!'
Often people are attracted to hatching eggs because it's such fun to raise your own chicks and like me, can't keep a cockerel for whatever reason, or can't have enough birds to be able to breed their own line. But the relatively cheap cost per egg compared with buying older POL birds is outweighed by the poor hatcheability of many posted eggs and also the number of unwanted cockerels which will be hatched. You put in the same resources of time, equipment and care, whatever you manage to hatch, so it's worth being as sure as possible that the quality of the eggs is a high as possible to begin with.

NB; I'm moving this thread to the Incubation and Hatching Eggs section.

 

[chrismahon]

You definately need to see the parents and the conditions they are kept in before you get hatching eggs in my opinion. Mind you our Twiglett, a fantastic Marsh Daisy, was an ebay egg. So there are some good sellers, but from all the complaints I have been hearing on another forum, not many. We got stung buying eggs from a 'reputable' poultry supplier -never again.

 

[Chuck]

Try asking questions of the sellers on e Bay. Some will give what seem like genuine answers and others clearly don't know what they're talking about.
Biggest problem is people selling eggs who have little or no experience of the breed or what's needed to supply eggs that are likely to hatch. Eggs with poor shell quality and dirty are not going to hatch. The easy cop out is to blame the post yet sometimes 6/6 or 12/12 hatch so clearly it is possible to send viable eggs through the post.
No doubt it is best to track breeders down and deal direct but there are still a lot of inexperienced people posing as breeders and there are plenty that set up websites after only a year of keeping poultry.
Bulls...t baffles brains, so as always, let the buyer beware ! I've heard people complain bitterly about eggs from e Bay but they still go back for more.

 

[daniellesdogs]

i always go for local eggs on ebay that way i can go see the birds for myself. iv no idea if they show quality or even if the breed they claim to be but i can see the birds are strong and healthy so the off spring should be. iv found 2 supliers im happy with this way sadly one of them now moved

 

[Tim]

It's really hit and miss I find. If there is a really good seller often the prices are continuously very high and the feedback good.

It's worth finding breeders web pages as many will sell eggs directly and if they have gone to the trouble of creating a web page about the breed and included photos, then they are usually going to be selling what they tell you.

 

[daniellesdogs]

i have the problem with if i find breeder near by (not on ebay) trying to get a a yes /no and price they arr and um so i give up, even my surplier of last year is being funny the other ofered for one price and charged me £2 more and been let down by 2 others
so iv got 6 eggs to go in my inc that takes 50. i hate turning on with so fue.
my own chook eggs would be fertil but be h57

 

[farmer warren]

ive never had problems with any of the eggs ive bought off ebay - but i only keep chickens for eggs and fun so im not bothered about show quality

 

[svickery]

I bought 6 Silkie bantam eggs off ebay a month ago. The seller was really helpful and communicative. She advised me re. management of the birds long term ie shelter from rain for this breed, and we liaised via email about a few things. She sent 7 eggs - 1 for luck - which she always does. 1 was cracked and she offered to replace it next time I incubate. All eggs were well packaged in polystyrene egg containers and arrived in 24 hrs. Out of the 6 incubated 5 were fertile. Sadly things went wrong with the incubator and I lost them all, but I feel sure her eggs were genuine and her stock pictures were too. She told me about them in an email and described her labelling of the eggs, indicating which breeding group they'd come from.
So they are not all bad. Her name on ebay is calcabrina_crafts and she has masses of positive feedback. She does silkie bantams and frizzle pekin bantams.

 

[Paddy_c20]

I bought mine of eBay, 3 I bought and all 3 hatched and now u have beautiful 6 month old Peking ducks, I never yard postage service thou I poked mine up, at end Of day they is good an bad were ever you go as the saying goes,

 

[victorias poultry]

I sold a few eggs on ebay last year, but got fed up with other people using my photographs to sell their own stock.

 

[simon+colette]

I sold a few eggs on ebay last year, but got fed up with other people using my photographs to sell their own stock.

hi victoria, if you process/edit your photos with a program called 'irfanview' you can automatically add a watermark which would prevent the use of your pictures.
hth
regards simon and colette

 

[Paddy_c20]

My 3 beauty's were off eBay

 

[foxy]

lovely photo there Paddy, lucky ducks with their own fountain

 

[Paddy_c20]

Haha I'd say silly ducks, they sit under that getting soaking wet looking like a penguin with the neck stickin high, when they can just move over other side of pond and be dry lol.

 

[barnevelders.net]

Hi All, this post is one of the reasons I have joined this Forum as I am one of the sellers on ebay, and other places. We have shipped around 1600 eggs and delivered 70 to 100 birds all over the UK. We run our own site as well http://www.barnevelders.net/?q=Barnevelder Hatching Eggs. I haven't seen my name in either your good or bad section on eBay sellers.

We have worked hard to ensure all our eggs are well packaged and that they reach the customer in good time ( we only send 1st class recorded) and make sure they are not left in post offices over the weekends. We also do regular test hatches http://www.barnevelders.net/?q=Barnevelders for sale. this is our latest test hatch which gave us 14 out of 16 with none infertile on candling. We also encourage our customers to leave feedback both for our eBay sales and on our own website. We also give a guarantee and will happily replace eggs for the cost of postage.

I myself have been stung buying eggs, last year we had 24 eggs, They were very pale with little speckling, only 4 hatched and all turned out to have a rose comb and didn't look like barnevelders. There are plenty of charlatans, especially on eBay ( I have heard of people selling supermarket eggs as hatching eggs) and my advice is to do your research. I personally would avoid small sellers who just have a trio in the garden and are just selling a few surplus eggs that are left in hot kitchens or cold sheds and not stored properly. Posted eggs really need to be fresh and of the same age and it might take someone with only two hens a week or more to collect 6 or 12 eggs, add the rough handling of the post and resting time at the other end and your are getting well above the 10 day limit.

I must also suggest you complain about sellers who haven't got any produce to sell because their hens aren't laying. Getting rid of the bad eggs, so to speak, is a must.

 

[wilco]

Hi All.
The subject of buying eggs off ebay, i have bought them from ebay and at the moment they have been in the incubator for 24 days and nothing.Dont think i will be buying of ebay again.