This is a guide to help anyone buying hatching eggs on ebay or anywhere else for that matter. We have been raising chickens and hatching eggs for years and have learned a great deal from trial and error.  It is very important that buyers understand the issues surrounding egg Viability, Fertility and Shipping. Any egg that does not develop was not necessarily infertile or not viable at the time it was shipped. There are many circumstances that can cause an egg not to develop and many more that may cause it not to hatch if it has developed to full term.

 

Maybe your first attempt at hatching eggs didn't go so well.....maybe your eggs didn't develop at all??? This could be caused by several things including too much bouncing around during shipment, exposure to too much heat or cold....both can cause problems for hatching eggs.  Perhaps a postal worker left the eggs sitting on a dock, in their truck, or left them in your mailbox or on your door step untill you got home from work on a very hot or cold day! Any of these drastic changes in temperature can be very harmful to your eggs. 

 

Let's assume the eggs arrive in good condition and none of the previous bad stuff has happened.

Once your eggs arrive and we assume they were properly handled, they should be allowed to get to room temperature upon arrival before putting them in the incubator.  We recommend letting the eggs rest at least 8 hours after they arrive, some hatcheries recommend 12 hours rest before incubating.  If your eggs arrive with excessive dirt on them you may want to "clean" them. Some recommend washing them with warm water after they reach room temperature before placing them in the incubator.  This is up to you, some breeders DON'T recommend cleaning eggs but others DO and have very good hatch rates with clean eggs vs dirty eggs! Do not scrub or handle the eggs roughly simply remove the dirt with your fingers and pat the egg dry with a soft clean cloth, new baby diapers work well for this.

 

Be sure your incubator is clean and properly disinfected with a commercial incubator disinfectant. Make sure it has been set up in advance of the eggs arriving. The incubator should have a steady temperature and proper humidity at least 24 - 36 hours before your eggs arrive, an incubator just started up can fluctuate significantly with respect to temperature and humidity. Make certain you have it properly set to the correct temperature and humidity for hatching the eggs you purchased, too.  Some incubators can vary in temperature and humidity if they are in a room that has significant temperature changes, this is equally critical when you set up an incubator for the first time.  Most chickens hatch within 21 days, Ducks and Geese take longer - 28 days or more depending on the breed. 

 

Finally, everything was properly setup in advance and some eggs have not developed or after 22-23 days some of your eggs did not hatch. Several things can happen to cause eggs not to develop, one is the humidity may be too high. This causes the chick to fill the entire shell and not have room to turn to peck it's way out.  If the humidity is too low the chick stays smaller but can not reach the shell to peck its way out because the membrane being dryer has shrunk back from the shell.

 

Then there are issues of bacteria infecting the egg as it developes, many times this is caused by rapidly hatching batch after batch of eggs without sterilizing or disinfecting your incubator in between hatches. Hatching eggs should be candled after 5-7 days and again at 14 days of incubation to determine if the egg is still viable, if bad eggs are not removed they can spead bacteria to the good eggs!  Many new comers to the world of hatching their own eggs neglect to properly disinfect their incubators or neglect to candle their eggs at proper intervals.  When a problem arises they then jump to the conclusion that they were sent eggs that were infertile.  Most of the hatching egg sellers on ebay are reputable and do their best to get you good viable eggs for hatching. There is always a risk of rough handling during shipping and if you are not willing to take that risk then you may want to purchase day old chicks. However, day old chicks can have similar issues concerning shipping! 

 

Hopefully, this guide has helped someone understand that buying hatching eggs is a risky proposition and that sellers can not be held responsible for rough handling, shipping damage (heat or cold) or poor incubation practices. Breeders can not afford to replace any egg that does not hatch and it is not always a case of the buyer getting infertile eggs. There are just too many variables for breeders to control when it comes to shipping hatching eggs.  Sellers should do their best to get the eggs to the buyer in one piece and in a timely manner, the rest is up to the buyer to make sure he or she does everything right and the incubator is operating properly when the eggs arrive.  Thanks, Jeff