PoultryTalk.com

I have purchased several clutches over the years from Ebay and believed this was the safest way to send them. However on the 15th September this year I had eggs delivered to my door that I purchased from Ebay. Upon delivery I opened the door to watch the post woman bend down to 'drop' my fragile marked packages to the ground, in which she then proceeded to push back into place with her foot whilst attempting to remove the signature machine from her pocket.

I exclaimed rather annoyingly and rather shocked that there were eggs in the packages (3 boxes in total), her response was to laugh and state that 'trust me, they would have been treated worse in the depot' and proceeded to allow me to sign for them. I told her it was totally irresponsible, disrespectful and that the 'next day delivery' had been paid for for a reason. The boxes were clearly marked with FRAGILE tape, but clearly it matters nothing to some people.

Hence, my friend, who was present at my home at was witness to this conversation, and myself immediately telephoned and vocalised our complaint. I have recently received a generic letter, unsigned which is no where near an apology stating that 'they have a different story to the one I told'.

Needless to say we intend to pursue this. I am incredibly disappointed, have very little faith in what our eggs go through and wonder what is meant by our efforts to protect them if they are clearly not treated as what they are posted for FRAGILE These eggs are currently in my incubator and I have more than my fingers crossed. Each of the breeders has been informed of this and are incredibly upset as they rely on this service.

Karrie @ Belle Bantams UK

I have also had eggs from eBay and had problems with eggs being cracked, broken and a Next Day Delivery taking 3 days. I've been told that staff at our local Sorting Office (Peterborough) would throw fragile parcels around just for fun, especially if they were marked 'Fragile' or 'Handle with Care'. Friends have also heard similar and a lot won't mark parcels indicating that there's something breakable in them. Having said all that, I've had eggs sent from the States many years ago which took 8 days travelling and I hatched over 70%.

My local posties are very careful with handling 'fragile' material, but I'm sure that they get tossed around at times.

last year i bought at least 2 dozen eggs off ebay from various people .. costing me a small fourtune .. I had broodys and an incubator ready and not even 1 made it to full term so I have every litttle infact no faith in buying eggs through the post ....
i now drive and collect any eggs i sorse myself which is a pain i have 14 that i collected due to hatch on saturday under a broody :)

I worked in a parcel sorting department for a short time ( very short ) many years a go, and you would not believe how handle with care and fragile parcels are treated. I suggest you sourse your eggs from as local as posssible and if you cannot collect them yourself i,m sure you could find someone to collect them for you, Pay for the petrol and give them a drink, it,s a lot safer. I shall be buying some in myself this year, i,m after some buff sussex bantams but they won,t be coming by post! All the best.

I have bought off ebay a few times and had a 50% hatch rate, so thought I would try selling some of my Scots Dumpy hatching eggs the same way. I packed them carefully and put 'fragile' tape all round, took them to the post today and the post master put the postage on them and then threw them into the bag to be collected. I hope they get to the recipient OK but I am not very hopeful if that's the way they are treated befor they get to the sorting office!

I have bought eggs of ebay and sources from my local area. I have achieved pritty much the same hatch rate from both eggs from ebay and not from ebay. I only buy eggs of ebay from trust worthy eggs suppliers which rap their eggs iduvidually and box them with chippings or straw to protect them. I really dont see how the polystrene boxes that so many breeders use protect the eggs keeps the eggs safe?? They are so light and the impact goes straight through the egg, reasulting in inturnal damage.

iv only ever had 1 broke egg and i may of done that. my post man is fantastic if i let him know eggs coming he will sign for me if not in and hide them so they dont get stuck at depo
i realy should give him some eggs