Packing Hatching Eggs for Shipping for an Epic Hatch Rate
One of the people I buy hatching eggs from — Rachel at Gypsy Hen Poultry — packages her eggs perfectly, no breakage, no cracks, and fantastic hatch rates.
Epic Hatch Rates
These numbers aren’t just good. They would be considered very good for non-shipped eggs. For eggs shipped across the country, a 96.4% hatch rate is epic: for every 100 fertile eggs set into the incubator, 96.4% turned into living chicks. Part of this is my excellent Brinsea Ovation EX incubators, but even they can’t hatch a poorly packaged egg.
From now on, I’m going to ship all the eggs I ship the same way, and I’m going to ask people I am buying from to consider doing the same.
The Original Gypsy Hen Poultry method, which is now the Flower Feather Farm method:
Line a large flat rate USPS packing box for across the country shipments or a large box #7 for closer shipments with another large same sized box, trimmed to fit.
Cut the last row off of the egg carton, so that it holds ten eggs.
Wrap each egg in paper towel and set into the egg carton.
Wrap carton in aluminum foil to shield the eggs from X-rays.
Insert each foil packet into a bubble-wrap or bubble-wrapped lined shipping envelope, the sort you would get from Amazon shipments.
Set the cartons in the box on top of some cushioning.
Fill up any spare space in the top with newspaper or wadded paper grocery bags or more bubble stuff.
Seal and ship.
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