Over the years, we’ve chatted with many of you about your experiences with broody hens hatching out chicks of their own, and also with those of you who are experienced with hatching your own chicks in an incubator. Did you know that Meyer Hatchery sells and ships hatching eggs specifically for your broody hen or incubator? What a fun way to add a few new breeds to your flock!

What to Expect: Meyer Hatchery Hatching Eggs

The hatching eggs that we ship are the exact same eggs that we use here in the hatchery. We pack and ship orders for hatching eggs on Tuesdays. The eggs are shipped by USPS Priority Mail and arrive between Wednesday and Friday directly to your address. Orders for hatching eggs can also be picked up in our store on Tuesdays or Wednesdays to avoid shipping the eggs. Because of their delicate nature, hatching eggs that are shipped may experience a slight decrease in the success of hatching. Eggs do tend to get bumped around somewhat during the shipping process, so we want to show you how carefully we pack the eggs destined for shipping. During extremely cold weather, please use your own best judgment on deciding to order hatching eggs during the winter. We are unable to put a heat pack in the shipping box because it may begin the eggs’ incubation time.

Packaging Hatching Eggs

Packing a box of hatching eggs includes multiple layers of material to ensure the eggs arrive unbroken.

LAYER ONE
First, 2 layers of open-cell foam are placed in the bottom of the Priority Mail shipping box. The layers of foam are an exact fit to the inside box dimension so no shifting can occur.

LAYER TWO AND THREE
Next, a piece of foam with 25 egg-sized cutouts is placed on top. Each hatching egg is then placed individually into one of these cutouts until all of the eggs for the order are surrounded in cushiony foam. Then a piece of solid flat foam is placed on top of the eggs. If the order is for more than 25 hatching eggs, another piece of cutout foam is now added and the rest of the eggs are set into the cutouts. We can pack a maximum of 50 eggs into a single box, so orders for more than 48 eggs (allowing for free extras they we include if available) will ship in more than one box.

LAYER FOUR AND FIVE
Next, the cylinder foam cutout pieces are placed on top of the solid foam for even more cushioning. The final layer consists of 2 cardboard egg flats to take up any headroom in the box. If the order is for more than 25 eggs, then the cardboard may not be needed because of the double layer of eggs in foam.

At this point, the box is sealed, labeled and sent to the post office for delivery. With USPS Priority Mail service, you automatically receive the tracking number by email when the package is scanned into the USPS system at the post office.

That’s it! What a process we go through to make sure your hatching eggs arrive safely! Have you ordered hatching eggs through the mail?  If so, please tell us your experience in the comments below. How did the hatch turn out? If you haven’t ordered hatching eggs, why not give it a try with our How to Hatch instructions.

Here’s a video of Jess unboxing her eggs after they have arrived!