How to Ship Hatching Eggs

At a Frugal Homestead, one of the things that we enjoy the most is sharing our love of raising chickens. Currently on the farm we have five different varieties of chickens. 

During the spring, through the summer and into early fall, our chickens are separated by breed. We originally did this to ensure that the chicks we were hatching on the farm were purebred, as each chicken on our farm has a specific purpose or use.

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Why hatching chicks has become popular?

In recent years, we have noticed an increase in the need for high quality hatching eggs across the United States. More and more people are wanting to control and know where there food is coming from. They have started raising their own crops and livestock and that includes chickens.

Our hatching egg story

We have been fortunate to have happy and healthy chickens on or farm that produce an abundance of eggs. With the uptick in demand of people wanting to start their own flocks and less places to get good fresh eggs, we decided to start selling and shipping our eggs.

In the beginning, it was a struggle and very frustrating. We packaged our eggs in a way that we thought would insure their safe arrival, but often times we would later find out that our eggs would arrive damaged or completely destroyed. 

After some trial and error we have come up with a method that works really well and has impressed most of our patrons. That being said no matter how well you pack your eggs, you are still at the mercy of the postal service. 

Looking to buy hatching eggs?  We ship and sell more than 2,000 eggs every year.  Check out our Hatching Egg Store on Ebay.

Video - How to ship hatching eggs

Hatching your own chicks?  Grab our free Incubating and Chicken Hatching Guide

How to Ship Hatching Eggs

Here is what we do to get the best results:

First, you need the right shipping container or box. We ship all of our orders with USPS. They have free shipping boxes on their website or in the local post office. 

There are lots of different boxes that you can use for free from the post office, just ensure that you are using a box that will keep the eggs snug but does not put too much pressure on them. The box that we use currently is the Regional Rate Box A1. It fits a dozen eggs perfectly and gets some of the best shipping rates. 

Second, old Amazon or other bubble envelopes cut into strips to wrap each egg in. As an alternative to the bubble envelopes you may also use bubble wrap similarly cut into strips. We have found that the plastic Amazon bubble envelopes work best for keeping the eggs protected. 

When you are cutting the strips make sure that you are cutting them wide enough and long enough to protect the entire egg. 

In general I usually count four rows of bubbles for the width and make each strip about 6.5 inches to 7 inches in length. You will wrap each egg individually. Apply a small piece of scotch tape or other type of tape to secure the bubble strip around the egg.

Tape the bubble strip to itself. Don't ever put tape on the egg shell directly as this could ruin the bloom of the egg, or the natural barrier that prevents bacteria from getting inside of the egg. I like to have a standard 12 count egg carton ready to place the wrapped eggs in as I go.

Before wrapping the eggs I will prepare my egg carton by cutting the carton in half and cutting the lids off. This will allow for the protected eggs to fit in the box properly. 

As you begin to load the eggs in to the carton, make sure that you are putting the point end of the egg down and the fat end up. This will help keep the air sac intact and in place during shipping.

Once all of the eggs have been wrapped and placed in the egg carton I will place a layer of bubble wrap around each half of the carton. This is done by measuring out two sections of bubble wrap with each section measuring 3 feet in length  by one foot in width. (You can get bubble wrap that is perforated every 12 inches which makes the process very simple. Please consider using or Amazon affiliate link for bubble wrap.) Place the bubble wrap on a flat surface. 

Next place one half of the carton, without the lid on,  in about the middle of the bubble wrap. Fold over the top portion of the the bubble wrap to the base of the carton.

Fold that whole section over the top of the eggs ensuring full coverage to the tab of the carton. Tuck the bubble wrap behind the tab. 

From this point fold each of the sides of the bubble wrap on the side of the carton and apply tape to secure. This process is similar to wrapping the ends of a gift with wrapping paper.

Place the matching lid on the top of the carton and then roll up the whole carton in the remaining bubble wrap. 

I always apply a little tape at the end to secure the bubble wrap to itself so that it does not come apart. 

Finally you will fold the sides of the bubble wrap just like you did in the previous step. Repeat this process for the other half of the carton. 

 Now that the eggs are wrapped and prepared to go in the box we need to apply some padding to the inside of the box. Throughout year we collect and shred all of our junk mail, scrap paper and small boxes. I use about five to six handfuls of the shredded material and place it inside of a used plastic bag/ grocery bag. Tie the bag shut while trapping a little air inside of the bag.

 Place the bag in the box upside down. This provides the cushion for the bottom of the eggs. 

Next place the bubble wrapped egg cartons in the box so that the padded sides of the egg carton are against the long sides of the box.

Finally, place another five to six handfuls of shredded material in another plastic bag and tie it shut. Place this bag upside down on top of the bubble wrapped egg cartons and apply slight pressure to the bag to help it somewhat conform to the shape of the cartons and tuck the bag around the sides of the carton. 

Now you're ready to seal up the box, apply the shipping label and send it off with the eggs well protected.  

Have we convinced you this is the best way to ship hatching eggs yet?  Check out our amazing reviews on eBay from happy customers.  

Don't forget, if you do hatch your own eggs to grab our free Incubating and Chicken Hatching Guide

Looking to buy hatching eggs?

  

We ship and sell more than 2,000 eggs every year.  Check out our Hatching Egg Store on Ebay.