Here you can read detailed information regarding the postage of our fertile hatching eggs, and what to do once you receive your eggs in the post.
How I pack my eggs for delivery:
- Each egg is wrapped in paper towel individually and placed into a jumbo egg carton which helps prevent the eggs from moving during transit.
- I use air column packaging designed for posting wine bottles which is inflated with an air pump.
- An extra layer of bubble wrap or other packaging material is used to wrap the air column bags to prevent any punctures or deflation.
- Fragile stickers are added to packages. Road Transport only stickers are optional.
- I try to recycle and reuse packing where possible. I do not use polystyrene packaging.
- I have been using this method for 5 years now with great success.
- Read our packaging reviews
What should you do when your eggs arrive?
- Carefully unwrap the eggs from their protective packaging.
- Take a good look over the shells of the eggs to ensure there are no cracks or leaks.
- Use a torch or an egg candler to check that there are no hairline cracks or detached aircells. If you do find some damaged aircells you can still proceed with incubation, however there is a higher risk they may not hatch.
- You can mark the eggs with pencil or permanent marker to ensure your automatic egg turner is working correctly on the incubator, or for when you are manually turning the eggs.
- You do not need to let the eggs rest or sit before incubating. Allowing the eggs to rest will probably not fix any damage that has already occurred. It is preferable to start the incubation process whilst the eggs are as fresh as possible. You can warm up the incubator as soon as they arrive and pop the eggs in.
- Generally speaking fertilised eggs should be fine to incubate within 14 days of being laid. However, I have hatched eggs even older than this from my own flock.
- Remember that there is an increased risk of eggs becoming unviable due to postage and poor handling conditions.
- Read our incubating instructions for more details and the best chance of a successful hatch: Guide to hatching chicks or Duck egg incubating tips
Conditions of sale:
Cost of eggs and availability will vary and is subject to change at any given time.
Postage costs of fertile eggs Australia wide is additional. Postage costs can be calculated after adding your items to your cart.
Packaging Costs: Packaging costs are included in the price of eggs. This covers the cost of egg cartons, air column bags and additional packaging costs. Learn more about our packaging for fertile eggs here.
Postage Options: Eggs are posted using Australia Post Express Post or Standard Parcel Post depending on your preference. Express Post is the fastest option.
Most orders will be posted the following Monday or Tuesday. However, if we have not estimated correctly, your order will be posted the following week. Our birds are not machines, so it’s not possible to control how many eggs are layed. We do our best to predict accurately and change listings to pre-order, but on occassion we get bulk orders which ends up being more eggs ordered than they will lay that week.
We may post eggs on alternative days in circumstances such as: it’s a public holiday on the Monday and you live in a state outside of NSW, you live in NSW and we believe your eggs will be received within 2 business days, you are located in WA or other state outside of NSW where postage typically takes longer so shipping before the weekend will not affect the delivery date, or other unforseen circumstances.
Road Mail Only: Please specify in the notes section at checkout if you would like a ‘Road Mail Only’ sticker applied to your package. This option can be used for both standard and express post. Some people prefer their eggs to travel by road only to limit the risk of damage that may be caused when travelling via air. Air pressure from the flight can cause egg aircells to become detached, so road mail may be a more preferable method depending on how slow the post currently is. In some circumstances road mail may be slower. So it’s up to the buyer to choose the option that they prefer. Each option comes with it’s own risk. A ‘Road Transport Only’ Sticker will be applied to your package.
Western Australia Biosecurity Regulations: Please note that eggs posted to W.A may incur fees if quarantined by biosecurity officers. Domestic poultry eggs are permitted to import, however regulations state that they may be inspected to confirm that they are a permitted species. We will include the species on the packaging label, however this does not guarantee that your package will not be inspected. Any quarantine fees are to be covered by the buyer. Purple Tree Pets will not be held accountable for any additional fees charged, or delays when being held up for quarantine.
Egg Freshness: We only post eggs which have been freshly laid in the few days prior to posting. Most eggs are good to incubate for up to two weeks after being laid and can be stored safely at room temperature in the upright position with the air cell at the top. We recommend you start the incubation process as soon as your eggs have arrived, however you may allow them to sit for 24 hours after arrival if you prefer.
Available : Half Dozen (6), 1 Dozen (12) or 2 Dozen (24) depending upon availability.
Local Pickup: Pickup is from Shoalhaven Heads, NSW, Australia.
Please order eggs within 2 days of your plan to pickup. We add stock to the website based on current availability and will pack egg cartons once they are ordered. This ensures the eggs you receive are as fresh as possible, and allows those wanting eggs sooner to be able to order. We will contact you by email when your eggs are ready to pick up. Due to our busy schedule, pickup may be contactless and we will give you pickup instructions when we email you. Our premises are monitored by 24/7 security cameras.
Stock Quantities – Stock will be added in small quantities to the website as their availability for the week is predicted.
If eggs are out of stock – Please enter your name and email address and select to be notified when available. You don’t need to message us.
Note: Due to the large amount of enquiries we get per day about fertile eggs we do not have a waiting list. It is a first come first served basis and eggs can only be ordered via our website.
Pre-order items: Please check the estimated availability date before making payment. It will say the date under the pre-order button. Unfortunately we do not refund pre-order items if you don’t read that it was pre-order when ordering.
If ordering pre-order items with available items, they will be posted together when the pre-order items become available.
Fertile Egg Returns & Refunds
By purchasing fertile eggs from us you agree to the following terms and conditions:
Returns & Refunds: We generally offer no refunds or returns of fertile eggs due to the eggs being a perishable item and the fact we have limited control on viability and hatchability outcomes.
No cancellations or refunds for change of mind. (Eg. broody hens no longer being broody, incubator issues, customers not reading the estimated dispatch date on pre-order eggs) Please have a backup method when ordering and paying for eggs. We allocate eggs for each order. When orders are fulfilled they become unavailable for other people to order. There is a limited time in which eggs must be posted out. If orders are cancelled then we usually have to dispose of the eggs if no one else orders in time.
Damage to fertile eggs during postage: We generally offer no refunds or replacement for eggs that arrived damaged after being posted. Australia Post does not provide postage insurance for sending fragile items like eggs. Australia Post’s “Extra Cover” service is not available for fragile or perishable goods. However, we are trialling a new postage insurance option, please see below.
Failure to hatch: We offer no refunds or insurance cover for failure to hatch caused by egg disruption during postage, low fertility, unviable eggs, embryo demise during incubation, poor hatches, duckling or chick death, birth defects or incubation related health concerns. By purchasing eggs it is at your own risk.
We test fertility in the weeks leading up to shipping our eggs, however we can not guarantee that all eggs will be fertilised, viable when candling or successfully hatch. Spring is the best time to hatch. Later into Summer fertility starts to drop down again.
Availability, fertility and hatchability of eggs is affected by factors such as seasonal influence, moulting, whether our roosters are performing, who is laying at the time of egg collecting, if air cells are damaged during travel, if eggs get held up in post etc. Eggs which may appear ‘infertile’ or clear when candling may actually have been rendered ‘unviable’ due to the postal system. Most of these factors are out of our control and it is the risk of the buyer.
We candle and inspect each egg before carefully packing. This ensures that the air cells are small and not floating or broken. We also check to ensure there are no cracks or dark spots within the egg before postage.
Poor incubation conditions may also result in a poor hatch rate or unviable eggs, which is the responsibility of the customer. To increase your hatch rate please read our egg incubation tips here.
It is worth noting that we have not had great success with hatching our duck eggs using a broody hen or duck. Buff Orpington duck eggs need precise and ideal conditions and can be quite difficult to hatch to those with no experience. This is probably what also makes them so rare. Please read our Duck Egg Hatching Tips before ordering.
We package our eggs with care, however please take into consideration that packages which have been handled badly by Australia post may have impact on your hatch rate. How Australia post handles packages after we have posted them is out of our control. By purchasing eggs from us you are willing to accept the risk.
Failure to collect orders: We do not offer refund to those who choose local pickup but fail to pick up their orders from us. We are unable to pack new fresh eggs once your order has already been packed and made available for collection if you fail to collect. Please specify at checkout if you prefer to collect your eggs at a later date before we commence packing your order. We offer contactless pickup so can leave eggs for you in a safe spot to collect if we are not home. If two weeks has passed and you have failed to arrange a pick up time for your order, your order will be cancelled and no refund will be issued.
Hatching Roosters: Sorry but we do not take back any roosters that you hatch from our eggs. Please find suitable homes or dispatch humanely if you are unable to keep roosters at your property. The Shoalhaven Zoo will also take roosters if you are unable to find homes. Before hatching you should always take into consideration that you are likely to get roosters. As a responsible pet owner or breeder, you need to plan ahead with what you will do with that outcome. If you don’t want roosters then don’t hatch eggs!
Due to biosecurity risks we do not take back any birds hatched. As a responsible pet owner, You are required to find them suitable homes if you are unable to keep unwanted animals at your property.
International Buyers : Sorry but we do not allow the export of eggs or live poultry overseas.
Fertile Egg Postage Insurance:
We do our very best to ensure safe packaging and to ensure that no eggs are damaged during postage. We are now offering a postage insurance option available for fertile egg purchases only. This postage insurance option is provided by Purple Tree Pets and not by Australia Post.
IMPORTANT rules and conditions when purchasing postage insurance:
- Insurance is optional, please tick the box at checkout to add this to your order.
- Fertile egg postage insurance is charged at 10% of the total cart value. Please order eggs separately from other items to ensure the correct insurance amount is calculated and not added to other store items.
- The Purple Tree Pets insurance policy covers the cost of replacement eggs only if more than 50% of the eggs are broken or cracked during transit. For example, if just one or two eggs are damaged in a dozen, replacements will not be issued, even if insurance was purchased.
- If over 50% of your eggs arrive broken or cracked due to poor handling by Australia Post, please contact us immediately and submit clear photos of the damage via our ‘Returns & Refunds‘ page by 10pm on the day of delivery.
- Once the damage has been verified, we will replace the affected eggs free of charge (minus postage cost), provided the following conditions are met:
– If 3 or more eggs from a half dozen are damaged, 6 eggs will be replaced.
– If 6 or more eggs from a dozen are damaged, 12 eggs will be replaced. - The customer is responsible for paying the postage cost of the replacement eggs.
- The replacement eggs sent via post will not be insured. This is at the risk of the customer.
- There is no guarantee the replacement eggs will be posted the following week. This will depend upon stock availability.
- Insurance covers major damage caused during postage only. Insurance does not cover any other issues such as incubation problems, fertility rates, or hatching failures. For example, eggs will not be replaced if you experience a lower than expected hatch rate.
By purchasing hatching eggs from us you agree to our terms and conditions.
