Shipping Information

Rainbow Dozen packed securely into a Medium Flat Rate USPS box

Picking Eggs | Packaging Eggs | Shipping Services | Tracking Issues

Thank you for Supporting our farm and small chicken adventure! With full transparency as always, here you will find our policies and procedures as to how we ensure you are getting the best eggs to your farm from ours.

Everything starts off with the eggs! We try and update our farm Facebook page and website with current pictures of all of our eggs here at H7! Each season we are able to keep back some of our favorite eggs and the next season pick through and use them to better our flocks. The pictures you see are of the birds we have and use for our hatching eggs as well as their offsprings eggs. There is no secret stash of hens that are not high quality! Only the best are retained and those not go to new farms. When gathering eggs for hatching egg orders or to fill chick orders… we are always using the best. If an egg pigment isn’t up to par, or the egg is too dirty or not properly shaped they won’t be used and will be consumed by our family always.

When it comes to hatching eggs, we assure you that your eggs are fresh and want to explain how that is done. Rather than gathering eggs for a few days or week and shipping multiple orders at once, we ship as fast as we can collect and most days of the week. So let’s cover the logistics in that and why it has been successful for us. If you have any questions that are not covered below, please send a message on Facebook.

1. USPS is our choice if shipping because we live close by the local PO. It is over 30 minutes one way to the nearest UPS or FedEx and so we do not use their services. Instead, our eggs are gathered and sent to you asap. Typically the eggs in your box are no more than 48hrs old (sometimes even less). We choose to ship every day vs all on Monday. That way, if there does happen to be a delay in your eggs by usps they will still be fresh when arriving to you. We cannot control what happens when the eggs leave our hands and that is the risk taken when choosing hatching eggs. However, just because usps doesn’t deliver 7 days a week, they are still moving through transit even on Sundays. The only time this isn’t the case is holidays and then it is slower and therefore we won’t send eggs end of one week of for example Monday is a holiday.

2. As for issues during transit, if your tracking number has not been scanned or not moved locations for 12 hours PLEASE go directly to your local post office and ask to speak with the Post Master. The post master at the destination can see additional tracking information, the intended path of the package, and can and will call the managers at the distribution centers to track down your box. Having a relationship with your local PO is great so that they will help and and know to contact you when your box does arrive.

3. Packaging: packing your eggs is taken very serious. Our eggs are first placed in foam shippers from Southern feathers shippers and Bryant. We have sets for 14 eggs and 20 eggs. This means we can fit up to 14, 20 or 28 eggs safely in each shipment. Each is packed into a medium flat rate box and then double boxed in a large flat rate or large shipping box. Outside of each box is labeled with asking USPS to hold your box and call you for pickup. Please keep track of your shipment so you know when they will be calling. Having that relationship with the PO is important so they will hold and call you. It is not required for them to do, we are only requesting.

4. If there is a major issue, we can try to file a claim with usps but there is zero guarantee (often not) of an approval for insurance. Hatching eggs are a gamble, we do not take responsibility nor offer refunds for something out of our control.

5. We do guarantee our eggs are fresh and that we are regularly incubating ourselves to make sure fertility is there. Travel, carrier handling and your incubation factors can cause eggs not to hatch. We are not responsible for that. Many of our eggs are too dark to candle. It’s best to set each one for hatching even if you cannot see inside it. If you do not have a successful hatch, please reach out and we can trouble shoot together. I do suggest a few days after expected hatch date to crack each egg open individually and this will help give you more insight to development or lack there of. Temperature fluctuations in your incubator can make some eggs hatch days later than others. Please don’t give the up at day 22.

6. When your eggs arrive, you can either let them sit 12-24 hrs to let them settle or you can incubate immediately and not turn for a few days. There is no right or wrong way. I’ve never done a controlled experiment to see which method is the most effective.

7. With our dark egg we prefer a dry incubation and hatch. This does not work for everyone or every climate. We live in a humid climate but incubate in our house the most. Therefore the temps are stable at 99.5 and humidity sits around 30% naturally. We don’t add water ever. This doesn’t work for us. But that doesn’t mean you should or shouldn’t. Please do what typically works best for you.

H7 Homestead wants you to have a successful incubation and hatching journey with our eggs. We do also offer chicks for those who want to lower the risk associated with hatching eggs. Please reach out for any questions on our Facebook page or by email.