5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Hatching Eggs Business
- whitneycroft
- Jun 20
- 3 min read
When I first started raising birds, I never expected my hobby to grow into a full-fledged hatching egg/bird business. It’s been an incredible journey, but like most things, I learned a lot of lessons the hard way! If you're thinking about starting your own hatching egg business, here are 5 things I wish I had known before I started — hopefully, they’ll save you some time (and a few headaches).
Start Smaller Than You Think
When I started, I thought I needed to have dozens of pens and hundreds of birds right away. The truth? It’s far better to start with a few well-managed breeder pens, learn your systems, and slowly scale from there. Fewer pens mean better record-keeping, higher fertility tracking, and a much easier learning curve. Plus you can focus on the particulars, like egg colors (if that's something that interests you)
Construction on the Peafowl Pen 
Construction on the Peafowl Pen Seasonality is Everything
Hatching egg businesses are very seasonal. Birds don't lay year-round, and fertility can fluctuate depending on weather, daylight, and stress. It’s important to know your species’ natural cycles and set realistic expectations for how many eggs you'll have available each season. Keep records of when each breed starts laying for that year, when fertility spikes and when it drops off in the Fall. It will help you so much next season. But keep in mind, it's never the same.
Shipping Hatching Eggs is an Art, Not a Science
I was surprised how much goes into safely shipping hatching eggs. Between air cell damage, rough postal handling, and weather variables, packing is incredibly important. Over time, I developed my own shipping method to protect the eggs as best as possible — and managing customer expectations about hatch rates became a big part of my success. Pictured are foam egg shippers and strangely enough, NOT the best shipping method (in my humble opinion) there are much cheaper and more reliable alternatives to foam shippers so when starting out, you don't have to break the bank. Foam shippers are great for those who have grown their business and need some time saving options.
California Valley Quail Eggs in 100 Egg Foam Shipper Customer Communication is Crucial
Learning how to handle customers has been one of the biggest growth areas for me. It has taken me years to fine tune my policies. Be VERY upfront about your terms, conditions and policies- clearly state your shipping timelines, and educate your buyers about the risks involved in shipping hatching eggs. Good communication builds trust and happy repeat buyers. Plus, it's a time saver, overall.
Build Your Website Early
I started selling mostly through word of mouth and eBay. But as I grew, having a website became essential for managing orders, offering pre-sales, automating parts of my business and getting off eBay as soon as possible (they were pretty awful to sell hatching eggs on- as are most platforms). Even a simple website can help establish you as a professional breeder right from the start. Sell on whatever platform you can until you get your website up, but I wouldn't wait too long, like I did. The sooner the better.
While you're here, I’ve put together a free Hatching Egg Startup Checklist — a simple guide with the first steps to get your own breeding business started. You can grab the free PDF version below
and I’ll also send you updates when my full course is ready to launch
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