At The Livingseeds Hatchery we are always striving to give the best possible service to our expecting chicken parents.
Hatching Eggs
Winter is our off season and we do not supply eggs in the off season, mainly as the fertility drops and we do not like supplying eggs that are a hastle to hatch.
We only supply eggs of a limited number of breeds, and not of all of the breeds that we have on hand.
Please contact our offices in October – February when we are supplying hatching eggs to see what is available.
When we do ship fertile eggs, they are packed to ensure that your eggs do not move and break during shipping. We use an overnight/48hr service with The Courier Guy for eggs and prices will vary depending on your area and the quantity of eggs shipped, this generally starts at R180.00 for city centers and small orders.
Shipping birds
Due to our drop in confidence with “pet couriers” we are no longer shipping live bids via couriers.
The good news is The Livingseeds Hatchery will provide our own transport, using our own staff and vehicles. This will be self-funded and we will not be carrying birds or other animals for 3rd parties. We will only undertake a trip every second month (or so) to Durban and also to the Cape. Dates and destinations will be communicated via our Facebook Group, please make sure that you have joined.
The biggest benefit of this is that you will be receiving and end-to-end service from The Livingseeds Hatchery, there will be no contamination with other potentially sick birds, unknown breeders and dirty transport cages that are hot-swapped without any form of cleaning or sterilisation.
Your birds will be transported in a brand new box, they will be regularly watered and fed and we will personally ensure the well-being of your birds.
This is as it should be.
General Guidelines so you know what to expect:
As this is a live bird service, there is no COD option, full payment is required prior to the service being booked.
Once your birds have been paid for and a trip has been arraigned, you will be added to a private WhatsApp Group for the specific trip. Typically on the day of the trip.
This WhatsApp group is critical for you to make timeous arrangements, you will be notified throughout the trip with a ETA’s and locations for collection via this group, please ensure that you are able to receive updates via WhatsApp.
Please Note: A no show at the collection point will forfeit the delivery and any moneys paid. These deliveries are pre-calculated and timed and you will be notified of any changes to ETA’s via the WhatsApp group.
Due to the nature of this service we are unable to wait for you, collection needs to happen at the time and location stipulated.
Please note: It is YOUR responsibility to be on the WhatsApp group and to be appraised of the developments during the course of the trip. We are simply unable to contact each person individually.
A 10 minute bird handover / bird care stop is allocated at each location.
Birds will be transported in boxes that will be handed over to yourself so there is no need to bring another transport box/container.
We recommend blocking out time on either side of the given delivery time as you will essentially be on notice to collect your delivery, this is especially important if we run late due to unforeseen circumstances. (The N3 Durban route has notorious accidents and highway closures) However the Cape also has it’s fare share of construction Stop&Go’s and accidents)
We are unable to delay or change the route to accommodate delivery during a routine trip. However in the case of a highway closure we do ask for your indulgence as new options may need to be arranged on the fly.