In general, gifts are only sent out when things do not work as intended.
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But it didn't work as intended, I had the same problem. All my explorers came back about an hour before the phase 1 removal started and none of them brought back any eggs.
1) BB said that explorers sent before removal may or may not bring back eggs.
2) I had 2 explorers that did, the rest did not.
3) All the ones that returned before the phase 1 removal had eggs. I was timing it pretty close so I know.
The only thing I can imagine is some kind of time zone issue? I was outside a 1 hour range for point 3 above.
I enjoyed the Easter Event, got wonderful things with my Guild's help.
However I was very disappointed about the requirements to deal with the Party Crashers, some difficult or impossible for small players. I wish you've had given at least a warning before we had lost very needed troops.