My Pet Chicken? - Page 4

I ordered some pullets from MPC last year and all arrived fine to Indiana.

We got our chickens from MPC last spring, and they were fine.  I did wait until it was warm out though.  I don't think I would ever order chicks when it is cold.

In fall of last year I ordered three (Yes, 3.  Absolute min order) EEs through MPC.  They shipped from CT on Tuesday and arrived in CO on Thursday(Holiday week).  All were perfectly healthy and are now full grown.  I LOVE the green eggs. 

Well, I guess the bright folks at the hatchery "forgot" to put the heat pack in the box with the chicks..So basically they traveled from  CT to NY with out any heat for 2 days. UGH! No wonder they died..I have managed to save one little runt..She is adorable and quite the little fighter! She is sooo tiny! And the Australorp while small is fine..4 out of 6 died..So, Live and learn! Never Never again! All my future chicks will be hatched myself..I do owe a big Thanks to Shannon at MPC for her understanding..and outrage at what happened..she is def. going to look into it for me..She feels horrible..

I just had the worst experience. We ordered our first eight chicks from MPC two years ago and they were all healthy and fine. Since that went so well, we decided to order eight more from them this year. They were supposed to be shipped on Monday the 12th. I got a call that four of the chicks we wanted weren't available, so I needed to make a substitution. Told them what we wanted and they shipped out on Tuesday.

Thought we would get them for sure by Thursday and I had been in constant contact with my post office and they assured me they would call as soon as they arrived. They didn't come on Thursday. They were delivered today at 10am. Three were DOA. The others were in horrible shape.

We immediately put them under a heat lamp and got them all to drink sugar water. They perked up a bit and we were feeling optimistic. But a few hours later, three more were gone. One is just about to go right now, and the other one is looking ok but I don't think she'll make it through the night.

I don't know who dropped the ball on this one. I guess it's the post office's fault. But one thing I know for sure - I will NEVER EVER buy mail order chicks again as long as I live. Not worth the risk. I feel sick with guilt over sentencing these poor babies to a pitiful death. I'm heartbroken :(

I'm so sorry to hear that!! I would feel horrible if that happened to me. I just choose to buy live poultry from established breeders. If I can't find a local breeder, we take a trip up to Northern California in the Spring. I wish I could hatch my own, but we live in the city and so I can't have large numbers of poultry. 

I am so sorry. I had that fear and in the end I couldn't bring myself to order. I ended up driving for hours to get the birds I wanted, but they are healthy and I know they were loved. Again, I am so sorry you had to go through this. 

Hi -

Not a large hatchery - we ship in some qty's with heat packs and fruit to make sure our babies arrive to their destination safe and sound.

Thanks,

Richard

I ordered from MPC 2 years ago and they were all alive and healthy!  I've heard lots of bad things about the post office this year, they are really slow. I'm sorry for you loses. Good luck in the future~

I ordered twice from Chicken from Backyard (http://www.chickensforbackyards.com). They have a 3 chick minimum order. They all arrived safe and I will order from them again