Good New and Bad News- Those poor ducklings :(

The Good News: We finally received our 13 ducklings yesterday at 6:07. We were so happy. We brought them home and found some thing really bad.






(Had this giant space so no one could see what happened before the clicked on the post, I know you can scroll over with your mouse and it shows you what the first few words are)







The Bad News: 4 out of 13 were dead. It was very sad, 2 of the ducklings were dried up while the other two looked fresh. Later that same day (yesterday) another duckling died. This one had arrived in bad shape so I figured it might not make it. We tried everything we could to save him/her but hopefully more don't die. Very disappointed in eFowl.com.


eFowl.com Complaints: First they told us 1-2 days for delivery and said they would most likely arrive Tuesday and they said they would be shipped out Monday morning. The ducklings didn't ship out until 6:30 pm. They did not give us a reason for the delay nor did they even contact us and tell us what was happening. The next day we contact them because the tracking was not updating, it was still in the same spot where it started, the tracking said estimated delivery date Thursday. They told us they do not update the shipping, USPS does, and said that USPS is not good at updating their shipping. They didn't arrive, so the next day (Wednesday) we asked them why they didn't arrive on Tuesday. They said to expect them today. Then they didn't come so then they said Thursday morning. They didn't come in the morning. At 5:00 we figured they weren't coming, since the post office was closed. We checked the USPS tracking and they changed the estimated delivery date to Friday the 27th (today). But some how at 5:53 they called and told us to come get them. We were so happy until we found some came dead. I sort of figured this because of the cold time of year, colder than normal (with all the snow storms), no food, no water, and we didn't buy a heat pack because I don't think eFowl.com offers one.

Thanks, Crazy4Fowl

Sorry this happened. It's hard to get dead ducks and that's always my biggest fear. However that is always a risk when getting ducks especially this time of year. Hopefully Efowl has good coustomer service and will make it right.

Yeah, those little ones spent way too long in transit. One of my ducklings was dead when my batch arrived. They had a heat pack and that grogel stuff, and only spent two days in the mail, but the surviving chicks were already showing signs of dehydration. I can't imagine how thirsty your little ones must have been =[ I called Metzer and they offered to compensate my payment or replace the duckling, which is what I chose to do. I hope efowl does the same for you. Do they have a 24hr guarantee? If so, they should replace the one that died afterward too. I'm sorry you had to go through this. It's hard to lose these little guys, even if you didn't know them at all. I was really sad and felt like I had lost the chance to make a feathered friend. I just hope my replacement duckling and the two additional I ordered will arrive safe next week. I don't think I can deal with anymore casualties =[

needlessjunk said:

Hopefully Efowl has good coustomer service and will make it right.

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I highly doubt it. I haven't had the best of interactions with them in the past. Frankly, this is downright abhorrent. The miserably incompetent shipping is one thing, but they shouldn't even be selling ducklings this time of year at all if they don't offer heat packs!

We just had another duckling died earlier in the morning.

Crazy4Fowl said:

We just had another duckling died earlier in the morning.

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Have you contacted efowl? I'm so sorry this is so distressing one reason I will not buy from a hatchery. So sorry.

Miss Lydia said:

Have you contacted efowl? I'm so sorry this is so distressing one reason I will not buy from a hatchery. So sorry. 

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Thanks for the support through this. efowl said earlier that they think 4 welsh harlequin died and 2 golden 300. Keep in mind I only ordered 3 WH so there would have had to be an extra. Now (a few minutes ago) they responded and they said they would replace the ducks, great! But... They said they are giving us 2 WH and 3 G3 females and 1 G3 unsexed. I thought wait a minute first they said 2 G3 died and 4 WH ( I wouldn't expect them to replace the extra WH, the 4th 1). So I looked up WH ducklings and looked at the dead and alive ones. We only ever had 3 WH and they died, so there were never 4 WH. I have a feeling they lied because how could they not know ( no body is perfect) and I doubt they would give an extra WH because they are 12$ the most expensive standard duck they have. I'm not saying they are liars it just seems fishy. Also they said they are only giving me 2 WH and 4 G3 most likely because the WH are more money. But I paid for 3 and I'm getting 3. I know for a fact all my WH came... Dead ;( ...

Crazy4Fowl said:

Thanks for the support through this. efowl said earlier that they think 4 welsh harlequin died and 2 golden 300. Keep in mind I only ordered 3 WH so there would have had to be an extra. Now (a few minutes ago) they responded and they said they would replace the ducks, great! But... They said they are giving us 2 WH and 3 G3 females and 1 G3 unsexed. I thought wait a minute first they said 2 G3 died and 4 WH ( I wouldn't expect them to replace the extra WH, the 4th 1). So I looked up WH ducklings and looked at the dead and alive ones. We only ever had 3 WH and they died, so there were never 4 WH. I have a feeling they lied because how could they not know ( no body is perfect) and I doubt they would give an extra WH because they are 12$ the most expensive standard duck they have. I'm not saying they are liars it just seems fishy. Also they said they are only giving me 2 WH and 4 G3 most likely because the WH are more money. But I paid for 3 and I'm getting 3. I know for a fact all my WH came... Dead ;( ...

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You need to bring this to their attention, they need to replace duckling for ducklings and when are they sending hopefully after this bitter cold is past. and with better shipping than this time to some ducklings are a dime a dozen, they are living babies though.

Miss Lydia said:

You need to bring this to their attention, they need to replace duckling for ducklings and when are they sending hopefully after this bitter cold is past. and with better shipping than this time to some ducklings are a dime a dozen, they are living babies though.

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I agree. These aren't toys or crickets some1 buys for a pet lizard. Ducklings and animals lives are more important. These poor babies are scared and dont know what's going on. All of my ducklings are so traumatized and don't look good. They are scared and when they arrived they were dehydrated.

I am so sorry for your loss. One of the things that I have found (for me) is that as soon as I place an order I begin to bond with the babies be they chickens, ducks or geese. Then, as soon as I hear the peeping in the box I bond even more. Then when I open the box and we see each other eye to eye the bonding is permanent and very special. I have never received an order with dead babies but I have lost several over time within the first day or two. That is bad enough. To open that box and find some dead would just be too much.

I have learned a lot in my time here on BYC and especially this winter. I will continue to order from hatcheries but I will never again order when the weather is going to be extremely cold or hot. I know that the hatchery usually (not all hatcheries and not all the time) usually package appropriately for the time of year, the predicted weather and the distance being shipped. But I also know that the USPS, while they do some things right, have a tendency to just sit the box of babies aside or leave them in a truck overnight without consideration for their needs. Then this weather comes along and with delays and stoppages there is going to be death in the box.

I have noticed one hatchery that I deal with a lot all of a sudden over the past couple of weeks has "wait listed" almost all of the stock they sell. I don't know this for a fact but I hope they have done this to avoid having to ship birds in this weather and to not have to deal with customers that insist that they do so. It would be nice if there is at least one out there that puts the lives of their birds even just a little before their bottom line.

Again, sorry for the loss you have had and best wishes and luck in the future.