Advice on chick pickup...

[HMK123]

I expect our chicks to be delivered tommorow.

I will have my 5 year old neice with me. They will be her chickens. (My sister has to drive 4 hours to pick up her 13 year old from a friends house & is leaving the 5 year old with me.)

I am so worried that we will have a dead chick in the box. I have NEVER had this happen in the 4 times I've ordered chicks, but this is my first time getting a small order from "My Pet Chicken" and I don't know if that increases the risk of loseing one?

I was thinking I'd bring her into the post office and peak in the box and if there is a problem tell her that they need the dark and quite until we get them home (at which point I'll bring the box in the bathroom with me...) If everything looks good I can let her look...

What would you do? And has anyone heard anything about MPC and loss of chicks?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

The possibility of a dead chick in the box can happen any time live chicks are sent. It doesn't matter which hatchery you chose.

I don't have kids, so I can't make any recommendations about exposing your child to a possible dead chick. But I don't think it would ruin their life. Lots of little kids have lost pets and had to learn hard lessons early on.

The odds are that everything will be fine. MPC is a good company and they take care in shipping. Also, since it is warmer this time of year, deaths from chilling are less frequent.

Good luck.

 

[thechickenchick]

I ordered 8 from MPC. They arrived a month ago. It was still very chilly here in MT and they were all alive. I did lose one 2 days later though. My advice, if there is no chirping, DON"T open the box in front of her. If you hear happy chirps def open it! Even if there is a "passed" one in there the livley cute fuzzy butts will distract her enough! Good luck!

 

[BayCityBabe]

I wouldn't bother to look at them at the post office. You will have to deal with the hatchery anyway. At home, I WOULD keep the box above her eye level until you know. Perhaps, if she is able, you can pass her each chick & let her put them in the brooder. If you do find a dead one, just cover it with a paper towel. We thought we had a box of lively ones & didn't even discover the "dear departed" until we had unloaded more than half of the chicks.
Good luck. You are a wonderful auntie!

 

[lemurchaser]

I personally think it is important for children to see an adults reaction to death and how to cope with it. Maybe check with your sister first, but I would deal with it with her present. Sort of an "Oh, so sad, this baby chick didn't make it, lets go bury it properly". Then go enjoy the new babies. Kids tend to just accept death as a fact, they tend not to be overly upset by it.

 

[Julie08]

Wow those are all great ideas. Good luck.

 

[Sonia]

Quote:
I agree totally with this. My kids have witnessed birth and death from a very early age. It saddens them when one passes but I think teaching them early about both aspects is good. It would be much harder for them to accept the death of a friend or family member later in life if they had never experienced it in a pet first. They grieve and we have a burial 'ceremony' complete with planting flowers on the grave but I have never shielded them from this albiet sad fact of life. Their grandmother passed on last year and I believe that being exposed to the death of pets helped them to cope and understand better.

 

[HMK123]

Thanks everyone. Some great ideas...

I will talk with my sister and either hand her the chicks from level she cannot see or we will open it together (assuming it is chirping happily...) depending on what my sister says.

My little neice understands a little about death, we loss my father a year ago and my mom (grandma) is ill with end stage lung cancer. That being said, I will let her mom tell me what she would prefer.

I know she lost a pet turtle recently so her mom will have a good idea of what way she'd like me to do...