Anyone impatiently waiting for your baby chicks to arrive?!?!

[Liddy]

The hatcher has had a few problems with USPS lately, so we will see what explanation they offer for the late delivery. I don't anticipate any issues with either a reship or refund from the hatcher themselves. I would love to still have the chicks, but if the USPS can't offer some assurances...

Unfortunately, USPS doesn't always come through. The drivers for the most part do what they can, keeping the peeping boxes up front in the temperature controlled cabs, wrapping jackets around them in cold weather, etc., but schedules don`t always jive. Any small delay can cascade into disaster for delicate cargo. Live shipments are not covered by the Express money-back guarantee.

I have been in a post office when there were several shipments of chicks out back and I cannot imagine holding them for any longer than necessary. Jensownzoo, I can only speculate that something happened to your chicks very early on and the box was silent and that's why it fell off the grid for so long.

Last August I ordered chicks from MPC. I live in the far north of Maine. Tracking showed that the chicks were scanned at the hub outside of Bangor about an hour after the last truck headed north. They sat for 18 hours until the next one left. I lost a third of the 21 wee ones. When I order this year - Cackle Surprise pack, most definitely - I plan on driving 3 hours to fetch them if they miss the truck this time.

One way to head off problems is contact the nearest hub, if you can feasibly get there to meet your box of peepers, and make arrangements to be contacted when the box arrives there. USPS does this often enough that there will be someone on site to facilitate getting word to you if the schedule falls apart. Try calling the nearest retail post office, explain that you want to head off any problems with a delivery of baby chicks, and ask if anyone there has a contact at the distribution facility who might be able to help you. That's what I did and now I have someone on `the inside` who will call me upon their arrival.

Good luck to us all!!

 

[Jensownzoo]

Yeah, unfortunately the tracking updated after the primary hub had closed for the evening (Friday night). They were scanned into the secondary hub (Carrier Annex) at 7:30 the next morning. I do have the number there (I had been calling it 2x/day since they didn't show up Thursday), and someone answered about 9am. I was sitting in their parking lot at that point with all my emergency supplies in case there were any survivors. My retail PO doesn't know anything about live shipments...first time I went into talk to them to warn them a shipment was coming they told me it would be delivered to my house! I was so relieved when the Annex called me to come get it as there was snow on the ground at the time...

 

[Liddy]

Yeah, unfortunately the tracking updated after the primary hub had closed for the evening (Friday night). They were scanned into the secondary hub (Carrier Annex) at 7:30 the next morning. I do have the number there (I had been calling it 2x/day since they didn't show up Thursday), and someone answered about 9am. I was sitting in their parking lot at that point with all my emergency supplies in case there were any survivors. My retail PO doesn't know anything about live shipments...first time I went into talk to them to warn them a shipment was coming they told me it would be delivered to my house! I was so relieved when the Annex called me to come get it as there was snow on the ground at the time...

I meant call the retail PO closest to the hub rather than your local PO. The staff there is more likely to know someone who can/will help.

My tiny PO frequently has chicks coming through for delivery. I guess in rural areas it's more common. And we are very rural up here.

This thread is making me impatient for placing my order!

 

[Jensownzoo]

Oh I see. Yeah, I live in the big city I have some property that's much more rural though. The chicks will be going out there once they outgrow the brooder (and I finish building the coop).

 

[MH37125]

This is so sad!!! Awe my heart breaks for those little ones. Mine are supposed to arrive between March 7-10th from Meyers. Gosh I hope they all will be ok, not sure I can handle a box full of dead chicks.

 

[Mikejr05]

I am sorry that really stinks. My first chicks (ever) should come this week. I got them from my local farm store if there are any troubles they get to deal with the bad news first, but I hope all is okay the hatchery is only 4 hours North west of us so knock on wood. I hope all goes well for you on the next shipment.
P.S. I bought the wax worms as well.

 

[Jensownzoo]

P.S. I bought the wax worms as well. 

Awesome. I just started training the chicks to allow handling using them as rewards. Fifteen minute session last night had half of them begging to get lifted onto my lap. They got to eat from the cup of worms while I felt their crops, checked their leg bands, and so forth. They really enjoy the other treats, but waxworms are the favorite so far.

 

[javaferret]

Wax worms? Just when I got my head around meal worms..another creepy crawly that my soon to be chickens will want.....lol.

 

[Liddy]

Okay, now I must know about waxworms!

Jensownzoo, that training is brilliant! I have not come across anyone mentioning it before. I love this forum so much. My flocks should, too, because they benefit from my education.

I cruised over to the Cackle site last night,

to drool over the Surprise box again. There was a notation on that page that as of 2/20, delivery dates were no sooner than May.

That is when I want them to arrive!

I placed my order immediately. Now the wait begins!

Of course, I must learn all about wax worms in the meantime.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Okay, now I must know about waxworms!

Jensownzoo, that training is brilliant! I have not come across anyone mentioning it before. I love this forum so much. My flocks should, too, because they benefit from my education.

Waxworms are sort of like mealworms, except soft-bodied like grubs. A lot of reptile-keepers feed them to their insectivores and people use them as fishing bait, so you can find them in a lot of places that sell live insects. I got the Chicken variety pack from Rainbow Mealworms (one of the BYC sponsors) to try everything out (the superworms and rainbow giants are too big, so they're being held in a "farm" until the chicks grow up). I looked up waxworm culture, but it seems that the average person can't really farm them like you can mealworms. I am liking them over the mealworms because it doesn't squick me out nearly as much to hold them in my palm!

I do a lot of animal rescue work/fostering and have found it EXTREMELY helpful to train animals while they are young to allow handling of all their parts (it makes maintenance and treatment of illnesses so much easier!), so it was sort of automatic to incorporate it into my chicken raising. It also builds trust and facilitates bonding, which will make future training easier--such as come to the coop when called