Revan
Songster
This is...well...a bit of a rant post on top of maybe some suggestions as to what I can do. I made two orders of poultry, tallying 110 straightrun (and one rooster), so 111 chicks altogether, between Ideal Hatchery and Welp Hatchery. They both shipped Wednesday this past week, and arrived...Friday afternoon.
However, the stupid postmaster refused to let me pick them up when I stopped in to see if they had come in. They 'only sort through mail that arrives in the morning. Anything arriving later in the day is unloaded in the morning.' I told her my chicks were going to die. She told me 'not my problem.' So, all those chicks sat overnight in the cold storage room out back. To anyone wondering, I have already filed a complaint with the national USPS office regarding this blatant disregard for protocol concerning live animals.
Obviously, when I got them first thing yesterday morning, Saturday, many were dead already in the box due to the cold. About two dozen. I quickly lost more in the following hours as many were so weak, they wouldn't even move anymore. Just limp and gasping. Currently, I am down to about 60 chicks out of 111. Lost nearly all the chicks from Ideal, and I lost most all of my D'uccles (I bought 15 chicks) from Welp. I've been up and down most of the night removing deceased chicks and trying to encourage eating and drinking from others. Only a handful of chicks appear lively.
There are still a large number of chicks that are not looking well. I did have gro-gel from Ideal, which many chicks ate, but some still died anyway. I've also been attempting warm sugar water with an eye dropper with the really weak chicks as best I can, trying to encourage them by tapping lightly on their beaks. Unfortunately, many are just lying there, eyes closed, and just don't wake up again. Are there any suggestions as to what else I can do, or is what I'm doing really the best I'm capable of doing for them at this point?
Breeds I ordered included a variety of different colored D'uccles, cochin bantams, silkies, polish, and white leghorns. The breed and size doesn't seem to matter. In fact, I've lost 12 polish chicks, and half my leghorns, including the little rooster leghorn in the past few hours.
However, the stupid postmaster refused to let me pick them up when I stopped in to see if they had come in. They 'only sort through mail that arrives in the morning. Anything arriving later in the day is unloaded in the morning.' I told her my chicks were going to die. She told me 'not my problem.' So, all those chicks sat overnight in the cold storage room out back. To anyone wondering, I have already filed a complaint with the national USPS office regarding this blatant disregard for protocol concerning live animals.
Obviously, when I got them first thing yesterday morning, Saturday, many were dead already in the box due to the cold. About two dozen. I quickly lost more in the following hours as many were so weak, they wouldn't even move anymore. Just limp and gasping. Currently, I am down to about 60 chicks out of 111. Lost nearly all the chicks from Ideal, and I lost most all of my D'uccles (I bought 15 chicks) from Welp. I've been up and down most of the night removing deceased chicks and trying to encourage eating and drinking from others. Only a handful of chicks appear lively.
There are still a large number of chicks that are not looking well. I did have gro-gel from Ideal, which many chicks ate, but some still died anyway. I've also been attempting warm sugar water with an eye dropper with the really weak chicks as best I can, trying to encourage them by tapping lightly on their beaks. Unfortunately, many are just lying there, eyes closed, and just don't wake up again. Are there any suggestions as to what else I can do, or is what I'm doing really the best I'm capable of doing for them at this point?
Breeds I ordered included a variety of different colored D'uccles, cochin bantams, silkies, polish, and white leghorns. The breed and size doesn't seem to matter. In fact, I've lost 12 polish chicks, and half my leghorns, including the little rooster leghorn in the past few hours.
