New chicks , bad hatchery experience

[crp126]

I won't name the hatchery but I just got bantam chicks and standard chicks today by mail. They shipped on Friday, spent all day yesterday sitting in the USPS sorting facility and this morning when I picked them up we had 6 dead banties and 3 that are still weak. The hatchery put nothing in with them to get them through the long transit time. I feel bad for the chicks since they suffered. One was taking its last breath as I got home from post office. I called the hatchery and they are going to make it right but that doesn't fix what happened to those babies. We got ducks a month ago from the same place and had one dead on arrival. We had no problems last year so something is wrong there I think. I have two more orders coming and am hoping we don't have anymore problems.

 

[OreoPlymothRock]

That is terrible! Poor chickies! I am so sorry! You have my condolences. Oh my gosh, can you please name the hatchery, so I know not to buy from them? Thanks.

P.S. Can you at least PM the name to me? Thanks.

 

[keesmom]

I've never had a hatchery put anything in to supplement chicks during transit. Aside from Metzer, but that was ducklings.

I got chicks from the same hatchery a month ago. All 22 chicks are still doing well now. Sometimes things just happen during shipping. Sometimes the chicks just fail to thrive. I've had shipments from 2 other large hatcheries in the past. In some all survived, others had losses. Unfortunately it just happens.

Bad things can even happen to chicks that aren't shipped. I had 5 hatch here 2 weeks ago. All hatched easily, all looked healthy, all acted fine. For some reason 3 of those failed to thrive and were dead by 6 days old. Sometimes it's beyond human control.

 

[ImNotYogi]

I've only ordered from one hatchery so far. I originally placed an order with one that ships over the weekend then switched my order to another. Yes, the chicks have yolk to last 3 days or so and, yes, many people have not had any issues with weekend shipments. Things can go wrong with any shipment from any hatchery. I feel more comfortable knowing they wont be in transit longer than necessary. Sitting in a sorting hub all day Sunday is unnecessary, imo.

 

[azygous]

There is one hatchery I'm aware of that has a policy of shipping on Friday. That almost guarantees the chicks will be sitting two days over the weekend, or three days on a three-day weekend in a sorting facility, then another whole day in transit to the final destination. This means chicks that should be kept between 85 degrees and 90 are subject to prolonged chilling. Not to mention dehydration. This almost guarantees fatalities.

Oh wait. They're insured, aren't they? The hatchery reimburses the customer but makes an insurance claim that pays out more than what they pay the customer for the DOAs. Methinks it may be a racket? Nah!

When selecting a hatchery, among the criteria must be shipping during the week so the destination can be reached with the chicks alive and well within three days. I chose MPC since I knew they would ship my chicks on Monday, so I would get them on Wednesday. They were well packaged in a crush-proof box and nesting material prevented chicks from bumping against the sides of the box as well as protecting them from coming into direct contact with the heat pack, which was tucked safely in one corner under a thick layer of nest material.

Ask questions. Don't do business with a hatchery that insists on treating chicks as commodities.

 

[TheRambler]

It wouldnt make a difference, the mail moves even on sunday even if its not being delivered to your door. Usps tracking isn't exactly accurate. Usually there is no tracking update between the sort facility and your door until right before its delivered to you. If the sort facility is nearby you can always call to pick up there also

 

[crp126]

This was accurate tracking, my postmaster was not happy either. And on Sunday there is no options for pick up from the sorting facility and they do not call you. The chicks were in the sort facility at 4 am Sunday where they stayed until the same time Monday when they were loaded onto the truck to get to my PO.

 

[crp126]

Update....total of 9 dead banties now. The three weakest died. That's over half my bantie order. I know things happen but I don't lose half of my chicks when they hatch. I lost two out of 19 that hatched of my own. 9 out of 15 is unacceptable. One or two I can understand, stuff happens. But not 9.

 

[ImNotYogi]

It doesn't matter if mail moves on Sunday since it can't be delivered or picked up. That's what causes the problems, imo, at least to a certain extent. It's an unnecessary extra day in transit.

Edit: as far as tracking, usps is rarely ever good in this department. Most of the time I get an origin then delivered update. With my chicks, it'd update a few hours after being scanned. Don't think I ever had a USPS delivery update even reasonably close to real time. But I'm assuming the time stamps are at least accurate. Which would still show how long they were either moving or sitting in some hub.

 

[microchick]

This is just sad and IMHO it borderlines on animal cruelty on the part of the hatchery. It doen't take being a brain surgeon to figure out what is going to happen to day old chicks if you ship them over a three day weekend and the 'oh well, no problem, we will make it right with you' attitude is just plain heartless when you think of the way those poor babies suffered.

I'm surprised somebody hasn't reported them and I definitely would be looking for a local breeder. I started our flock this year from chicks I bought from a local breeder that was listed in our state's breeders book. They were healthy, robust chicks that have developed into beautiful strong birds. I'd never buy from anyone else.