6 out of 25 DOA. :( And a couple of questions ...

[Four Acre Bliss]

Okay, I get the point. The lost chicks were ALL MY FAULT. I was STUPID to order chicks in winter even though nothing in my reading here or on the hatchery website suggested it would be an issue.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! Seriously. I might sound flip, but I'm not -- I understand now that I did not make the best decision using the limited information I had, and I am sorry for those poor chicks that died as a result of my ignorance.

Now that we've gotten that issue out of the way, can someone help me out with the bullying issue with the remaining chicks who are still alive and kicking?

 

[Mrs MIA]

I think you did fine by separating the bully. Hopefully that is all it will take, but I'd keep an eye on them. Make sure they have plenty of food/water to keep them occupied. I blend my chick food too, until they're a couple of weeks old and can handle the larger chunks.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sorry for your loss.

I would go ahead and put bullies and the normals together as soon as they all are eating, drinking, and walking. Reason being, since they are still so young, they can work out their pecking order now rather than later when they can do real damage to each other. Picks to each others eyes at a few days old won't damage the eye, but picks to the eyes at 3 weeks old might cause serious injury. Malicious fighting and picks to an eye at a few months old may cause a loss of an eye.

As long as they are about the same size, within about 50%, they should be fine.

 

[HennyPennies2007]

Four acres

Hang in there. ANY time chicks are shipped it's a crapshoot for a variety of reasons. Timing, handleing, weather, hardiness of chicks etc. It is ALWAYS a gamble. Once everyone has settled down and is warm and has a fully belly for the night put them back together. They were probably just stressed out and hyperactive due to the cold weather. Give em their electrolytes and stuff and they should rebound for ya. It's NOT your fault... stuff happens.

:

Don't let it get to ya.

 

[halo]

Of course its not your fault, but its not McMurray's fault either. There is no blame; it just happened that way. Lots of people have gotten chicks already from them and they were just fine. You take a risk ordering this time of year, thats all.

 

[damselfish]

We did the same exact thing last year (President's Day holiday) with McMurray and got the same exact results...hatched Sat, delivered Tues, 6 dead in box, more dead over the next day or two. It was so sad.

It was also our first time ordering ever, and I did not consider the holiday either.

So you're not alone.

My new rules are to never order over a holiday again no matter what anyone tells me about the post office, to never order until warm weather is likely all the way from me to the hatchery, and never to order by mail if I can avoid it (picking up chicks from Estes in Springfield today, actually!)

So sorry this happened to you too. Take good care of the rest and try to quit mea culpa-ing

, you're going to be a wonderful chicken parent.

P.S. McMurray refunded our $ for every chick that died, be sure to call them.

 

[feathrencox]

I'm not a big fan of McMurray either. I ordered 25 SLW in August of 2007 and they were supposed to be shipped on a certain date, a Wednesday. I called them that date and they ASSURED me they had, yes, indeed been shipped. There were 2 different post offices on standby and after the whole ordeal, I know the names of almost everyone at the Post Office because I called them so often. Anyway, after each day I became more and more sickened because I was afraid they were sitting somewhere dying slowly. After the weekend came and went I was irrate! I call the hatchery AGAIN and they say, Oh oops, they weren't sent but are being sent this week! They had told me 4 straight days in a row that they were sent out. So needless to say, I had stayed at home for 5 days straight waiting for a call from the Post Office for me to come get baby chicks, but no call came. I was so stressed out that weekend, thinking about these little things dying somewhere. When they finally did ship them to me, they were all alive and ok. Still I wasn't real happy with the way they did things.
Heather

 

[kitchwitch]

Good news four acres you are entirely without fault!

It's not the customer's duty to make sure that they're not ordering during holidays. That's bad business for the hatchery to place the responsibility on their customers to not order during certain times of the year. Actually it's bad business for the hatchery to even offer a hatching date if they know there will be no way for customers to get their order.

Now MCM has to replace all kinds of dead chicks/give refunds at their expense because they didn't do what a good business should do.

Weather and temps have nothing to do with it. if it was summer time and this happened I'm sure you would have still lost chicks. maybe not as many, but there would have been losses. It comes down to mistakes made by the hatchery.

 

[the_eagle69]

your not to blame i have a feeling and i may be wrong but i belive there may have been a shout down due to holiday that is not the norm but i dont know im guessing. i called MM not long ago told of mine they ask me to wait and call back on friday to make sure the others made it ok. they gaurentee chicks up to 48 hours after you recive thelm so if they did not think they would make it they would not hatch or ship (bad for business). temps between us and thelm were not that cold. As for you bully chick you did good by seperateing it. that is about the only way i know of. chicks from what i have read establish an order of comand and charge and they peck and bully for the lead some are more aggresive that others.

 

[Scratchn By]

There are a thousand reasons why those fragile lives would be in jeopardy via USPS, UPS, FedEx, whatever... Those of us that have received all our chicks alive and they survived, whatever time of year, were simply lucky. The odds are against 100% survival... Face it. If you order through the mail it's a gamble. I myself was considering driving four hours to pick mine up from Ideal. But, decided to take the gamble again. Wish those chicks good luck! They gonna need it.

I just hope they have warm weather and Bubba the beer drinking, race car driving, potato sack slinging, lumberjack isn't working when they're shipped!