A complete loss

[RattyRoach]

Notice: I have raised chickens for years but have never ordered them in February

My white leghorn chicks arrived yesterday, and unfortunately all but 6 of the 17 had died in the box. Today the other 6 have died even after hours of dropper watering electrolytes and and the heat from a 250 watt light ( I normally use 125 watt inside).

Now that I have found this forum I see many others are having the same problem, is it wise to order chicks this time of year?

 

[KatieBugg]

I am so sorry you lost everything. Make sure to let the hatchery know as they will replace them. I have had good results with one hatchery while dismal with another, I think it depends on where you get them from. I might add if you do replacements it might be better to wait til it's a bit warmer, I know we have been having some pretty cold nights where I am at.

 

[RattyRoach]

I am so sorry you lost everything. Make sure to let the hatchery know as they will replace them. I have had good results with one hatchery while dismal with another, I think it depends on where you get them from. I might add if you do replacements it might be better to wait til it's a bit warmer, I know we have been having some pretty cold nights where I am at.

I will definitely have them wait until March or later, poor chicks!

 

[Fred's Hens]

USPS does not heat the cargo areas of their trucks. There have been nights in the teens throughout the midwest, I've no idea how the chicks are expected to survive this. It is still the heart of winter, quite frankly. I honestly do not know why hatcheries mail chicks in the dead of winter. It really is a questionable process, little heat pad inserted, or not. I'm very sorry you lost your chicks. Very sad.

 

[ohiochick2013]

I've decided any chicks we lose though MM I will replace with chicks from the hatchery about an hour away. I should've done this to begin with but I just found out about them. I'm so nervous about mine coming Monday. I'll so bad if I have a lot of deaths. It's nothing against MM just the time of the year.

 

[RattyRoach]

I've decided any chicks we lose though MM I will replace with chicks from the hatchery about an hour away. I should've done this to begin with but I just found out about them. I'm so nervous about mine coming Monday. I'll so bad if I have a lot of deaths. It's nothing against MM just the time of the year.

Mine were from Cackle, again nothing against Cackle, just bad weather.

 

[KatieBugg]

Mine were from Cackle, again nothing against Cackle, just bad weather.

I would say bad weather Cackle is only about an hour from me so I just order and then pick up, in fact I am picking up a replacement flock Feb 21, but because of our weather I would not opt to ship this time of year. I love their chicks they are chubby and healthy from the get go!

My Dismal hatchery shipment was last year from McMurray in early October, the weather was pretty darned good, I had held off until then because we were having horrible heat waves.I might add the chick were small and not vigorous like I am used to from Cackle. I used to order from McMurray about 20 years ago and got great chicks and grew up nice, it is not the case with them anymore. I wished they were the same as I love the variety and can get a couple of this and that and they also have some really cool breeds. I had order a 25 Brown egg layer assortment all pullets, I ended up with 3 Minorcas that lay white eggs, 4 EE's that were DOA, and 8 roos when it was all said and done, 3 chicks with malformed legs/feet, 1 chick with a crooked spine.....so was not happy at all.

 

[jessaba]

Sorry to hear this...we always order from Cackle and had good luck, but we wait until March to get ours. I'm sure the weather had something to do with it. They will refund you or replace them if you call them within 48 hours I think of getting them.

 

[RattyRoach]

Called up Cackle, they took all the my info and said they will have send another box but I told them not to send it until the first week of April. I'm a little traumatized about this whole ordeal.