Baby Chicks lost in the mail

[Brznwench]

They arrived this morning, only having been shipped out at 10pm last night from Detroit, where they sat since Friday morning. Never again. I will give them a proper burial.

 

[song of joy]

I'm so sorry! How heart-breaking.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

 

[Cack-a-doodle]

That is reall upsetting to see things that should be loud and energetic to be so quite and still

 

[azygous]

This is one of the most heartbreaking threads I've ever read. Having just this past month gone through this stress-filled experience of waiting for a mail order shipment of chicks myself, it especially affects me.

One of the values of BYC and heartbreaking stories such as this one, is the instructional value for all of us. There are several things to be learned from this OP's experience.

The first thing to remember, given the precarious state of day-old chicks, is to choose a hatchery that is as close to your state as possible.

The second is to choose a hatchery that ships on Mondays only, and do not order for shipment on a week there is going to be a federal holiday.

Unless the OP fished that heat pack out and placed it with the chicks, I would ask until I find out why it wasn't placed underneath the straw bedding. Those things get very hot and can kill chicks with direct contact. If they were shipped with the heat pack on top the bedding like that, those chicks could have been dead days ago.

And last, even if the hatchery is relatively close, you need to investigate beforehand the number of sorting centers the chicks will be subjected to and what, if any, 24 hour layovers they will have to endure. Knowing this information, you may be able to take delivery a day sooner if you have a friend in the town of the sorting center that they can be shipped to. I elected to do this, and a three hour drive to go get my chicks was worth the effort to get them a day sooner.

I'm so very sorry about this as I had visions similar to that photo just two weeks ago as I was tracking my chicks and they were "lost" for 24 hours and not delivered the day the tracking indicated they would.

 

[capecodpeeps]

So srry thats not right

 

[jtn42248]

This seems to be happening more and more of late. There are so many things at play. The severe weather we have been having nationally both hot and cold. The bad practices of shippers like this one that put the heat pad in contact with the chicks. The delays that are caused now by the closure of so many postal sorting centers. I used to order from Ideal and because of where I am located my order was delivered to the post office the next day after my order was placed. Now, with the closure of so many sorting centers, it takes 3-4 days for my order to make it to me the distance is only 300 miles.

There have been some good suggestions made:

1 - Know your hatchery and their shipping schedule. Do not place an order that is going to ship over a weekend or against a federal holiday.
2 - If possible pick you order up at the hatchery - eliminate the postal middle man altogether
3 - ALWAYS alert your local post office to expect a live animal shipment and to call you IMMEDIATELY to come pick them up, don't let the carrier take them out on the route
4 - Pay attention to weather. DON'T order during extreme weather hot or cold

This won't prevent problems but it might reduce these sorts of tragedies.

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
If you are getting shipped chicks you need this emergency nutritional supplement. Because it doesn't need to be digested. It will get energy to a chick too weak to uptake it thru its G.I. tract.
Created by a cattle breeder.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/746509/how-to-deal-with-travel-stress-in-baby-chicks
Measureable in the bloodstream in 30 minutes with 99% utilization. All Natural. Instructions: Give one drop only by mouth per chick. Repeat as needed every 8-10 hours until chicks are perky. For Maintenance: put 2 ml per gallon in their water for the 1st 2 weeks. For stress situations use 4ml per gallon in their water. If the chicks don't like the taste you can back down to 2ml per gallon in their water. I raise my chicks on this for the 1st 3-4 weeks every season to get them off to a strong start.
Best Regards,
Karen

 

[Brznwench]

I did not move that heat pack. it WAS on top of the bedding as you can see it is covered with their droppings. Thankyou for the advice. I will never again order live chicks through the mail and will stick with hatching eggs.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Why would they even include the heat pack? Its been miserably hot in most places lately! I've had chicks shipped to me in the dead of winter without a heat pack. I agree, they could've been dead days ago :/
Having chicks shipped to you can be an amazing experience. I've had chicks shipped from various hatcheries bunches of times and have never had this experience (maybe I'm just lucky).

So sorry about your wee nuggets. That picture did make me tear up a little, not what you want to see when your expecting a box full of fluffy peepers