I have ordered chicks through the mail over the years and never lost any. It's been a while so I ordered 22 from a hatchery I have dealt with before. I won't name them since I don't blame them for what happened.
The chicks were shipped on Mon, 6/11 with expected delivery between 6/12-6/14. The tracking showed them leaving their origin, but from then on it would only say in route to next destination. By Thu, I was frantic and started calling USPS. Unfortunately, you can never talk to a person so I got no answers. Finally on Fri, my Postmaster told me she did some checking and the box was damaged and returned to the hatchery.
Then on Sat, she calls and tells me the box has arrived and there are some peeps. I picked them up with a lot of dread as I knew it couldn't be good. I opened the box to find a pile of mostly dead chicks. Eight were still alive but very weak. I gave them water with electrolytes but by Sun morning only one was left alive - a little Austra White. By some good fortune, I found a local person with some little chicks and I was able to get 2 buddies for it. It really perked up when I introduced it's new friends and I'm hopeful it continues to thrive.
The hatchery is replacing all the chicks and I hope not to have a bad experience again - but it was very depressing.
I was wondering how many other people may have had similar experiences. More than one person has told me the Post Office doesn't do a good job with them any more.
The chicks were shipped on Mon, 6/11 with expected delivery between 6/12-6/14. The tracking showed them leaving their origin, but from then on it would only say in route to next destination. By Thu, I was frantic and started calling USPS. Unfortunately, you can never talk to a person so I got no answers. Finally on Fri, my Postmaster told me she did some checking and the box was damaged and returned to the hatchery.
Then on Sat, she calls and tells me the box has arrived and there are some peeps. I picked them up with a lot of dread as I knew it couldn't be good. I opened the box to find a pile of mostly dead chicks. Eight were still alive but very weak. I gave them water with electrolytes but by Sun morning only one was left alive - a little Austra White. By some good fortune, I found a local person with some little chicks and I was able to get 2 buddies for it. It really perked up when I introduced it's new friends and I'm hopeful it continues to thrive.
The hatchery is replacing all the chicks and I hope not to have a bad experience again - but it was very depressing.
I was wondering how many other people may have had similar experiences. More than one person has told me the Post Office doesn't do a good job with them any more.