Chick shipment?

[ChickAsThieves]

I stumbled upon this and it sounds all to familiar. We also ordered from tractor supply. And same hatchery. We ordered 20. After 12 hours 13 total dead. 5 were DOA. By the next day 17 were dead. I figured it was a bad batch. So they sent replacements. We received 19 this morning. Only 1 was alive and 1 we were able to revive. Whether they survive or not I'm not sure. Last time they seemed fine then would be dead later. This time I requested a refund. We live in northern wyoming. I tried to put a review on tractor supply of the incident to warn others and they would not post it. I would never order from there again. 34 dead chicks out of 41 seems to be a little excessive to me.

Yeah, my very quick math tells me that is 83% dead. Horrifying. I have ordered from hatcheries in the past with relatively good success, but I'm going to try to get chicks and hatching eggs locally as much as possible in the future. Less stress for the chicks, less heartbreak for me!

 

[barred2rock]

I stumbled upon this and it sounds all to familiar. We also ordered from tractor supply. And same hatchery. We ordered 20. After 12 hours 13 total dead. 5 were DOA. By the next day 17 were dead. I figured it was a bad batch. So they sent replacements. We received 19 this morning. Only 1 was alive and 1 we were able to revive. Whether they survive or not I'm not sure. Last time they seemed fine then would be dead later. This time I requested a refund. We live in northern wyoming. I tried to put a review on tractor supply of the incident to warn others and they would not post it. I would never order from there again. 34 dead chicks out of 41 seems to be a little excessive to me.

Wow! That's horrible! I hope you have better luck else where. Have you tried locally?

 

[barred2rock]

From last night, they're now comfy in their MHP (as I should be in bed):

Sorry for lack of quality, the camera on this tablet is not good.

 

[Wavechickens]

Oh my god this whole ordeal sounded just terrible!!! I feel so bad for you and the baby chicks. It's really sad when you are looking forward to something so much and it's turns out to be so heartbreaking. It makes you sometimes wonder if it was worth it. I have heard horror stories about this kind of thing and when we ordered our chicks through the mail I worried from the moment they left to the moment they arrived. I did get a little annoyed when I saw they had sat in the post office for over 12 hours in one facility l, I know that they can't take proiorty to send my chicks directly to me without any stops or change overs from Ohio to Vermont, but when they check in during business hours and don't leave until the next day well after business hours opened it chaps me. They thankfully all arrived alive, and all but one was very healthy, and she made it after a little TLC so we got fortunate. We had a bought of bad luck last year and we lost almost all of our chicks to predators, dogs, and a fire so we almost called it quits but so glad we didn't.
I am so happy to hear though that you found some new babies to add to your remaining ones, and no you didn't do anything wrong, it does sound like either sick chicks or bad handling and shipping. I'm sorry for your losses but am excited your joining us on the adventure in chicken raising!

 

[Kiki]

I stumbled upon this and it sounds all to familiar. We also ordered from tractor supply. And same hatchery. We ordered 20. After 12 hours 13 total dead. 5 were DOA. By the next day 17 were dead. I figured it was a bad batch. So they sent replacements. We received 19 this morning. Only 1 was alive and 1 we were able to revive. Whether they survive or not I'm not sure. Last time they seemed fine then would be dead later. This time I requested a refund. We live in northern wyoming. I tried to put a review on tractor supply of the incident to warn others and they would not post it. I would never order from there again. 34 dead chicks out of 41 seems to be a little excessive to me.

I honestly believe that chicks ordered, from ANY "site, that have to be shipped, have pretty close the same odds of survival, BUT
I have been reading a lot about doa's recently ...all ordered from a TSC.....hmmmm


Btw...Sorry for your nightmare.
How long where your chicks "in the mail"?

 

[Kiki]

From last night, they're now comfy in their MHP (as I should be in bed):

Sorry for lack of quality, the camera on this tablet is not good.

awwww....
if you put a little plate under the waterer, it will help from getting the bedding all wet.

 

[acarrafa]

They left Tuesday at 230pm Central time and arrived Friday at 530am Mtn time. Locally we have a tractor supply and a couple local farm and ran his stores. They all receive them in the mail as well. But they do keep them 24 hrs before they will sell them to make sure they are all healthy. I am glad they were willing to replace them or refund but that just seems to be a waste of life to me. I also don't think it is right for tractor supply to be able to pick and choose which reviews to post.

 

[Wavechickens]

They left Tuesday at 230pm Central time and arrived Friday at 530am Mtn time. Locally we have a tractor supply and a couple local farm and ran his stores. They all receive them in the mail as well. But they do keep them 24 hrs before they will sell them to make sure they are all healthy. I am glad they were willing to replace them or refund but that just seems to be a waste of life to me. I also don't think it is right for tractor supply to be able to pick and choose which reviews to post.

No that's pretty bad they refuse to post negative reports to save face. Almost every business has good and bad reviews, it's part of doing business. Before we ordered from my pet chicken we looked up lots of reviews, some good, some down right awful. But the overall was positive so I went for it.
It is stressful for them to ship, the other member is right, but we had them home less than 30 hours after they were hatched, delivery even with the long delay at one post office. They only made two stops before they were at my post office so overall it turned out okay for us. They were hatched early Monday, shipped out Monday afternoon, and had them arrive home on Tuesday around 3pm so it was a pretty quick trip, I think the length makes all the difference in some cases. Also how many times they switch post office buildings. Ours went from the main Ohio post office building (that was the long delay, they were there all day) to white river post office and sent right back out to mine in barre.

 

[barred2rock]

They left Tuesday at 230pm Central time and arrived Friday at 530am Mtn time. Locally we have a tractor supply and a couple local farm and ran his stores. They all receive them in the mail as well. But they do keep them 24 hrs before they will sell them to make sure they are all healthy. I am glad they were willing to replace them or refund but that just seems to be a waste of life to me. I also don't think it is right for tractor supply to be able to pick and choose which reviews to post.

I have to agree, what's the point of reviews if they only post the ones they like?! It sounds like your shipment was shipped along side mine, but mine got here Thursday. If they had taken just a couple more hours I'm sure none would have made it. I found a good variety of healthy chicks at Murdoch's. Maybe you have one in your area?

 

[barred2rock]

This morning all six seemed to be doing well, eating, drinking & running around. As I watched, one just stopped seemingly having any interest, she's just been standing under the MHP. I took her out to try to show her the food & water, but she just stood there until I put her back under the MHP. Three had pasty buttons, which I cleaned, I think she was the worst of the bunch. Is there anything I should do to help her along?