Chicks all arrived dead

[kmb221]

Received call from Post Office this AM at 6:45. All 25 chicks alive and seem healthy. Thanks Ideal.

 

[ralleia]

WOOOHOOOO!

 

[psycoforsilkies]

i have bought numerous chicks from ideal, i can say they do not sell sick chicks, they have great customer service, they cannot help what happens in route, or at your home, being new to chickens since last march i can say it is a learning process. Esp with chicks.

 

[MadabtChickens]

I don't believe that at all. Most all of the bad reviews I've read are people who have their chicks shipped in winter temperatures and then expect that the hatchery is responsible for what the Weather and/or the Postal workers do. For a hatchery that ships a couple million chicks a year, if they had bad breeders, the bad reviews would be hundreds of pages long and I haven't seen anything to suggest that.




That's going to be an issue. The only postal service that will ship chicks is the USPS and they do not do overnight. At all.

I haven't read too many bad reviews either. Every company is going to get some bad reviews. That being said, I still won't be ordering chicks until there is a way for them to be sent overnight to me. I don't need anything that bad I can't find in my area.

 

[laurasibert123]

I got an order from them on Friday morning too. I'm in Indiana. They all arrived alive, but I've lost 2 ducks and 3 chicks already. They seem to get really tired and can't hold their heads up and then they die. Any ideas on if I'm doing something wrong? I seperated the ducks and chicks and have both sets under heat lamps....help! I hate this!

 

[laurasibert123]

I haven't been able to find the breeds I want at the age I want locally. I like hand raising my birds so they are friendly, but it seems I can only find older birds...any ideas? I'm in Indiana

 

[ralleia]

Are you sure that it's not TOO hot in there?

One thing that a number of people seem to do is accidentally cook their chicks to death! I never use a real heat lamp with any of my chick broodings--nothing more than a 70 watt light bulb if it's in my house. And I make sure that there's enough space for them to get AWAY from the warm bulb, if they feel too hot.

 

[laurasibert123]

That might be it.....how hot should it be? maybe I'm keeping it too warm because i keep my house on the cool side.

 

[ralleia]

For starts, IMMEDIATELY reduce the heat while we figure out what is going on.

Then get a decent thermometer and lay it down there for several minutes to figure out what the temperature is.

If it is inside of a house (which normally doesn't have drafts), then I would at first shoot for the 80s Fahrenheit on the bedding near the lamp.

Your chicks will tell you if they are too cool by huddling together in the warmest spot.

They will live longer being a little cool. If it's too hot they can die very quickly.

 

[chloezoebob101]

thats horrible!

and i couldn't bear to order bc of the fear of them dying on the way, that is why i just go get them from the hatchery.