Ducks mailed and still not arrived yet!

[Saponaria]

So if nothing else happens from all of this maybe next year folks will wait till weather improves before ordering.

See, the weather was fine for me and I had no idea where the birds go in the process of being delivered. However the hatchery does. And my email confirmation when I ordered said that they would call if they were unable for some reason to deliver. I would expect that the hatchery would decide to not risk mailing them if they knew the routes were through seriously bad weather vs expecting ALL customers to call up the USPS and hatchery to find out the delivery routes and weather along the routes before ordering. I however ordered 2 weeks before shipment so that wouldn't have helped me either. You can't really accurateIy predict weather weeks out. And honestly I don't feel like being blamed for placing an order when my weather is fine and based on dates the hatchery gives for delivery. We can't seriously be at fault and not the hatchery? Why not say that hopefully the hatcheries won't sell and ship birds till the weather improves instead? Or won't ship birds when they realize it's going to be through a horrible storm? Every way you look at it the hatchery has more info at hatch and ship date.

Or maybe sometimes life sucks and the weather sucks and the post office sucks. And life and death is not predictable. And there is no reason to quietly blame by suggesting people should have done something different. We just accept that the unpredictable happens. And that we ordered birds weeks before a major storm hit and the hatchery mailed our birds through it anyway.

 

[Miss Lydia]

See, the weather was fine for me and I had no idea where the birds go in the process of being delivered. However the hatchery does. And my email confirmation when I ordered said that they would call if they were unable for some reason to deliver. I would expect that the hatchery would decide to not risk mailing them if they knew the routes were through seriously bad weather vs expecting ALL customers to call up the USPS and hatchery to find out the delivery routes and weather along the routes before ordering. I however ordered 2 weeks before shipment so that wouldn't have helped me either. You can't really accurateIy predict weather weeks out. And honestly I don't feel like being blamed for placing an order when my weather is fine and based on dates the hatchery gives for delivery. We can't seriously be at fault and not the hatchery? Why not say that hopefully the hatcheries won't sell and ship birds till the weather improves instead? Or won't ship birds when they realize it's going to be through a horrible storm? Every way you look at it the hatchery has more info at hatch and ship date.

Or maybe sometimes life sucks and the weather sucks and the post office sucks. And life and death is not predictable. And there is no reason to quietly blame by suggesting people should have done something different. We just accept that the unpredictable happens. And that we ordered birds weeks before a major storm hit and the hatchery mailed our birds through it anyway.

Goodness very sorry you feel like I am blaming you and you alone. I just feel maybe ordering after worst winter weather is over may keep anyone from going through the heart ache of opening boxes of dead poultry. I really don't understand why hatcheries would start sending out orders when temps all over the country were affected. Sure didn't help themselves out any since they have to replace all that didn't make it. Again my apologizes for making you feel you are to blame.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Last year and the year before, the Post Office did some MAJOR reroutings (I work in the postal industry, but not for the post office, but I KNOW). It used to be a given that Monday shipped poultry would arrive Wednesday morning This is no longer the case. I had a total of three shipments from Metzer last year. The first and last showed on Thursday and the middle one showed on Wednesday. Our local feed store ordered for the same delivery day as we did but from a different firm and theirs didn't show until Thursday either. (In their case, it resulted in 10 DOA Cayugas

). This was with beautiful weather. Ours all lived. All of my shipments included grow gel. This isn't very expensive. The traditional idea is that day old poultry has just absorbed its yolk sac and can go 2 days without eating or drinking and it used to be impossible to ship something to eat or drink. Since grow gel stays put, it can be shipped and it has some nourishment, but more importantly water. Our Thursday arrivals were bright and chipper. With the first shipment, they shipped 1 cup (probably about 2oz) with 11 ducklings. On Thursday it was completely empty. This was at the beginning of the season so they were not yet aware of all the delays. My second shipment was a few days later and they included 1 cup for 2 birds. A couple months later I got the last shipment and they had included 2 cups for 2 birds (by this time they weren't taking any chances). There was a bunch of grow gel left in that last shipment. Provided the cold didn't get to them (and with a larger bird order, this is less of a concern), they could have probably made Saturday or Sunday with that much food/water. So my point is, if it is still an option, I would get the grow gel. With any orders. If I were the seller, I would just make that a normal part of shipping and charge accordingly. I think this would make the Friday mortality rates only slightly higher than the normal Wednesday mortality rates without it.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

See, the weather was fine for me and I had no idea where the birds go in the process of being delivered. However the hatchery does. And my email confirmation when I ordered said that they would call if they were unable for some reason to deliver. I would expect that the hatchery would decide to not risk mailing them if they knew the routes were through seriously bad weather vs expecting ALL customers to call up the USPS and hatchery to find out the delivery routes and weather along the routes before ordering. I however ordered 2 weeks before shipment so that wouldn't have helped me either. You can't really accurateIy predict weather weeks out. And honestly I don't feel like being blamed for placing an order when my weather is fine and based on dates the hatchery gives for delivery. We can't seriously be at fault and not the hatchery? Why not say that hopefully the hatcheries won't sell and ship birds till the weather improves instead? Or won't ship birds when they realize it's going to be through a horrible storm? Every way you look at it the hatchery has more info at hatch and ship date.

Or maybe sometimes life sucks and the weather sucks and the post office sucks. And life and death is not predictable. And there is no reason to quietly blame by suggesting people should have done something different. We just accept that the unpredictable happens. And that we ordered birds weeks before a major storm hit and the hatchery mailed our birds through it anyway.

I believe @Miss Lydia was hopefully advising those who might learn from this rather than chiding you. Two years ago, even with the weather, the shipment would have likely been delayed only one day. Things have changed with the Post Office so this is how it is now. There is no way until this season started anyone could predict how their individual changes would affect poultry shipping. Alerting others might prevent this kind of sorrow for others in the future. After hearing about this if I was ordering next year, I might wait until May and take the chance that I wouldn't get any eggs until the following year. I ordered mine around this time last year and I was lucky. Obviously the future can't be predicted and you can't control the weather. You trust that things will run smoothly and sometimes they don't. But by making this tragedy a warning to others, perhaps some future tragedies can be avoided. I am sorry for your loss.