I was one of many people who's chick order was shipped the week of that horrible out of season snow storm this year that crippled the country and I learned a lot about how chicks ship as it took 6 days for mine to arrive.
First priority and express shipping are both two day shipping when live chicks are concerned. Period. Regardless of the hatchery or sender or coding on the box.This came straight from the postal service corporate office. Chicks must be two day shipped or else they can't guarantee less than 72° old arrival.
By law chicks cannot be shipped without reasonable expectancy that they will arrive before they are 72 hours old (not 72 hours in transit, 72 hours old)
If the shipper excepts the package from the hatchery theyve agreed that their company can deliver in time.
Chicks do not travel in the same "travel lanes" as regular cargo. They are not held in the same areas and are not scanned in like other shipments is why your tracking number is basically useless.
By policy chicks are loaded last and unloaded first.. This is usually followed as there are also laws as to how long chicks can spend in between stops..
That being said, things happen. Mistakes are made.. Usually it is due to delays in the whole shipment and not because you ordered chickens. You didn't do anything wrong. Noone can say you should have or could have incubated or bought local to have gotten what you wanted in chicks ..and honestly the industry and preservation of the breeds themselves needs you to desire to get what you want and not what your neighbor has in regard to breeds.
One of my 79 year old grandmother's fondest memories of her grandmother was going with her to town to pick up her chicks from the "big post office". This is a part of the way its been done for a long long time.
OK I've read this twice to ensure I wasn't missing something!!
But the fact remains that FED-EX, USPS, & UPS when animals are shipped HUMAN ISSUES are abundant, usually meaning lose of life to the young livestock WE as customers paid for.
Is it the FED-Ex, USPS or UPS organizations that pay for the loses NO it's the (in most cases) (within as you stated 48 HRS, most give you up to 4 day) the hatchery and in a lot later cases the customer who lose out.
In my case with the broilers the fact that the day old chicks were all but frozen it cause them to not be able to fight off the common problems most poultry are born with, thus me losing a lot of money.
Unless your willing to drive yourself to the hatchery and pick up your animals directly, were all pretty much at their mercy, And in my humble opinion that is why MOST good hatcheries will include several (depending on quanity ordered) extra birds to cover losses.
We all know that that the shipping companys will not do something they know will COST them money, so ... it's like I said before .
Pick up BOX-A at location A deliver to location B as long as it gets there in 3 days they are happy they get paid, NO concerns as to how it got there or what condition it arrived.
SAD to think that way when it comes to live animals.
