Looking for Advice on shipping chicks

[lorad]

Hi all-
After several request for chicks rather than eggs, I've started to toy with the idea of shipping baby chicks next spring. I'm looking for suggestions on shipping containers (I only expect to ship at most 25 chicks), cost of shipping, do I need GroGel/supplemental heat? If I supply heat with Uniheat, do I need to ship 25? I'm thinking of shipping starting in March- too cold or do they need heat then? Would it be better to ship older chicks (2-3 weeks vs. day old)Thanks for any tips!

Lora - Fertile Java and Brahma eggs for sale in spring 2012

 

[pips&peeps]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=252067

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't think it is complicated.

Shipping boxes are available on-line. Postal regulations are clear.

I don't ship chicks because I don't want to guarantee live delivery when the post office is so intend upon doing damage to whatever passes through their hands. Replacing a box of chicks is nothing to a hatchery that does a million dollars worth of business, but replacing a box of chicks is a lot of money to me. Especially when it is not my fault the chicks died.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Shipping in March you can check the weather where they're going to and usually 25 will be fine.
If you ship a few, a heat pack will be needed.
After March it should be OK.
I wouldn't ship chicks if ambient temps are much over 80.

NPIP, which is easy to get, may be required to ship.

 

[lorad]

Thanks for all of the info. The USPS has been hard on eggs that I've shipped, but those are reasonably easy to replace. I may see how much demand there is, and try it with someone I've sold to before. I guess I need to start planning for egg collecting.I saw Culter Supply had everything I needed for shipping. Can anyone give a ballpark figure for shipping postage for chicks from the Midwest to the South?

 

[pips&peeps]

Postage is based on weight and zip code.

 

[BlazeJester]

Meyer charges $35 for shipping from Ohio to SC/GA. Not sure how much of that, if any, is profit and how much is actual shipping cost. You'll see VASTLY differing shipping prices on the auctions here too - from $15 to almost $100 (and those are set before purchase, so I'm not sure how they determine that).

Edited to add: I've had 7/8 chicks each time. It might cost less for more chicks, I'm not sure.

 

[lorad]

Did they provide supplemental heat with only 7 or 8 chicks? Were they day olds?

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

you never need to ship less than 15 chicks, they'll be half dead nearly every time.
Especially bantams

Temps over 80 do not hurt them one bit, actually are good for day olds, after all they are supposed to be kept at 95 degrees that time anyway.
I ship all summer, and put heat packs in even then, and no virtually never loose a chick.
The boxes for 25 and 50 Large fowl sized chicks are available all over the net. get the straw liners too, and the heat packs.
In addition, I will only ship Express mail. You get a priority mail trip that takes 3-4 days and they will get a box of dead chicks.
Seeing how a box of my bantams can be over $300. it's worth the extra in the long run.
It with the box, liner, and heat pack usually cost me right at $40.
With it, the customer gets a base $100 of insurance with the P.O. for an express package. SO if the P.O. screws up and looses the box, of damages it, they eat it, not me...
I do not do the arrive alive guarantee. It's not mandatory, it's something hatcheries do. Just like eggs, I cant control what happens after they leave here. Though in all these years of doing, I have never had an issue anyway.

Trust me, Express takes all the worries out of it. That along with good numbers in the box, the heat pack (always) , and not shipping to cold locations til they warm above at least 60 and you have no troubles.

Also yes, do day olds. Those 2-3 week old chicks still need heat, and they need food and water every day. They DO NOT ship well at all. Day olds have a 3 day reserve of food and water in the yolk sack still, so they are good for the trip. Also, any over a day old by postal law MUST go out Express only.

Hope that helped a bit.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
As I said in the other post, I'm in south Georgia by the way, a box of chicks and all the supplies cost on average $40 give or take a couple dollars anywhere in the country for me by Express. Priority is about $20- $25 on average