Mail Ordering Birds...

[the_great_snag]

scbatz33, you are dead right...

On my gun message board, it was common to be able to pull up another anti-gun message board and get a play by play of everything that was being discussed on our board. Trolls are a very real issue on just about any type of board that is even slightly "controversial" to anyone.

lisahaschickens...

You are ALWAYS supposed to open and inspect your shipments at the Post Office so you will have collaborating eyes if you receive any dead birds. This is for both insurance purposes and in case the hatchery questions you.

I see what you mean about how posting our experiences helps us to learn what we might have done differently!

Just picking on you of course! Thanks for your great post.

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

Quote:
This has always been my experience too.

Me too. The post office was fantastic as was ideal. They called me at 5:30am to let me know they we're in.

 

[the_great_snag]

Quote:
This has always been my experience too.

Me too. The post office was fantastic as was ideal. They called me at 5:30am to let me know they we're in.

I am hoping to get a 6:30 AM call this coming Monday!

McMurray chicks on their way!

 

[Kezzie]

Quote:
What an interesting perspective! I never thought about that but you're absolutely right...

 

[BAYAREABIRDER]

Hey,


I lost four babies for underdevelopment and impacted crop. It is no the hatcheries fault for most chick losses. In my case, it was natural selection, they were not meant to be.

 

[LovinMyPeeps]

If we lose our biodiversity in regards to our farming practice and were essentially screwed. the advent of these giant farms are only contributing to global issues. Shutting down small farming practices could eventually wipe out the food supply. scary isn't it?

 

[thekla]

well - like the person who posted about her order from McMurry I ordered 25 - got 27 (the free rare one plus a bonus one) And they shipped them from Iowa on Saturday afternoon - on Easter Sunday morning at 7:30 we got the call from the main PO here in Eugene Oregon that they were here... (WOW was that fast or what) anyhow - the short story - ALL ARE FINE - healthy and happy - not a single loss or problem of any kind - and they now have many friends acquired from a local farm and feed, again - all happy and healthy - and I wouldn't hesitate to send for chicks again if I can't find the ones I am looking for locally. I read that the PO started shipping live chickens way back in the 1800's - and you gotta wonder how fast they arrived back then, apparently it was fast enough, but I'm guessing that the losses today are far fewer than they were before the airlines were part of the system.

 

[the_great_snag]

Prior to the airlines, there was the Railway Express Agency which handled express shipments. On the McMurray website, they state that they started out using rail shipping to send out their chicks.

I believe REA cars were typically included in passenger consists (remember all railroads were REQUIRED to offer regularly scheduled passenger service at that time) and were pushed through as fast as they could, so I would think that the hatcheries would have still had a fairly large geographical area they could serve.

EDIT: Of course, thanks to the airlines killing passenger rail, this would no longer be an option today so we are totally dependent on the USPS and their airline partners.

 

[columbiacritter]

I am one of those who post negative messages about a shipment gone badly wrong. Long story short it was a combination of issues with both the hatchery and the postal service. If it had been one or the other making mistakes my chicks would have been largely fine, but both doomed them.

Hatcheries make mistakes. They need to know people hear about them and they need to correct the problem. If we don't gripe not just to them, but amongst ourselves there is no motivation for the hatcheries to improve.

For myself I've got several other shipments without a single shipping related loss. My PO has always been great about promptly calling, in one case actually delivering them to me because I was his first stop. I'm lucky in that I can have them shipped to my office which is near the distribution center so I get them the day they arrive.

My only bad experience with the post office was a counter person who was a raving animals rights person who insisted on telling me and the entire lobby full of people how horribly I was for torturing and eating chickens. I didn't quietly take her abuse, words were said.

As for other shippers UPS, FED-Ex, etc. I deal with them many times a day for business on all levels, from overnight express of small items, to large cargo containers. From my experience they would not be any better at all from the USPS and would many times be worse.

Fed-Ex and UPS will ship honey bee queens and their record for those are pretty dismal. I was in a discussion today with a large group of beekeepers who were all griping about problems getting prompt deliveries and not having their expensive queens lost or frozen enroute.

I will as often as possible pick up chicks locally, but there are very few in this part of the country.

 

[montcapu]

I remember when I first started raising chickens, I just wanted a few here and there to entertain my children, but my step mom had bigger plans for me, lol.
She wanted to get me silkies, but the hatchery did not have any, so she decided to go with guineas since they are a bird she has always wanted to have but has never, so she said she was going to send my the chicks thru the mail, I laughed at her, "you can send chicks thru the mail?" and she said yes.
I thought it was the weirdest thing ever because I just imagined the poor babies in a box getting tossed around and who knows what else. I had a few months to wait (per request, wanted some others out of the brooder first) but the hatchery was awesome, they called to confirm the shipment prior to being shipped, I had tracking number, could track package, I had called post office and gave heads up about shipment and got a call the next day, I had my babies safe and sound. I have never had any kind of issue what so ever since then with deliveries.
I fell bad for those that have had horrible experiences, but from what I have read the hatcheries are more then happy to solve the problem, I hope that deliveries go smooth for everyone and I hope that they continue to do deliveries