McMurray's New Shipping Practices...has anyone heard about this?

[woodmort]

Quote:
I guess some had escaped and were clinging to the outside of the wire mess box--they wouldn't have left the queen--so the employees were a little anxious.

 

[Alaska animal lover]

I ordered 75 meaties from MMH, plus the "free rare chick'. i was nervous because of their shipping on Saturdays and I'm in Alaska. They all arrived alive, on Monday at 6am. And they even sent 10 extra. It's been 4 weeks and we've only lost one. Mine were shipped from Minnesota though.

 

[pat3494]

I got 27 chicks from Macmurray about 11 days ago and all were fine. I ordered 15 BOs, 5 BRs, and 5 Dark Cornish. They included one exotic and an extra BR. So far so good.

 

[woodmort]

One other thing I'd like to add. I regularly correspond via cassette tape with a friend in Southington CT and about once a month a mailing that should take 2 days takes 6 or never is delivered. Additional my buddy that I mail to has been told by this PO that the USPS does not handle that kind of package--which is not true--and he is forced to go to a neighboring PO to mail the tapes. With that in mind, the problem may well be with the USPS not McMurray.

 

[Kuvasz]

I've never ordered live chicks, however, for anyone thinking of doing so...you will think twice if you watch the youtube videos of how McMurray sexes baby chicks. I was totally horrified in watching those little chicks being processed down a conveyor belt, tumbling all over top of each other as if they are tennis balls, and then being squeezed and tossed one on top of another into boxes, and then vaccinated in the neck and THEN crammed into boxes and shipped out with no food or water for who knows how many days....and then who knows how the post office or UPS people treat those boxes....... I am amazed that any do survive...and for those that do....what kind of bad experiences have they been through before you even get them.

I'm sure there are people who say they are 'just chickens' so big deal.

But, I am VERY GLAD I chose NOT to support what I consider to be horribly cruel treatment of these babies, and instead ordered fertilized eggs on ebay from individuals who seem to care. My babies hatched at my quiet home, and have been handled with care.

That nonsense about how they only appear hungry and thirsty and can survive for 3 days or more with no food or water ....well whatever. Just because a human can survive for 7 days with no food or water might be true too....but does that mean we all are just dying to have that experience?! When I took my babies out of the incubator as soon as they were dry, they were drinking water and eating like little freaks!! lol They WERE hungry!!! I can't imagine making them wait for 3 days in a box after the stress they received at McMurray's or any other large industrial chicken farm.

Chicks and all animals deserve better. Please consider this before you order live chicks:

 

[woodmort]

Chicks can survive for 3 or 4 days without food or water--what do you think happens to the first chick hatched while it waits for the rest in the clutch? A clutch of eggs may take up to a week to hatch and a momma chicken, unlike many birds, doesn't bring food back to the nest. This practice has been going on as long as commercial hatcheries have been in business--when I was a teenage in 1954 I went to a hatchery to pick up some cockerel chicks and that hatchery in NYS was handling them exactly as the youtube video but for local delivery. Since people want sexed chicks, that's how it is done--it is a labor intensive job that has to be as mechanized as possible. I applaud your practice but if that was what had to be done to produce all chickens and eggs, eggs would be $10 a dozen and chicken would be $8 a pound.

I suspect too that more shipped chicks are lost because of poor handing by either the carrier or the recipient. I'm always called by the local PO as soon as they arrive, immediately pick them up and get them into a brooder set at 95 degrees. Upon unpacking I dunk their beaks in water to teach them how to drink and turn them loose. Some will come back to drink while most are more interested in exploring their surroundings. Food is scattered on the floor--usually on newsprint since the like to pick at that anyway. Within a day or two they are all eating and drinking with nary a loss. I've never notice any trauma and they seem pretty normal to me.

 

[Kuvasz]

I am pretty sure I could 'survive' 7 days without food and water, too, but I doubt I'd do it by choice. All I know is mine volunteered to drink water and eat food, and they're happy as pie. That's what is most important to me. And I am glad neither the chicks OR ME had to endure the shipping stress.

 

[suzannaski]

It's interesting that today's hatcheries still operate essentially the same as half a century ago. I'm just saying.

 

[NattyK]

Just my two cents...I work for one of the "major" shipping companies..believe me you DO NOT want live chicks being shipped this way. It makes me ill that they ship fish..even over night. I don't even want to think about it!! That being said I once sent two dozen eggs to a friend that had never eaten "good" organic eggs. I didn't pay particular attention to the packing and only one broke. I thought that was pretty good. If you packed them better than I did, they would easily make it in one piece. Overnight with either company would be more expensive than USPS, but more reliable. Take your pick. This is a good thread, I will definately think twice and check the facts before I order chicks! Thanks!

 

[thereverend]

Why can you ship chics FEDEX or UPS overnight? cant you ship chicks USPS overnight as well?
I would assume that UPS should allow this