Quail Shipping

[Goldlaced_Girl]

Hey, does anyone have any advice on shipping adult quail? LIKE: What type of box do I use? What do I put in there with them (food wise)? how do I mark the box? What postal service do you recommend? Sorry, first time. So pretty much HOW DO I DO ANY OF IT? Thanks!!

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
Sure can help you here


boxes you can use (but are pricey but i highly reccomend):
http://www.hm-e.net/p1single_new.htm

^That box is $9.95 individually, plus shipping. I make the customer buy the box and ship it to me along with their $...once I recieve both then I contact my post office and let htem know on a certain day I will be bringing in the birds to ship out. It's nice to give them notice because on certain days of the year (close to holidays) they will NOT ship birds even whil enormal mail is still going out because they dont want the birds lagging somewhere in transit dehydrating which is very considerate.

Food... well hydration is the key...but food is also important too. I chop up into very tiny peices apples...very tiny peices... I offer this to my quail about 3 days before I ship them out... so they get used ot eating it (during this i take away water from them so in order to get hydrated they must eat the apple) once they are used to that I know t heyw ill eat the apple pieces when being shipped. I also hydrate up some reptile gel (edible gel that supplies water to them) you can buy it already hydrated at places like petco in the reptile section or buy it online in teh dry form.... bettacreek actually sells the dry form

Ive bought from her and plan to again in the future I really like that stuff!

You can even add electrolytes to it. In a bowl (plastic bait bowls are what i use) I tape the bowl to a corner in teh set up box...in that bowl I fill it to the TOP with gel and cut up apples......i then put a nother plastic bowl in there tape it to the other side of thebox in anothe rcorner adn fill it to the top with food.

I also put some aspen bedding on the ground so they arent walking around in their poo.

I do a 5lb minimum on my shipping quotes to myc ustomers because normally people buy in 12-20 lots of birds and depending on what age they are that many birds gets around 5lbs quick when you consider the box alone is over an lb in weight, and then the bedding teh gel, apple and feed and then the birds weight thrown on top of that. I use..at home a food scale before I close them up and take them to the PO to ship out.

I ONLY ship express because it comes with tracking and because there is more of an urgency with the package then.

I have shipped out 4 times and only had if I remember rightly 2 casualties.

(two birds DOA).

You dont need to mark the box at all, just take it to your PO and they will give you a form to fill out with your phone number address and the customers phone number (must have) and address. They stick that on the side of the box and viola you pay up and they take the box and you leave

You can then track your birds along witht eh customer until they get to their destination...though USPS tracking sucks IMO its still atleast nice to have some what of an idea where they are and when they are deterimed to get there.

I quote every package like i said for 5lbs, i go to www.usps.com do an express package quote, choose the box form, put in teh customers zipcode and mine, and 5lbs weight and qoute the price for the customer that way before anything is even done... t hen i request the money and the box.

ALL PO's are able to ship out live birds, though some believe they are not...if you have this issue in your phone book find the PO 1-800 and ask them to call your PO and epxlain to them that theres nothing to shipping birds and that they legally cannot deny to ship your birds....Ih ad this problem with my PO once they got a call from the big dogs I get red cartpet treatment there

This is the other reason it's good to call or go to your PO before you plan to ship out birds, it took me a few weeks to get my PO to realize they could ship out...they thought only city or big town POs could.

I hope this helps some

 

[shelleyd2008]

Hey Niki, have you thought of using pears instead of apples? I have heard that many people/places use pears for the liquid, since they are so much more juicier. I have also heard of people using grapes.

 

[citalk2much]

I give them frozen blueberries

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:
YEAH BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT YOUR BIRDS ARE OVERLY SPOILED..... LOL

 

[citalk2much]

My birds spoiled NEVER LOL
According to the DH they eat better then him.

 

[kingmt]

There is rules & certain post offices that you can use. I toof this from the http://www.usps.com site:

Mailing Live Animals
Anyone shipping live animals must call the District Expedited Services Office (ESO), which coordinates and clears such shipments. The ESO will tell you where to drop off your “live” shipment and notify the accepting office.

The availability of a drop-off site may vary depending on transportation or the retail site’s ability to handle large volumes. The ESO tries to make acceptance points for live animal shipments widely available and ensure protection of the lives while in the postal system.

With the September 25, 2006 inception of live animal mail transport on the FedEx Network, the number of retail outlets available for live animal acceptance increased significantly. Transportation on commercial carriers continues to be available. For more FedEx network details:

Check it out here: http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/extraservices/specialhandlingservice.htm

The site has more info & the phone numbers you need.

Edited to take out the hyper links that didn't work.

 

[monarc23]

According to the supervisor I talked to ALL POs are to accept live animals


Also Shelley, no way am I training them on pears for several days first lol apples are just fine