Rec'd Two Orders w/High losses - Help anyone!

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Quote:
Just to clarify this, I didn't get my chicks at Tractor Supply. I bought them at a local store, privately owned. I would expect some losses, but not as many losses and deformities in a shipment. Especially with several breeds.

 

[goosemama]

Thanks for your message - that was my error in stating it was Tractor Supply where you had seen the deformed chicks! My apologies!

 

[doIreallylikeeggsthismuch]

Now I am nervous.........I ordered 30 chicks 3 weeks ago. I lost one but all the rest are doing very well. Will keep my fingers crossed that mine stay healthy. I am very interested to see what you find out. I wish I would have known all this information before I ordered.

 

[goosemama]

Yeah me too!!!!

 

[mdgardner85]

Quote:
Those other labels are airline and flight numbers. I think alot of people on here forget that the USPS does not own its own airlines. They use commercial flights and cannot control if they are put on one way stop flights or another flight. People wondering why the USPS charges dimensial weight pricing is because of the airlines. I also hear alot on hear about how careless postal workers are, but i know for a fact that when chicks arrive at a plant or office, they are pulled off a truck in a container and not touched until they are put back on another truck or vehicle. They are also segregated in large plants. And to the person talking about the Postal Services business issues, the reason they are in debt so bad is prefunding retirement, a practice that no other business is forced to do. Sorry, if it sounds like I'm ranting, but I love learning so much about chickens on here but can not stand seeing the USPS blamed over every issue. I'm not saying mistakes can't or don't happen, but if it wasn't for the USPS, I would be unemployed

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

I think the problem is that there is a big misconception as to what Priority Mail actually is. All it means is that your "Priority' parcel will take precedence over 3rd and 4th class parcels. Express, First Class, and Registered mail go first. If the plane or truck is full of the aforementioned your "Priority" package gets left behind until the next available slot(animals or not).

The breeder I got my chicks from last week only ships Express. He shipped my chicks last Thursday afternoon and they were in my brooder the next morning. He has also shipped chicks from Georgia to California/Oregon and they arrived to the customer the next morning. It's not quite double the postage to send them Express and worth every dime to me knowing I will receive my chicks in a healthy vibrant condition. I can see before too long that the USPS will either require all chicks to be sent Express or just quit handling them at all. Then what will we do to move chicks?

 

[Elphaba2140]

Hi-I too ordered from McMurray. I got my chicks about 4 weeks ago. I had one DOA and lost 5 more in the next two days. I lost 2 more that first week and lost one more last week. I got the Bantam assortment. I lost all but one black-they had sent me 5. I also lost a lot of some yellow colored chicks. They are giving me a refund on the losses for 48 hours. I was told that my amount was a highly unusual amount of losses for them by the person I talked to. It is making me reconsider where to buy next time.

 

[goosemama]

I know there are a lot of different venues of transportation that are used from hatchery to customer. I have learned from our local post office that all the mail in Western NY goes to Rochester for distribution which is about 5 hours north of us and top north part of the state. For some reason the route to our area seems particularly long as they go to the extreme north then backtrack south to the western corner of NY where I am located. . A Forum member in Long Island NY which is on the eastern side of the state got her chicks from McMurray before I did on the western side of NY - and we are closer to Iowa than she was. I don't even know if McMurray offers express mail but I would have gladly paid double the postage price to use it and assure the chicks got to me in 2 days and not 4. I have ordered several times from Cackle Hatchery in Missouri which is further than Iowa and got them sooner and in excellent condition with no deaths, so it doesn't make sense. I didn't even presume there would be a problem with McMurray's delivery but had to order there as they were the only ones who had any of the breed I wanted.

I called McMurray today to report as of 48 hours my losses. They were very sympathetic and stated it had to be a bad routing for two identical orders of chicks not to arrive sooner, be chilled and stressed and continually die. As of 48 hours from delivery I have 11 left of 27 shipped. They suggested I add antibiotic to their water as they were obviously succumbing to illness after being stressed. I lost 3 more today and am just keeping my fingers crossed that all my efforts will save the remainder. I am not upset with McMurray, they were more than fair. They replaced my original order a week later free of charge and then when I called to tell them about the losses to the 2nd order they suggested they refund my credit card as it would be too risky to try another replacement. My order was for 8 pullets and l7 straight run and as of noon today when I called I had lost 12 and they credited those 12 for 8 pullets which were pricier and the remainder straight run. Like another Forum writer, I will think again before ordering from McMurray again, only because I think it is the shipping route to my area that is at fault. I am just hoping I'll have a couple of hens survive from the two batches and hope to raise chicks myself either through the broody hens or incubator so I won't have to go through this again..

 

[Cornychick]

I had chick orders shipped from MM & Ideal back in February. I lost only one from the Ideal shipment. My first order from MM was reshipped due to almost a complete loss. They reshipped and was a repeat scenario. They were friendly but I will not order again from them until they change thier shipping policies. I was told that they only ship on saturday and there is no express/overnight shipping available. Why not? I am sure most of us would be willing to pay extra not to have thier birds in the mail for 4 days, which is exactly how long both of my shipments took. I even asked her (before I agreed to a second try) if I just lived too far away to safely ship to. She assured me that it was normal and they ship birds all over the states even further than my location. I don't know how a business can afford all those lost shipments and reships. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[tgrlily]

We've just started hatching our Dorking's eggs & should have some chicks for sale soon. We'll be keeping the first batch or so ourselves to build up our breeding stock. We're in the Syracuse area so that's a bit of a drive, but may be worth it for healthy, non-hatchery stock. Right now we have a SC Red roo overour Dorking girls... 1 SC & 1 RC red and 1 light grey & 1 tawny. After the first few batches, I'll probably leave Rex with just the red girls. Let me know if you're interested.