Received my box of dead chicks today :(

[alogue5173]

Called Meyer today (three surviving chicks didn't make it). They were very nice. I postponed my upcoming order for when the weather is warmer and they will replace my shipment that arrived dead then. Hopefully I will get better results. I had entertained the thought of cancelling, but their website says you cannot cancel order if it ships within two weeks. Since I was only days away from ship date I decided to reschedule. Hoping all 50 chicks will get to me alive in March. Keeping my fingers crossed.Hoping my next batch is as varied an assortment as this one was.

 

[Bellatrixed]

So sorry about your loss! This is my worst fear with my order, but I'm hoping since it ships on Feb 27th the weather will be a little better... hopefully... lol

Glad to know they were great about sending replacements. I hope you get 100% survivors on the next batch!

 

[flyinhigh]

Gosh, I feel so sad for you. My best guess would be they got cold or they were already sick. Before I had my own chickens ( this is meant to cheer you up ) I had just moved out to this rural area east of VancouberBC, I found a note in our rural mailbox that read " free 52 2 day old chicks to whoever wants them. Well I am a sucker for any animal that needs a home! So of course I said yes, they were bought for a TV show ( a lot of filming goes on in this area ) and were no longer needed. I brought them home but had nothing to keep them warm and it was this brutally cold winter so I put them in a cardboard box and put it in the oven and turned on the oven to warm, leaving the door open a crack. I bought some crumbles and made sure they had water. They all survived and every SIGLE one of them was a ROOSTER!!!! There was no chance that I could eat them! So I put them out with the goats and tried to find a good home for them. Not a soup kitchen!! Eventually I found a petting zoo nearby that took pity on me and took all 32 HUGE white roosters !!! I forget what we ate for the first 2 - 4 weeks but I DO know we didn't have an oven for a while. My roommate was NOT happy! It still makes me laugh when I thought I was going to have 32 hens to lay eggs! No wonder no BYC person wanted them, they probably knew exactly what was being offered.

I cry when I laugh really hard.

 

[alogue5173]

Thanks...me too. I was prepared for the worst when I called because I have heard a lot of negative comments. But the lady I talked to was really nice and helpful.

 

[Magweeze]

Well we were shipped 129 and now have 57 Talked to Meyer and very pleased with they're resolution they want us to wait until monday to call with a head count of the survivors. The gave us many options on replacement or refund or they would replace an time in the future. I am satisfied with them, take the dead chick emotion out of it really retailers don't bend over backwards like that.

 

[bilder]

I would not blame the hatchery too much if your chicks where shipped via air.

I worked for an airline for 14 years and saw how the ramp guys treated baby chicks. Most of them do not care and more than a few take some kind of sick pleasure in letting chicks sit out in the cold wind for a long time while waiting to be loaded on the flight. I tried to educate my co-workers on how to keep the chicks warm and such, but most of them just shrugged and said 'Who cares?'

Sad but true.

 

[smallfarmnorth]

Sorry to hear about all of the lost chicks. we ordered our 15 from purely poultry the first week of Jan and the arrived on the 14th of Jan. the weather then was about 20 below and they all arrived alive. we did lose one three days later but have not since. My question is when your chicks arrive are the crates, boxes, etc labeled with "live animals" or something to that nature so the carrier knows whats in the package??

 

[smallhen]

We also ordered from Meyer and so far, so good. We are in central Alabama and our chicks shipped this past Monday (2/4), and arrived Wednesday (2/6) morning at our local PO. We only had 1 DOA (out of 16) and we have only lost 1 chick since getting them home. Both the DOA and the chick that died were Buff Orpington's. We have 3 other Buff O's and they are all doing fine. I think you may just have had bad luck.

I was worried about the route they would take coming from Ohio as well and watched the tracking status on the Meyer website. For my shipment the chicks were first routed from Polk, OH at 9:31pm Monday night, to Warrendale, PA, to Mansfield, OH, then to Birmingham, AL and arrived in our hometown of Montevallo at 7:11am on Wednesday. We are just a few minutes from the post office so we got them home quickly from the PO. So about 36 hours travel time. Really not too bad, given the distance.

I would like to have ordered locally, but I could not find a hatchery any closer that would not have had about the same travel time.

Best of luck with your reorder!

 

[alogue5173]

Yes, the box is labled with live chicks and there was chirping...so no one could have confused what was in there. I shudder to think how those babies may have been treated enroute by mail handlers.

 

[MaddBaggins]

It's terrible to read about all the dead chicks. I ordered 16 from Purely Poultry for delivery the last week of January. They shipped from Wisconsin on a monday and I received on a wednesday. All were alive and we lost one 3 days later. All the rest are doing great.
I feel bad for all the losses.