Shipping chicks to a 'distribution' location?

[SlipsWife]

I've seen where people have posted that they picked their chicks up 'early' from a distribution location. How does this work? Do you put that address as your final destination and then get a call to pick them up? Do you call ahead of time and ask to be called when the chicks are there? Do you watch for tracking info to let you know they are there then call and tell them to hold them? (our last order didn't have tracking though...)

I've seen where people have driven a couple of hours to keep chicks off the back of a truck and 'home' 12 hours early. I'm 99% sure our last order sat overnight only 20 miles from where we are until a truck brought them in. We lost 4 out of 10 bantams before we picked them up and another 1 a little over 24 hours later (and 1 out of 7 packing peanuts). I 100% believe they were to cold and it might have saved them if we could have picked them up earlier.

Its not going to be near as cold when our order ships out Monday (but there is another cold front coming in) and I feel like if we live in Texas and the hatchery we are ordering from is in Texas, there should be something we can do to keep them from spending an extra night in a warehouse when I'm willing to drive to pick them up.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I ordered from Ideal in TX and got them the next day up here in SW Washington. So if you are in TX it shouldn't take very long at all. My order shipped out on 2/5/14 and I received it 2/6/14.

 

[SlipsWife]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I ordered from Ideal in TX and got them the next day up here in SW Washington. So if you are in TX it shouldn't take very long at all. My order shipped out on 2/5/14 and I received it 2/6/14.

That's the frustrating part! Our zip code shows up as a 2 day shipment. I think that the hold up is in Midland, which is only 20 mins from us. Everything goes to Midland and by the time it gets there, it ends up sitting there all day and until 4 a.m. the next morning when its trucked over here. Plus, Odessa isn't a small town, we aren't 'out in the country'. I can't remember if it was our Cackle or Privett order last year that offered tracking but that's how we figured out where the 'hold up' was. We are only 5 hrs and 45 mins from the hatchery yet it takes 2 days to get our order. Its not Ideals fault but they are the ones who are losing out when they cover loses.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote: How strange! Well at any rate, I certainly hope your next shipment comes to you quickly!!!

 

[popsicle]

I think it depends on who unloads the trucks, and how busy they are, etc. Once I got a call from the Billings distribution center saying that poults arrived after the truck left, and I could pick them up or they could wait until the truck the next morning--Billings is a 2+ hr drive for me. I've gotten chicks at our local PO on the second day, and I'm sure they sat in Billings without anybody calling. I'm not sure how you can ask the PO to call in similar cases.