Shipping experiences this year? (2022)

[JacinLarkwell]

I'd never heard of Sandhill either so looked them up. Wow what a list of birds they have! They had Scottish Dumpies ....but I also noticed the lack of photos for breeds they said they've raised for years and the seriously poor quality of some of the few photos they do have...I don't know, just seemed weird.

Anyhow, glad you shared your experience with them. Their bird list makes them tempting.

Hope you get healthy birds or a refund.

Mist of their rare breeds aren't around anymore. They keep losing those flocks to predators

 

[eveliens]

I order at the beginning of last month, and I had a terrible experience between a freak winter storm and USPS. Unfortunately, the entire shipment froze to death between the weather and the delays. They arrived 2 days late and the local post office would not let me pick them up until 10am. They let the box sit in an unheated part of the building for 3 hours at 35F. The lady just dumped the silent box in my hands when I finally got to pick them up, no sorry or nothing. I revived 2 of them with the car heater in the post office parking lot and it looked like they might make it. Unfortunately, they didn't make it. The hatchery gave me a full refund without any problems but I lost the opportunity to slip some chicks under my broody.

I set another order date but then decided to cancel it because USPS has been very unpredictable lately and so has the weather. USPS also managed to bash up one of my boxes of quail eggs despite excellent packing and crack a bunch of them in weird ways.

Makes me leery to order anything living that has to go through the mail and I'm looking locally for the animals I need without a lot of luck.

(As an aside I sell online and have had a lot of trouble with USPS lately so I doubt it is just the chick shipments specifically being affected)

 

[ChicksnMore]

I order at the beginning of last month, and I had a terrible experience between a freak winter storm and USPS. Unfortunately, the entire shipment froze to death between the weather and the delays. They arrived 2 days late and the local post office would not let me pick them up until 10am. They let the box sit in an unheated part of the building for 3 hours at 35F. The lady just dumped the silent box in my hands when I finally got to pick them up, no sorry or nothing. I revived 2 of them with the car heater in the post office parking lot and it looked like they might make it. Unfortunately, they didn't make it. The hatchery gave me a full refund without any problems but I lost the opportunity to slip some chicks under my broody.

I set another order date but then decided to cancel it because USPS has been very unpredictable lately and so has the weather. USPS also managed to bash up one of my boxes of quail eggs despite excellent packing and crack a bunch of them in weird ways.

Makes me leery to order anything living that has to go through the mail and I'm looking locally for the animals I need without a lot of luck.

(As an aside I sell online and have had a lot of trouble with USPS lately so I doubt it is just the chick shipments specifically being affected)

I wonder how long it'll take for things to settle and an exceptable routine to return.

 

[eveliens]

I wonder how long it'll take for things to settle and an exceptable routine to return.

I suspect, in part, it isn't going to do so. Postmaster DeJoy has implemented a lot of changes, so it isn't just the pandemic throwing a temporary spanner in the works, but permanent systemic changes from within. But hopefully it'll at least be functional again at some point. I've ordered live critters online for years and this is my first DOA. As has been said, there are so many moving parts, it doesn't take much to go wrong unfortunately.

 

[ChicksnMore]

My Cackle chicks came today. Shipment took 3 days and all the chicks are lively and eating well on their own already. They sent 2 extra chicks so I got 17 little chickies. 3 days is one day longer then Cackle deliveries in years past though.

I have yet to get a call from the post office telling me my chicks are here on any of my shipments this year. Asking them, leaving instructions...nothing is getting them to call me and say come pick up your birds. I'm using informed delivery so am using it to see when I can pick up and that's working okay though. The post office tried to tell me that my chicks weren't in yet when I got there this morning...I told them informed delivery said it was and they tracked it down in ten minutes or so. I think the fellow was new because the cart with chicks on it was in plain sight, I told the man it was chicks, he promptly left to look for my package in the back, came back with questions...I told him again it was chicks. He went and asked questions to another employee, came back to me and asked if it was plants, I told him again it was chicks...and it just went on and on.... He was very nice but I just about died when he finally hands me the package and says "you could have told me it was chicks". Poor guy might need a hearing aid...lol.

Anyhow, it was such a pleasure to open a box of lively chicks. Don't think I'll lose any of these...you can see their vigor and energy.

 

[Ongiegirl36]

I have ducklings coming from California and I live in Louisiana. I pray they don't die like some others have. That is so sad. I got my eggs from the same farm, and they came in 2 days. Another farm it took 5 and only 1 out of 12 made it to the incubator. Crazy!

 

[Leaann liske]

I just got shipment of my silkies from hoover's hatchery they made me order 20 took 2 days to get to me they put all 20 in one small box only 11 made it the rest were crushed. im so sad and angry that they didn't think to put 10 in one box and 10 in another. I will be contacting them and want my money back so upset. this was first time I even ordered from a hatchery so with this experience never again.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I just got shipment of my silkies from hoover's hatchery they made me order 20 took 2 days to get to me they put all 20 in one small box only 11 made it the rest were crushed. im so sad and angry that they didn't think to put 10 in one box and 10 in another. I will be contacting them and want my money back so upset. this was first time I even ordered from a hatchery so with this experience never again.

10 in one box wouldn't be warm enough

 

[Leaann liske]

10 in one box wouldn't be warm enough

well then a bigger box then

 

[JacinLarkwell]

well then a bigger box then

They would spread out too much then. The small boxes are meant to hold up to 25 standard chicks for most hatcheries.

Odds are more likely they were handled roughly in the P.O.