Well I’m guilty of purchasing birds from a hatchery and having them shipped to me. 
Thankfully I didn’t lose any, but I hear where you are coming from. People that blame the hatchery for their chicks arriving dead are not in the right. The hatcheries clearly state that once they ship chicks it is in the hands of the USPS.
My 3 Bantam hens are all rescues from the farm I worked at over the summer. I won’t go into much detail and I won't post any of the pictures I have, but the conditions were deplorable for the chickens and ducks kept on the farm. I did what I could to make the conditions better for them, but I still feel like I should have done more for them. Could I have sourced all my birds from my boss? Yes I could have, but I didn’t want debeaked birds or birds with bad habits like feather eating. My current flock are all from sources within an hours drive from me, except for the Araucanas which came from Louisiana.
Thankfully I didn’t lose any, but I hear where you are coming from. People that blame the hatchery for their chicks arriving dead are not in the right. The hatcheries clearly state that once they ship chicks it is in the hands of the USPS. My 3 Bantam hens are all rescues from the farm I worked at over the summer. I won’t go into much detail and I won't post any of the pictures I have, but the conditions were deplorable for the chickens and ducks kept on the farm. I did what I could to make the conditions better for them, but I still feel like I should have done more for them. Could I have sourced all my birds from my boss? Yes I could have, but I didn’t want debeaked birds or birds with bad habits like feather eating. My current flock are all from sources within an hours drive from me, except for the Araucanas which came from Louisiana.
