This is really helpful information. For longer transport times, how do the birds get hydrated? Is some type of grow-gel included? Also, since juveniles generate so much body heat, is there a good time of year to ship juveniles? Spring and fall?
I personally don't care to receive shipped birds in the Fall - our weather is too unpredictable in the Fall. I let my breeders know that for our climate anywhere from March to end of June is best for shipping juveniles but I had one group shipped as late as first week of August and that was the breeder's choice. This particular heatwave humid 2015 year our SoCalif climate would not have tolerated a shipment starting in July.
Sometimes you can't be specific about when you want your birds because the breeder's climate might be different from yours. All you can do is give the breeder a monthly range of when your climate is moderate (not cold or humid) and the breeders set their hatches to correspond as closely as possible for the best shipping weather. I also give the breeders an age range for the juveniles I want because sometimes you can't get exactly 8 week olds and sometimes have to settle for 10, 12, or 16 week olds depending on the cooperation of laying hens or weather conditions at the breeder's end.
Breeders are so great - I've had only one not so good, but still ALL did their best to ship the sex, general age, and timeframe I wanted. I order older juvenile pullets in pairs for the companionship and warmth in the box. Once I received one bird alone in a box - it was an emergency order when one bird in my flock had to be put down and the breeder was nice to send me one of her surplus rare pullets. It just happened to be good timing for the both of us for shipping in June. Many private breeders and even big hatcheries ended their shipments early this year because of the AI scare.
Some breeders have included cut apples, or baby sweet bell peppers along with sprinkled seed sometimes at the bottom of the shipping boxes but of all our received birds none have ever shown bite marks in the enclosed produce. My personal experience with young chickens is that they prefer juicy cucumber slices for moisture over apples or bell peppers but cukes can drip too much moisture into the cardboard shipping box. As soon as we get our shipped box home from the P.O. we lay it gently on it's side so the pullet(s) come out into the (low-lit room) isolation kennel quietly on their own where they can see the water bowl and chick feed. It takes a few minutes to an hour for them to eat/drink because it is bewildering to be in a new environment. Our Bredas were the best shipped breed we've ever had. They are calm regal birds but are instantly friendly and walk up to humans for treats within minutes of exiting the shipping box and exiting their kennel to approach us in another room. Our Buff Leghorns and purebred Ameraucana pullets were very human shy. Dominique juveniles have been instantly curious outgoing pullets from our experience.
Some chickeneers will vehementy oppose the theory that certain breeds have certain temperaments as far as friendliness, timidity, assertiveness and say it depends on the line or strain of breed. But in my personal experience there are certain qualities or temperaments inherent in certain breeds no matter what circumstance they come from. We ordered two Bredas each from a different State from different breeders and they were both calm, regal, outgoing, curious, unafraid, human-friendly, flock-friendly non-aggressive temperaments. We ordered two Buff Leghorns and they were human shy, jumpy, eventually aggressive flockmates while our White Leg from a totally different breeder was equally assertive toward flockmates at her maturity. We ordered two Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas and later a Blue Amer from a different breeder and they were on the jittery jumpy skittish side but sweet as could be as pets and kind to flockmates. So as much as breeders say they try to breed the "mean" or "unfriendliness" out of their birds there are just certain breed characteristics that are inherent and cannot be bred out. For ourselves we have found the common or rare dual-purpose breeds too combative to mix with known gentle or docile breeds in our small cottage backyard. Everyone has to make their own breed determinations.
I believe Gro-Gel is used for baby chick shipments and one owner said one of their received chicks was covered in the gooey hardened gel on its body and had a hard time moving so that it got trampled by the others. Chicks are so delicate and have to be shipped in large quantity to have a better survival rate but I can neither use a large shipment of straight-run chicks nor have the facility to brood babies. And what can I do with 6 to 25 minimum chick orders when I'm zoned for only 5 hens and no roos - haha! My hats off and gratefulness to all you breeders who have shipped me older juveniles in the age and breeds I wanted - TY!
