Tell me about your 2021 mail order chick experiences so far

[AVR0VULCAN]

Just got my ducklings and all is well. Super happy, no deaths, all looking healthy.

Hmmmm . . . .

 

[Kittys Coop]

Just got my ducklings and all is well. Super happy, no deaths, all looking healthy.

Those are some beautiful babies! What breed? I'm not super familiar with duck breeds lol

 

[MastrangeloFamily]

Those are some beautiful babies! What breed? I'm not super familiar with duck breeds lol

They are Cayuga ducklings! They will be Beatle Green/Black when they are older and lay dark Black eggs that get progressively lighter grey as they continue to lay.

 

[Earthencommons sanctuary]

We are a breed preservation farm in Oregon and we ordered 40 ducklings from Sand hill preservation (bless those guys) in the midwest. Trying to work to save a few endangered breeds. Just got our last batch, of 22 dead ducklings in the mail. So far 8 out of 40 have made it this year. Someone at the post office should be stuffed in a box and shipped priority mail and see if they survive. I think next spring we are driving cross country to personally pick up babies cause rain or shine is dead on arrival. Not that they treat thier employees much better. Got to remember that the post office" the only option right now" is a governmentally mandated but not funded organization that has long been crucial to our economy and is being left to struggle and die and so too will our entire economy all too soon. Next year we will be running a waterfowl preservation farm in Oregon and dedicating our selves to rare but incredibly resilient and productive breeds like Shetlands, geese and ducks, Ancona's, Dark Campbell's, Silver Harlequins, good laying Cuyugas, and various runners. Apparently pick up or delivery only. Cause F### the PO. We are also a nomad sanctuary so maybe we will just give the PO a run for their money. Personally I would pay a dozen times the shipping rate to get a guarantee of live delivery at this point. Who's with me on that? Cause fuzzy lives matter but greedy politicians should just be composted.

 

[Audialogical]

I ordered 15 chicks from hoovers this year. 5 RIR, 5 Black Australorp. 5 Barred Rock. I got two extra BA Roos, so 17 total. One BA died in the first day, and another barred rock within a week that had choked on water. One additional BA was male as well. the remaining 15 are now almost 6 weeks old and doing amazing. The postal updates sucked, and they called me before opening to come get them.

 

[buckock]

Wow, I feel really lucky. I ordered five batches of chicks from Cackle this year (28, 28, 25, 75, and 25 chicks in each). I only had one DOA, a cornish cross that got trampled by his fellows. The overall mortality from hatch to grow out was just under 5% (and a few of those are from predation challenges). I highly recommend them. The shipments also included 4 poults and 3 ducklings that all arrived happy and healthy. They charge a little more for shipping but I'm OK with that since they get what they need to make the trip safely (padding, grow gel, and whatever extra/less ventilation depending on the forecast).