The Bantam Thread!

[nayeli]

At my post office there are people sorting mail and getting ready for the day between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. I just go the the back door (loading dock) and stick my head in and ask if they have a live chick order for me. Usually I can hear the peeping and they are happy to get them out of there and not be responsible for them. Mine is a 15-20 minute drive so usually I just take a towel to put loosely over the box the keep drafts out, put it on the front seat with me and get them home as soon as possible. Make sure you have your brooder all set up and warm with food and water. Be sure they drink water (dip their beaks in the water as you put them into the brooder).Have their feed in a low feeder (for Bantams something about 1/4 to 1/2 inch tall) and a little food scattered around for them to discover. If you have not done so put paper towels on top of the shavings or what ever you are using for bedding for the first couple of days to discourage their eating the shavings. If they don't eat right away that is no problem for about a day or two as they have absorbed the yolk from their egg.

Of course you probably know all this and it is more an exercise for me to be sure I am ready for my little fuzzy butts. Best luck to us both. Be sure to post pictures as soon as you can and let us know what you get.

Are you picking yours up from a local post office? I'll run down early and check if anyone is there... I don't even know if they will be here, it depends on if they overnight them or they drive them over.

 

[nayeli]

Did you get notification that they had shipped? I got the email late in the day and was surprised they had shipped a day early. I am only 300 miles from the hatchery so mine are an overnight shipment. Absolutely you should get in touch with your post office as soon as you can to let them know to expect the birds and to stop them from putting them on a truck to go out for delivery which could take all day and expose them to what ever weather you are having. Hope they all get here and there o.k. Let us know.

Let me know if yours come in. I was already at the post office at 5:30 and now I'm headed back.

 

[nayeli]

and I guess my guys get there later or earlier than most because I was there at 5 left after 5:35 and got back shortly after 6 with no one there... good news is we can trust our dogs home alone and out of their kennels for a little while!

 

[jtn42248]

and I guess my guys get there later or earlier than most because I was there at 5 left after 5:35 and got back shortly after 6 with no one there... good news is we can trust our dogs home alone and out of their kennels for a little while!

Just got back from the post office and there was no delivery for me (at least not yet). I am a little concerned because in the past all Ideal orders have come the next morning after shipping. They are only 300 miles from me after all. So, if they are delayed it is the post office with the glitch and not the hatchery. My local post office knows me and they are as concerned as I am but all we can do now is trust that everything will be o.k.

If we were to leave out dogs here alone and unconstrained they would eat the house. My biggest, and Anatolian named Duke, is also the biggest baby when I am not here. He is brave and protective to the property and everything here but if he can't find me he gets depressed until I return.

 

[jtn42248]

Just looked at the email from Ideal again. It says Just A Reminder. then in the body says Your poultry order has been shipped today. That was received yesterday so I would think they were shipped on the 7th. However, at the top of the email it says Ship Date 10/08/2014 which is today. I think their paperwork got ahead of their people. I will call them when they open to verify.

 

[nayeli]

Just got back from the post office and there was no delivery for me (at least not yet). I am a little concerned because in the past all Ideal orders have come the next morning after shipping. They are only 300 miles from me after all. So, if they are delayed it is the post office with the glitch and not the hatchery. My local post office knows me and they are as concerned as I am but all we can do now is trust that everything will be o.k.

If we were to leave out dogs here alone and unconstrained they would eat the house. My biggest, and Anatolian named Duke, is also the biggest baby when I am not here. He is brave and protective to the property and everything here but if he can't find me he gets depressed until I return.

Well that is disconcerning... I hope your chicks make it okay. I am a little confused why they would ship them at night since the post office doesn't run at night?
My local PO doesn't know me although our mail man does. I'm hoping Ideal put my number on the box. I was planning on calling the Post Office today since they weren't supposed to ship until today and I didn't want to give the people working there time to forget!
Here is to hoping for the best! I guess I'll hope to get a delivery.

Our dog is 1/2 wolf and he had SEVERE seperation anxiety which is why we had to crate him. As he has gotten older its helped and crating him has but we would like to not have to crate him so we have tried leaving him out at night (we keep our bedroom door shut so he still isn't "with us") and today I decided to leave him out while I ran to the post office (5 minutes away then sat there for a while then came back).

 

[jtn42248]

Well that is disconcerning... I hope your chicks make it okay. I am a little confused why they would ship them at night since the post office doesn't run at night?
My local PO doesn't know me although our mail man does. I'm hoping Ideal put my number on the box. I was planning on calling the Post Office today since they weren't supposed to ship until today and I didn't want to give the people working there time to forget!
Here is to hoping for the best! I guess I'll hope to get a delivery.

Our dog is 1/2 wolf and he had SEVERE seperation anxiety which is why we had to crate him. As he has gotten older its helped and crating him has but we would like to not have to crate him so we have tried leaving him out at night (we keep our bedroom door shut so he still isn't "with us") and today I decided to leave him out while I ran to the post office (5 minutes away then sat there for a while then came back).

I suspect that today has just been a dry run for both of us and tomorrow we will both be greeted by little peepers early in the a.m. At least we know all the parts work, the brooder is warm, the food and water with electrolytes is ready and waiting. I am still going to call Ideal when they open (after I do my chicken, duck and geese related chores) just to verify what I suspect happened.

I had a friend years ago in California that bread Timber Shepherds (half Timber Wolf and half German Shepherd). They were/are huge majestic animals but, at least back then, it was tragic what would happen since breeding is unpredictable at the DNA level. He had to have a permit from the state and each pup was DNA tested to determine the percentage of wolf. If a pup was more than have (on the genetic level) wolf it had to be destroyed. They were too much dog to release with wolves and too much wolf to trust with humans.

We have seven dogs. The oldest, a 11 year old Pomeranian that thinks she is a pit bull, a Shelty born with a club foot whose parents were grand champions, two Boxer/Bull sisters (half Boxer half Pitt Bull), an old Greyhound/Lab mix we found as a pup in the middle of a busy street, a German Short Haired Pointer we found as a pup in a Walmart parking lot and my big boy Duke the Anatolian who spent his first year in a cage with little or no human interaction. So everything in a mile of us is covered with dog hair...what can I say.

 

[nayeli]

I suspect that today has just been a dry run for both of us and tomorrow we will both be greeted by little peepers early in the a.m. At least we know all the parts work, the brooder is warm, the food and water with electrolytes is ready and waiting. I am still going to call Ideal when they open (after I do my chicken, duck and geese related chores) just to verify what I suspect happened.

I had a friend years ago in California that bread Timber Shepherds (half Timber Wolf and half German Shepherd). They were/are huge majestic animals but, at least back then, it was tragic what would happen since breeding is unpredictable at the DNA level. He had to have a permit from the state and each pup was DNA tested to determine the percentage of wolf. If a pup was more than have (on the genetic level) wolf it had to be destroyed. They were too much dog to release with wolves and too much wolf to trust with humans.

We have seven dogs. The oldest, a 11 year old Pomeranian that thinks she is a pit bull, a Shelty born with a club foot whose parents were grand champions, two Boxer/Bull sisters (half Boxer half Pitt Bull), an old Greyhound/Lab mix we found as a pup in the middle of a busy street, a German Short Haired Pointer we found as a pup in a Walmart parking lot and my big boy Duke the Anatolian who spent his first year in a cage with little or no human interaction. So everything in a mile of us is covered with dog hair...what can I say.

Where I live there is no laws like that. I can own a full blooded wolf if I chose to. Ours is 1/2 wolf 1/2 shepherd.

I sincerely hope not. I hope our chicks come today maybe just later in the day (I read on here that someone elses didn't get to the post office til 4pm). I'm also really hoping that my "packing peanuts" are extra bantams they didn't sell! They have to ship all of them on hatch day so I'm hopeful!

 

[nayeli]

Just looked at the email from Ideal again. It says Just A Reminder. then in the body says Your poultry order has been shipped today. That was received yesterday so I would think they were shipped on the 7th. However, at the top of the email it says Ship Date 10/08/2014 which is today. I think their paperwork got ahead of their people. I will call them when they open to verify.

I saw someone else post a question about that on here and Ideal had shipped the day they sent the email because the chicks had hatched a day earlier than expected...
but let me know what they say =)

 

[jtn42248]

O.K. here is what I have discovered about my Bantam shipment due from Ideal Poultry. In the past anything I ordered from them was delivered the morning of the day following the ship date. That is one reason that I have used them...my birds did not have the stress of a 2-4 day trip. Just an overnighter that I imagined they would just nap through (my delusion). This time there were some changes that are related to the US Postal Service that have caused a delay of at least 24 hours (if not more) in their delivery.

In the past Ideal would deliver the shipment to the USPS shipping/sorting facility in Bryan, TX where they would be sent, by way of Abilene, TX to me here in Coleman, TX. A trip of a little over 350 miles and always an overnighter. Because the USPS has shut down the sorting facility in Abilene, TX the shipment now (this time with my little Bantams) was sent from Bryan, TX to Houston, TX where it rested until today and is now on its way to God only knows where (the postal service is not the best at updating tracking information). I checked with my local post office and they said they typically do not get any trucks except the early a.m. truck so I should not expect delivery before tomorrow at the earliest.

I have a small order of eight little day old Sebright Bantam chicks that are sitting someplace, perhaps in the back of a truck, and we are having the dying days of summer weather...close to 100 degrees yesterday and near that again today.

At this point I am trying to prepare myself to pick up a box of dead birds tomorrow a.m. I hope I am wrong but I have to be prepared.

In the future I think that any order from Ideal will be a pick up by me in their Cameron location. It is just barely 300 miles...of course in my truck that will cost me 120.00 in gasoline.