The joys of ordering chicks months in advance

[hysop]

Wow, I didn’t know so many can pass away from just shipping. I knew it was possible but didn’t know how often. I ordered keets last June and thankfully all arrived alive and well, their deaths came later (couple months old) by my own dog, but as cute keets they were healthy and fine.

Do you think it’s the weather or the breed or the fact that it’s their first hatch of the year??

 

[wolfwalker]

I think it is a combination of being the first eggs from the new hatchery breeders and the first incubation of the year from the hatchery making a few rather fragile that never recover from being shipped. That and I've noticed they don't seem to be growing as vigorous as the rest. I'm pretty sure I have another dead chick from watching the cam from the first batch, they are 12 days old.
My records show that if I can get chicks through the first 14 days, they are good to go. the interesting thing is, with home hatched chicks, from shipped in eggs, I only need to get them through the first 3 days and we are good.

So I do think there is a lot of stress in shipping, being jostled around for hours has to damage their fragile bodies. Hence why they recommend that you ship chicks from the closest hatchery to you. That said, most of the chicks are flown in now a days instead of going by road, so I have to wonder if there is not a stress being in a pressurized cargo hold.