Unofficial Poll: Have you Received Chicks Lately and Are they OK?

[EggSighted4Life]

I know the post office hates dealing with chicks. I think they actually shake the boxes sometimes to harm the chicks so we dont order again. The old postmaster used to bitch at me for ordering chicks and ask questions like... "how many times a year do you need to order chicks?" Or, "Can you please come pick up your noisy chicks?" They keep them in the air conditioned room and if they decide to deliver them the constant stop and go driving involved with postal delivery is ridiculously dangerous for day old chicks. I always instruct that I pick up my birds at the office. Definitely the best way. Postal workers are dumb as a stump about chicks....

My post master works hard to keep things running and has never been rude about chicks. They call me to come in at 6:30 am as soon as the truck arrives.. most often. And one shipment I sent to the SF bay area.. the worker called around 4 and said they would be there late and allowed the receiving person to pick up hatching eggs at 7:30 pm!

As an avid breeder/hatcher.. it doesn't take some Stew Pidasso shaking a box to harm chicks and quite frankly HATE that when ONE does something it makes ALL guilty by association. I thought stereotyping was dead!? Anyways, I'm sorry your postmaster comes off that way. Most people just don't like thinking the chicks are cold or hungry.. and the same question asked in different tone of voice carries different meaning.. I like to presume that I have NO CLUE what another person may be facing daily.. and NOT take things personal.. more often than not.. it has nothing to do with me. It's never about what's said but how we perceive it that counts. And what more.. If I know of a person who's always hohum about our interaction.. watch me kill them with kindness. It's not about what happens that dictates your results in life.. It's very much about how you react to what happens that determines the outcome! I can't control others but I hope to impact them positively!

In previous years I did receive some bantam shipments that were either DOA (25) or half DOA. This year my shipments have been pretty good.. Most recently from Meyer.. only 6 chicks hatched/shipped Monday and arrived Thursday morning. ALL are still thriving. I also had good shipments this year from Cackle, Greenfire, and Ideal.

Please note that the hatcheries and the post office are still doing their best during this pandemic and have truly done a great job adapting. My personal shipping speed is the same as before the pandemic..

Besides.. keep up the bashing of USPS.. and see how much longer they will even transport livestock for us! They are the ONLY one's who are doing us that courtesy.. Let's show them some Love and appreciation instead of acting like postal workers are the enemy sleeper cell.

Consider educating the person asking questions about your orders instead of feeling defensive. And EVEN if the individual's intent is pure ugliness.. don't give them the power to steal your JOY also. SHOW them the glory of chicken math!

ETA: The hatcheries look at the weather reports and determine their minimums, to include a heat pack or not, and how many holes to punch open for ventilation depending on their destination and the EXPECTED weather conditions. Things can change at any time.. but they do their best to get us LIVE chicks.

 

[trescloudy]

I have received 4 batches of chicks this summer from four different hatcheries. Two since July 1st. I had ZERO DOA, and less than five that failed to thrive out of about 75. My post office has been helpful and prompt each and every time. I think it is greatly determined by how taxed/apathetic your local postal workers are. My state is connected to Maine, so even regional anecdotes or random twitter posts are not very reliable imo. Each situation and local postal service is different.

I've recently ordered 2 batches of chicks and had no real problems other than they dont have a clue about keeping them warm. I think it depends more on the attitude of the postal workers.

 

[trescloudy]

My post master works hard to keep things running and has never been rude about chicks. They call me to come in at 6:30 am as soon as the truck arrives.. most often. And one shipment I sent to the SF bay area.. the worker called around 4 and said they would be there late and allowed the receiving person to pick up hatching eggs at 7:30 pm!

As an avid breeder/hatcher.. it doesn't take some Stew Pidasso shaking a box to harm chicks and quite frankly HATE that when ONE does something it makes ALL guilty by association. I thought stereotyping was dead!? Anyways, I'm sorry your postmaster comes off that way. Most people just don't like thinking the chicks are cold or hungry.. and the same question asked in different tone of voice carries different meaning.. I like to presume that I have NO CLUE what another person may be facing daily.. and NOT take things personal.. more often than not.. it has nothing to do with me. It's never about what's said but how we perceive it that counts. And what more.. If I know of a person who's always hohum about our interaction.. watch me kill them with kindness. It's not about what happens that dictates your results in life.. It's very much about how you react to what happens that determines the outcome! I can't control others but I hope to impact them positively!

In previous years I did receive some bantam shipments that were either DOA (25) or half DOA. This year my shipments have been pretty good.. Most recently from Meyer.. only 6 chicks hatched/shipped Monday and arrived Thursday morning. ALL are still thriving. I also had good shipments this year from Cackle, Greenfire, and Ideal.

Please note that the hatcheries and the post office are still doing their best during this pandemic and have truly done a great job adapting. My personal shipping speed is the same as before the pandemic..

Besides.. keep up the bashing of USPS.. and see how much longer they will even transport livestock for us! They are the ONLY one's who are doing us that courtesy.. Let's show them some Love and appreciation instead of acting like postal workers are the enemy sleeper cell.

Consider educating the person asking questions about your orders instead of feeling defensive. And EVEN if the individual's intent is pure ugliness.. don't give them the power to steal your JOY also. SHOW them the glory of chicken math!

ETA: The hatcheries look at the weather reports and determine their minimums, to include a heat pack or not, and how many holes to punch open for ventilation depending on their destination and the EXPECTED weather conditions. Things can change at any time.. but they do their best to get us LIVE chicks.

Look , I'm not bashing the USPS and your reply... you sure didnt try killing me with kindness lmao....Also I'm quite sure I said post master used to... we have a new postmaster now and she seems totally cool with the chicks. Big smiles and not rude. It is what it is. I ordered through Greenfire myself this year. I'm pleased enough with the USPS and greenfire to possibly try it again. Also had a good experience through Townline although their broilers are too expensive. I'm getting New Hampshire chicks Friday. I've only lost one bird from over 75 that I've received this year and have more than I paid for because of extras.

 

[Acre4Me]

Murray McM order early August arrived perfectly healthy. Took 2 days (despite paying for Express service), to get to me in western Ohio. Chicks are 4 weeks old and doing great, except for the one we inexplicably lost physically at around 10 days old...assume we will find the little body somewhere in barn when cleaning in the future.

 

[Folly's place]

Our local post office, and the next one over, have people who have been very helpful and caring. We get called immediately when chicks arrive, sometimes at one place, and sometimes there's a 'whoops' and at the other, all good.
Mary

 

[21hens-incharge]

While there are those cases where chicks don't have a good trip the vast majority arrive safe and sound.

Whether the weather holds for optimal chick transport along the entire route they travel has a lot to do with safe arrivals.

I ordered a group of 7 ducks early this spring.....then Covid shut things down. We were on a statewide shutdown when mine arrived April 4th. It COULD have been a disaster. However all my ducks arrived active, hungry and in extremely good shape.
The hatchery went above and beyond including a heat pack AND grogel. I had not asked for or paid for either.
The postal workers did their part to take proper care of the package shipping through their system.

In August I ordered a small # of chicks through my favorite feed store. They arrived in extremely good shape! While the weather was very warm when they shipped there has been zero pasty butt issues.

 

[Ihavesomechickens]

I got some chicks from a farm store a few weeks ago, and a lot of the chicks were DOA according to the workers. Some whole breeds that were supposed to be available weren’t because all the chicks of that breed had died. But, it most likely wasn’t because of the amazing postal workers who are trying to do the best they can. We had a big storm while the chicks were in the mail, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that had something to do with it. Of course, I’m just going off what the workers told me when I asked. The workers there were all experienced chicken keepers, they actually have a flock right behind the building, so I’m assuming it wasn’t anything on their end. People are making the problem see worse than it is though. They are getting all scared over posts on social media with people saying their chicks are dead, and almost none of the posts I have seen actually give information on any external factors that could’ve been a cause. Everybody blaming the postal office won’t stop the problem, if anything it’ll just deter them from continuing to ship chicks.


I do see this thread having the chance to go political very quickly though, though it doesn’t seem all too political right now. People have a way of bringing politics into a, and if I’m being honest, political discussion. Sure, all that’s being spoken about is chicks, but there have been some very politically charged posts discussing this. Most of the time the politics being spoken about don’t directly have to do with the election, but politics aren’t just about the election. People can be complaining about laws ( politics), they can be saying a law put in place is the most awesome thing ever ( also politics), or they could just be saying how they don’t like how a government funded place is run ( technically also politics, if talking about the political side, that probably exists.).
Blaming the postal service is normally a politically motivated move, and a lot of people are blaming the postal service right now. Many more are making people fear the postal office (I.e. saying postal workers don’t care about chicks and purposefully try to hurt them), which can negatively impact postal workers by enforcing stereotypes. Just like how any other stereotypes work, it ends up hurting someone in the end.


But, remember, that’s all my opinion. I don’t mean to offend anyone by what I said, and if you are offended by anything I mentioned, I am sorry. <3

( I know this was a bit ranty, and I apologise.)

 

[Ruthster55]

The poll will close on September 13th.

I have deliberately kept this post focused on healthy arrival of baby chicks (or please mention any problems). I don’t want politics to enter into it.

I am really happy that several posters have received healthy, bouncing chicks recently!

I hope the vast majority has chicks that arrived alive and healthy!

 

[trescloudy]

Just received my order of 15 New Hampshire chicks from Freedom Ranger Hatchery. The receipt says Arts Hatchery and that's exactly where they were supposed to be hatched. So there was one dead chick and it appeared to be quite mutilated. There was no water, food or anything else but chicks in the box. It was a 2 day trip and the shipping was inexpensive. The 15 chicks that survived look ok but they do seem a little feisty outside of a smaller more yellow colored chick.

 

[Folly's place]

There's never food or water in the box with new chicks, and sometimes there will be a heat pack, depending on the weather.
NH's are kinda feisty!
Mary