VERY UPSET ...Shipping of chicks through the USPS~

[KatieH]

I'm sorry

that's awful. Thankfully I had a great experience with USPS getting me my chicks, but I've heard many horror stories.

 

[mommathea]

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Ummmm, I don't think that would help in this situation. They died because they starved, not because they got to cold. They were lost, not frozen.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

This sort of thing has been happening since the beginning of shipping chicks through the mail over a hundred years ago. No one has ever managed to cure it and I doubt anyone ever will. If you mail order chicks sooner or later you're going to have a bad experience.

I had a batch sent to me two years ago that had a rough trip from Privett, a hatchery that I like very much. Three dead in the box, nine more in the broder over the first several days. That's with the sugar water/vitamins/electrolyte treatment. I've never had such losses in the brooder before and haven't since. A rough trip.

The P.O. really got my goat a few years ago when a friend sent me some cuttings via Priority Mail. He lives in the Florida Panhandle about two hundred thirty miles from me. SEVENTEEN days after he mailed them they arrived. The P.O. shrugged and said "sorry."

.....Alan.

 

[daps2000]

Thank you for all your understanding ... really ... I just wish there was someway to find out where they went! Its kinda like when your baby is hurt and you want to know the whole store and who hurt them. Not like I can do anything about it ... but boost on BackYardChickens! But I would feel better! Another note!!! I love Grogel Plus B! Great for hatching eggs and shipped chicks! 2 of the chicks I didn't think where going to make it ... but me and my husband forced a little of this ... and within an hour he was picking with his siblings!

 

[greathorse]

I will play my broken record one more time.

It is early, It is cold, the risk is high, the odds are poor, yet we continue to order chicks under these conditions.

I think the USPS does a great service in shipping live birds, and if a bunch of folks raise a ruckus I think they could easily and readily make a decision to stop this service. I cant imagine that it is a huge money maker for them.

Inability to ship day old chicks would significantly hurt the back yard poultry hobby.

In all of my experiences with shipping chicks the people at the Post office have been caring and concerned. It goes without saying that there are times that things go wrong in the system, and it is a risk we all take. I have had mostly great success and a few train wrecks, but all in all I appreciate that we have the ability to ship live birds.

 

[ange]

daps2000 when I HEAR OF your story on the doa chicks is why I AM now off the fence for ordering through mail, I aam looking for some around herew, so sorry I feel bad for you

 

[daps2000]

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I can understand that coming from someone that lives where you do ... and I understand your concerns ... BUT yet again ... the problems where the tracking of this ... or the lack of tracking ... AND ... the use of Fedex who is not held up to the same standards for shipping chicks ... NOW I say to you ... Please read the HIGH praise I gave my local post office in my original post ... thank you

 

[daps2000]

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Thank you ... and a very good idea ... my husband was just as upset as I was ... and he said "NO MORE CHICKS IN THE MAIL"

 

[EweSheep]

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Thank you ... and a very good idea ... my husband was just as upset as I was ... and he said "NO MORE CHICKS IN THE MAIL"

The problem is this....if there is a breed you really want but it is hundreds of miles away, either you would get eggs or chicks. It is harder to find some locally in most cases. If you go to a APA santioned poultry show, you would have better luck but it would cost you a little more.

I would not give up on it. Just find another time and go from there.

I agree with Greathorse!

 

[tammyd57]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Monday to Wednesday only about 48-60 hours? Day old chicks won't 'starve' in that length of time. That's actually about average for mail delivery of chicks. I think it's more likely to have been a rough and/or very cold trip that caused that outcome.