WARNING: Cackle Hatchery

[Trashpanda13]

Hello everyone. Please learn from my horrendous experience and be very weary about ordering from Cackle or any hatchery for that matter.

I was hesitant to order any birds ever, but I saw forum after forum and many reviews stating that this hatchery was reputable. I decided to go against my better judgement and ordered 4 ducks and 4 buff orpingtons, thinking that because the hatchery was 4 hours away, I wouldn't need to worry. FALSE.

My birds shipped at 4:30pm on Monday. Tuesday morning they are received in Kansas City then go off into the ether. They sat in warehouses for FOUR DAYS before arriving Friday morning. There were three already dead (one of them was an extra buff) and the rest of the birds were on the edge of death.

The box was crushed. The birds WERE NOT GIVEN any kind of liquid or solid sustenance. I had been in contact with the hatchery every day since they shipped and they told me they had been having lots of issues with USPS. Yet they still shipped the birds with no food or water knowing full well the shipment would take a long time. They claimed they were not allowed to overnight ship. They paid a whopping $6.15 in shipping to my $27.

I lost another duck this morning. She was in horrible shape all day yesterday. She was in a state of extreme shock and nervous system overload. At least she was warm and fed when she passed, unlike her sisters.

I spoke to them about it and they claimed they will take this to the owner, meanwhile I hear in the background a conversation with another customer who lost all their birds. This is a common occurrence and they are wittingly shipping live animals through a failing system and not taking any precautions to prevent death of the animals. The animals are not given "live animal" labels and ARE NOT EXPEDITED. I was promised they would be, and that is not the case.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

TrashPanda, the USPS killing birds in shippment has been a perennial problem - going back decades. USPS doesn't own its own planes. Every time there is a national weather event, back ups ripple thru the system, and the post is the first to get deferred.

USPS is also, for all practical purposes, the only option. and USPS ses the rules on shipping live birds (well, Congress does, thru its gov't monopoly, the USPS).

See also:
https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep203303

 

[Trashpanda13]

TrashPanda, the USPS killing birds in shippment has been a perennial problem - going back decades. USPS doesn't own its own planes. Every time there is a national weather event, back ups ripple thru the system, and the post is the first to get deferred.

USPS is also, for all practical purposes, the only option. and USPS ses the rules on shipping live birds (well, Congress does, thru its gov't monopoly, the USPS).

See also:
https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep203303

I'm fully aware USPS is an issue, and we have a lot to tackle in that department.

However, if like you said, the USPS shipping issue is long standing, then the hatcheries are 100% guilty for wittingly shipping out chicks without sustenance knowing they have a high likelihood of not arriving on time. If they can afford to feed the animals after they hatch, then they can afford to feed and water them in shipment. They also should not be allowing shipment during cold seasons. Again, they are abusing the situation just as much as USPS and as long as people keep passing the blame, it's going to keep happening.

 

[Brooks_]

water them in shipment.

How would that be done?

 

[nuthatched]

The box was crushed. The birds WERE NOT GIVEN any kind of liquid or solid sustenance. I had been in contact with the hatchery every day since they shipped and they told me they had been having lots of issues with USPS. Yet they still shipped the birds with no food or water

I'm sorry that you've had a bad time but this is not the hatcheries fault, it's a shipping issue.
Usps is the only shipping service that allows for live animals.
Baby birds do not need food or water for the first 3-4 ish days, they live off the yolk they absorb before hatch.
Nobody is passing the blame, it just happens, the hatchery cannot control the shipping and nobody is abusing the system.
Complaining to the owner and customer support is not going to help, is quite abusive and is unfair to them, ( i work customer service, there's nothing like being screamed at for something the company can't control) so is leaving public reviews on practices that might not be fully understood.
If you want to roll dice on local "breeders", that's up to you but nothing you've mentioned is a legitimate complaint about Cackle or any hatchery.
Having birds shipped right before/during a major purchasing holiday, might also not the best idea.

 

[21hens-incharge]

With the hatchery being just a 4 hour drive I would have made the trip honestly. It could have been a day trip to go get them and drive back.

That said I 100% agree it's a postal issue not a hatchery issue.

 

[tripletfeb]

With the hatchery being just a 4 hour drive I would have made the trip honestly. It could have been a day trip to go get them and drive back.

That said I 100% agree it's a postal issue not a hatchery issue.

 

[GeoKan]

Let me enlighten you folks about the inner workings of the USPS.

My wife — who is in her 26th year as a rural route carrier — battles every single day fighting for you the customer. Furthermore, the management is severely lacking and often involves favoritism and find any way to cut corners to strip away any financial gain for your rural carriers. Her union is milk toast and promotes leadership that often favors corporate cronies. This doesn't help incentivize any healthy relationship for customer-carrier motivation. My wife's salary was cut $10K last year due to the lackluster union and those damn scanning devices. They count steps now.

I can tell you right now my wife goes out of her way to give any shipped fowl water, PERIOD. We have chickens. We don't do mail order for a reason.

Believe me, nobody wants to be a rural carrier. My wife's customers treat her like crap and blames all USPS' problems on her. She has worked her butt off six days a week for the last four months. Her postmaster can't seem to get his act together to find relief help and those who are currently working are quitting due to no scheduled days off — I am talking seven days a week here. Not to mention a relationship with one of the carriers. My wife is on his poop list for a reason.

I'll also mention she delivers packages from UPS, FedEx and DHL. These are the heavier packages weighing 70-plus pounds. Try delivering a mattress or 100 lbs. of dog food every day.

If you want to complain send all your frustrations, complaints to Louis DeJoy. He's your Post Master General and Executive Officer. "UnJoy" wants to eliminate your local post office. I am not kidding. Research his long-term plans. He wants a central hub where carriers have to drive more than 100 miles from their route, drive back, deliver your crap, drive back to the hub and then home. He is single handedly destroying and privatizing our nation's treasure — your local post office.

Good luck finding an email address or even DeJoy's address. There's a reason it's not posted.

BTW — I drove more than 250 miles to Cackle Hatchery to pick up my chicks in person. That's more than an eight-hour round trip from my location. That's the only way to be sure.

— Geo

 

[Brooks_]

I can tell you right now my wife goes out of her way to give any shipped fowl water,

She opens other people's mail?

 

[GeoKan]

Yes, I would report her for tampering with my mail.

My guess is you are a postmaster and don't mind dead chicks.