- May 21, 2013
- 7
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Hi, I am looking to have some chicks shipped to me from a breeder. I am looking to aquire 12-24, 1-2 day old chicks. How cold can they be safely shipped with a heat pack?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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That's exactly what happened to mine when they were shipped last year.....they got delayed in the mail and sat in the mail sorting warehouse in Casper, Wyoming for an entire extra day and it was 25 degrees below zero there. It was -19 here when I finally picked them up from the Post Office in Lovell. <Sigh> Needless to say I lost a few. It was my own fault. I got over-eager to get them and didn't realize that I could order but request a later shipment date. We didn't have a coop built because it was still sub-zero out there so I had 22 chicks living in hubby's office from February 26th until April 1st. I'll not repeat THAT mistake again, either! They couldn't go outside for adventures and acclimation until shortly before we put them outside. It was stressful for us and for them.Unless you're running a commercial enterprise and are on a time schedule, you should do yourself and the chicks the favor of ordering after April. (In the northern hemisphere, that is. It would help if you fill out your profile info with a geographic.)
Even with heat packs, which can be dangerous in themselves, it's a real nail biter until you get the chicks and get past the first 48 hours with them. There are so many variables - post office employees screwing up and leaving them on the dock, shipments getting lost, the heat packs over heating instead, etc.)
Look at your median temps, and figure out when the last chance of freezes is going to be past and order from a hatch after that. There's more than just shipping, too. If you order when the daytime temps are going to be in the 70s, you can begin taking your chicks outdoors for romps and letting them fly. You can begin doing this as early as two weeks, if the temps are mild. It's fun for you and fun for the chicks. If it's winter, you can't do that.
We live and learn, that's part of raising these babies!!! Sometimes the learning means heartache for us but if we weren't such caring people, it wouldn't bother us, so it's good when it does as I doubt you will make this mistake again...I tell people, especially employers, "I may make a lot of mistakes, I just hope to not make the same one twice!"...That's exactly what happened to mine when they were shipped last year.....they got delayed in the mail and sat in the mail sorting warehouse in Casper, Wyoming for an entire extra day and it was 25 degrees below zero there. It was -19 here when I finally picked them up from the Post Office in Lovell. <Sigh> Needless to say I lost a few. It was my own fault. I got over-eager to get them and didn't realize that I could order but request a later shipment date. We didn't have a coop built because it was still sub-zero out there so I had 22 chicks living in hubby's office from February 26th until April 1st. I'll not repeat THAT mistake again, either! They couldn't go outside for adventures and acclimation until shortly before we put them outside. It was stressful for us and for them.
Patience. azygous is absolutely right - if you aren't on a time schedule try to arrange for them to be delivered at a safer time.