WHY WHY WHY didnt I get Express delivery??!!

[PurpleChicken]

What am I missing here? Don't the chicks come via 2 day Priority Mail?
Ours shipped on Wednesday and were here by Thursday afternoon.

 

[hinkjc]

Priority is not a guarantee of 2 days. It can take up to 14 days, without a blink. The only 2nd day guaranteed shipping is Express and most hatcheries don't use it for baby chicks.

As for the water, the chicks should have constant access to water. They will not "drown" from drinking too much and this is the only way to rehydrate them for survival.

Jody

 

[moenmitz]

Priority guarantees 2-3 day delivery. The post office had said they would arrive Friday morning, which would be exactly 2 days, but they did not come when they were supposed to.

Fortunately, we lost only one more over the weekend, and all are doing well now.

As for the water, chicks can and DO develop what is referred to as "water poisoning": if I recall correctly, or something similar anyway. People can also be affected in this way. In cases of extreme thirst, they will on occasion drink in excess and die from it. We lost two turkey poults that way I suspect, and it wasn't until after they died that several people on this forum alerted me to the possibility. It is advised that if they appear excessively thirsty to allow them to drink at short intervals and then remove the water for BRIEF periods. Yes, they DO need access to water at all times, but allowing a 10-20 minute interval between drinks for the first few hours is in no way dangerous to them.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Quote:
Hi Moenmitz

This is an old post, but I wanted to let you know I appreciate it. Your post I believe saved the life of one of my chicks tonight!

I've been reading various topics and posts for the last couple of months at BYC. I read this post... and the part regarding the waterer last week. To be completely honest... at the time I thought 'gees... pay more attention to the waterer...' Well yesterday I got tired of filing up the small 1 quart waterers for my 80+ chicks and bought a couple of the wide,plastic, one gallon waterers. My chicks are 6 days old now and very active. Anyways after cleaning their brooder, I went to put one of the waterers in... moving slowly and checking to make sure no chicks were in the way. As I was putting the waterer down I was a split second away from releasing completely when I heard a distress peep. I quickly lifted it up... and out runs a chick! I was actually thinking of your post as I was putting the waterer down. If I hadn't read the post, I very likely would not have heard the faint distress peeping.

Thanks again... you saved my chick!

 

[Chicken Woman]

If you put marbles in the waterer then it is unlikl that a chick would be able to drown even when they are being pushed by the others. They wii quickly learn to drink around the marbles. I leave marbles in the waterer for the first week at least.