Why its humane to ship chicks - Ordering Chicks Experience

[Shadow Source]

I had a few people ask me if it was humane to ship chicks, my answer was I don't know I have never done it before. Last January I ordered 20 chicks. I ordered 10 Standards, and 10 bantams, BIG MISTAKE!! Under any circumstances DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS THEY HAVE A SEPERATE BOX!!! The post office called about 5:30 in the morning, the lady said that they arrived but most of them were dead. We rushed down there, I opened the box, and 11 chicks were alive. There were the 10 standards, and 1 Silkie. The rest of the Silkies were dead(So it seemed) I went home, and found that 4 Silkies were still alive, I held them up to a blow dryer, and they started to come back to life. I let them be by my fire place for a little while, and put the rest of them into the brooder with the others. Fast-Forward 24 hours, 4 out of 5 of the Silkies were trampled to death by the standards. I moved the last remaining Silkie into another brooder, along with one other standard to keep him company. That last Silkie survived, and no other chicks died. I tried Ordering again but just bantams. Every last one of them arrived alive. One ended up dying, but there was no other deaths. If you order chicks, and one or two of them die, it is completely normal, those chicks were going to die anyway. Now when people ask me if it is humane to order chicks, I say it is as long as you keep standards with standards, and bantams with bantams.

The moral to the story is, DO NOT BUY BANTAMS WITH STANDARDS!!!!!! IT WILL CAUSE THE BATNAMS TO BE TRAMPLED TO DEATH!!

 

[cavemanrich]

Makes a lot of sense. I have never ordered chicks, but am wondering if the hatchery could simply ship the chicks together, but with a separation inside box.???

 

[Shadowfire]

I agree about not shipping bantams and standards together, and I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I would also recommend that people buy from a local hatchery instead of shipping any chicks, as they often suffer and die unnecessarily from temperature stress.

 

[Shadow Source]

I agree about not shipping bantams and standards together, and I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I would also recommend that people buy from a local hatchery instead of shipping any chicks, as they often suffer and die unnecessarily from temperature stress.

I can understand that.

 

[TashaFrancois]

Makes a lot of sense. I have never ordered chicks, but am wondering if the hatchery could simply ship the chicks together, but with a separation inside box.???

Ideal poultry. They shipped standard and bantam, and even my ducklings in one box. Said that’s how they always do it and the deaths were abnormal...
fast forward and the next box was abnormal too and they refused to separate them or ship them overnight, even if I payed the difference.

 

[Alexandra33]

So sorry you had a regrettable experience. That's just heartbreaking.

I've had Old English Game bantams and standard breeds shipped together, with no issues. I've found Silkie chicks to be rather delicate. Several pass away even in the absence of large fowl. It's probably more likely the babies died due to frailty.

~Alex