I made a HORRIBLE mistake ordering from a hatchery! (Graphic Photos)

[Swbertrand1]

Hello everyone.

I am just devastated at the events of the past 2-1/2 weeks that have seen two (2) orders for specialty Silkie hatchery chicks arrive dead or dying. Initially, I thought this was the fault of the USPS, but I've come to discover that this falls squarely on the hatchery, Valley Hatchery, and their shipping practices. For reasons I can't explain, they will only ship USPS Priority Mail, not Priority Mail EXPRESS, the latter guaranteeing quick and careful shipping. Worse, they don't even bother to put any notification on the container that there are "LIVE ANIMALS" in the box. WTH?

Valley Hatchery has locations in OH, MO, TN, CA and MT and can be found at www.valleyhatchery.com online. I've cried for days over this! Opening the box I had to retrieve at the local post office today was absolutely heartbreaking, sixteen (16) dead birds all because this hatchery couldn't be bothered with shipping EXPRESS, a service we requested several times after their 1st shipment of eighteen (18) birds saw only 6 survive (8 were dead in the box, 4 more died over the ensuing days), and the 6 survivors required near round-the-clock ICU-type care to make it.

As I write this, my husband is taking up the cause to try to get some rules/guidelines/laws changed regarding the shipping of live chicks. He's reaching out to the MO AG's office, the USPS Board of Governors in Washington, DC, our senators and representative, and more. No bird should have to suffer the way the birds in these two shipments suffered! What a horrible way to die!

I will never order hatchery chicks again, NEVER. We placed another order between these two horrific orders, and they were shipped twice the distance to our home as the Missouri orders, but they were shipped Priority EXPRESS, and they arrived in less than 2 days healthy and happy, but I still feel VERY guilty about subjecting the chicks to the trip from CA to NC. For that reason, I won't do it again; it's just not worth it.

If you're going to order chicks from a hatchery, be sure you get Priority Mail EXPRESS shipping. Without it, you'll likely get to suffer through the same scenes that we've had to endure... :-(

Spoiler: Graphic Photos

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Hello everyone.

I am just devastated at the events of the past 2-1/2 weeks that have seen two (2) orders for specialty Silkie hatchery chicks arrive dead or dying. Initially, I thought this was the fault of the USPS, but I've come to discover that this falls squarely on the hatchery, Valley Hatchery, and their shipping practices. For reasons I can't explain, they will only ship USPS Priority Mail, not Priority Mail EXPRESS, the latter guaranteeing quick and careful shipping. Worse, they don't even bother to put any notification on the container that there are "LIVE ANIMALS" in the box. WTH?


Valley Hatchery has locations in OH, MO, TN, CA and MT and can be found at www.valleyhatchery.com online. I've cried for days over this! Opening the box I had to retrieve at the local post office today was absolutely heartbreaking, sixteen (16) dead birds all because this hatchery couldn't be bothered with shipping EXPRESS, a service we requested several times after their 1st shipment of eighteen (18) birds saw only 6 survive (8 were dead in the box, 4 more died over the ensuing days), and the 6 survivors required near round-the-clock ICU-type care to make it.

As I write this, my husband is taking up the cause to try to get some rules/guidelines/laws changed regarding the shipping of live chicks. No bird should have to suffer the way these two shipments suffered. What a horrible way to die!

If you're going to order chicks from a hatchery, be sure you get Priority Mail EXPRESS shipping. Without it, you'll likely get to suffer through the same scenes that we've had to endure... :-(

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I'm so sorry this happened to you.
I would email these photos to Valley Hatchery and express your concerns (no need to tread lightly imo), in order to take your concerns seriously they will likely need some sort of proof.

 

[Swbertrand1]

I'm so sorry this happened to you.
I would email these photos to Valley Hatchery and express your concerns (no need to tread lightly imo), in order to take your concerns seriously they will likely need some sort of proof.

Oh, we've been in EXTENSIVE communications with them. They really don't feel they have any culpability in this matter. They will NOT offer the Priority Express shipping (a higher level of shipping over Priority Mail) that we requested after the first failed shipment.

That's not what galls me or angers my husband, though; it's the fact that this happened at all. I feel it was nearly 100% avoidable IF they would offer the higher shipping level AND ship the birds on a day that makes sense given the shipping service. In other words, shipping a Priority package on Wednesday evening had about a 40% chance of arriving before 5:00PM Friday, about a 50% of arriving before Saturday's noon close, and only about a 75-80% chance of arriving on Monday, 4-1/2 full days after the shipment was tendered to USPS.

Something needs to change...

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Oh, we've been in EXTENSIVE communications with them. They really don't feel they have any culpability in this matter. They will NOT offer the Priority Express shipping (a higher level of shipping over Priority Mail) that we requested after the first failed shipment.

That's not what galls me or angers my husband, though; it's the fact that this happened at all. I feel it was nearly 100% avoidable IF they would offer the higher shipping level AND ship the birds on a day that makes sense given the shipping service. In other words, shipping a Priority package on Wednesday evening had 50% of arriving before Saturday's noon close, and only about a 75-80% chance of arriving on Monday, 4-1/2 full days after the shipment was tendered to USPS.

Something needs to change...

I'm sorry to hear they are being like this. I would honestly try a different hatchery, I recommend Meyer Hatchery, I've never had a problem with birds dying in shipping, or them getting the gender wrong.

 

[SourRoses]

That's terribly sad What a horrible thing to discover.

With what's happened to the USPS too many customers and animals are being affected. Even Express is not what it once was.
What's worse, the most likely outcome of complaints is that the USPS stops shipping live animals altogether. It was originally meant to be a special service with the understanding that farming required as much. Nowadays the corporate farming interests are behemoths that can just send trucks to their various locations.
It's small scale poultry keepers who need the USPS, and the powers that be are less likely to care.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Very sorry to hear of your losses.

How many days in transit?

Did you opt for grogel?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm sorry this happened to you.

We've ordered from hatcheries at least half a dozen times over the years. The only times we ever had a problem was one year during shipping a freak blizzard occurred, and the hatchery shipped us a whole new order; the other time was when the chicks arrived on a federal holiday, causing a delay. We refused delivery and again, the hatchery sent a replacement order. It was a different hatchery. For the most part it seems the hatcheries want to provide good service. We've ordered from Cackle, Meyers, Murray McMurray (I think) and Mt. Healthy. All have done well for us and provided us with healthy chicks of the breeds and genders we ordered.

 

[Slothinc]

So sorry to hear this. I have never shipped chicks or purchased from a hatchery for this reason. Im just too nervous that something would happen to the chicks and I would have a super hard time with that. I know lots of people get their chicks in the mail and have no issues. But it is always really sad to see stuff like this happen. And such a shame that the hatchery won’t change anything after seeing what you have dealt with.

 

[Iluveggers]

As I write this, my husband is taking up the cause to try to get some rules/guidelines/laws changed regarding the shipping of live chicks. He's reaching out to the MO AG's office, the USPS Board of Governors in Washington, DC, our senators and representative, and more.

I understand that you at frustrated, but rarely do laws pertaining to helping small-time chicken owners work to the benefit of the animals or the citizens unfortunately.

What's worse, the most likely outcome of complaints is that the USPS stops shipping live animals altogether.

This is what I worry about. If you live near a hatchery offering pullets, it won’t affect you much. But for those of us in areas with limited supply of sexed chicks, it will severely impact our ability to have small flocks of our own. I can rehome a random accidental rooster, but I would not be in any place to hatch a large number of chicks, raise them to sexing age, and then keep cockerels until processing age (which would get loud and cause complaints).

Many of us would cease to have our small flocks of pets. We would have to rely on buying eggs from the grocery store, increasing the power of industrial egg producers.

 

[McChooky]

Oh, we've been in EXTENSIVE communications with them. They really don't feel they have any culpability in this matter. They will NOT offer the Priority Express shipping (a higher level of shipping over Priority Mail) that we requested after the first failed shipment.

That's not what galls me or angers my husband, though; it's the fact that this happened at all. I feel it was nearly 100% avoidable IF they would offer the higher shipping level AND ship the birds on a day that makes sense given the shipping service. In other words, shipping a Priority package on Wednesday evening had about a 40% chance of arriving before 5:00PM Friday, about a 50% of arriving before Saturday's noon close, and only about a 75-80% chance of arriving on Monday, 4-1/2 full days after the shipment was tendered to USPS.

Something needs to change...

Drastic changes could mean none of us will be able to afford chicks anymore .Prices keep going up! The hatcheries will have to shut their doors when day old chicks cost $20 and $30 each and $100 to ship