I assume you already talked with your local Postmaster. They are your main link at this point to doing a trace back from your end. The chicks could very well have been misrouted to another city or through the wrong Postal Processing/Distribution Center or Air Mail facility. You should also contact McMurray again, and do so ASAP, so that they can start the tracking from thier end. As you are aware time is critical for your chicks surviving, but at this point, unless they were delivered to the wrong town within your postal area (the first three digits of your zip code) it is doubtful that you will have a good chance of them arriving to you OK. When they do arrive, definitely dip thier beaks in sugar water, and check with your feedstore/farm supply store for electrolytes for chicks. It is critical that they get water and food ASAP, and placed into an environment that will keep them warm. They say that chicks have about three/four days before needing food/water, after hatching. Hopefully, they will show up before mortality becomes a problem. (This is one reason why I hate handling chicks over the weekend. Some PO's will contact the purchaser on Sunday that thier orders are in, and others can't be bothered.) Good luck!

Good advice from Mokevinb, I'm so sorry you are going through this, it's horrible to have to deal w/such a situation that is not in your control. I agree making more phone calls and being in close contact w/your post office is the most you can do. I will say a prayer for your chicks, keep us posted.

-Sheila

Did McMurray place a tracking barcode on them? In other words, did they send them Priority with Delivery Confirmation? You need to call McMurry and ask. If so, ask for the Delivery Confirmation number. They (and you) can track them through this barcode, IF they were mailed this way.

Sorry aout your chicks. Rescue Remedy in the water as well as the sugar and eletrolites is good. We get a lot of chicks by mail at the feed store the worst was when they came four days late and out of 150 chicks only 25 were alive the living ones had eaten the dead ones and we had a time getting them to stop picking on each other since chicken was their first food. The hatchery made good on the chicks but it was very hard on the people who opened the box the children got really upset. I wish there were a better way to send chicks.

Hi Everyone!
The chicks finally arrived late this afternoon and we lost a few :-(
I am really sad, but glad that the rest of them are peeping up a storm, and even trying to fly!
After some food and water, they are all very lively... except the ones that are not...alive, of course.

I tried calling McMurray to find out what they were going to do about the ones that did not make it, but they had already closed.

I just sent them an email, but I will have to call them tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for your concern and advise.

Most of the hatcheries give you a replacement guarantee on chicks that do not survive. Most require notification within three days of delivery. As for the PO, ask the Postmaster for a customer service comment card. Fill it out, and explain the situation. While we can not hold your local office responsible for this, the main distribution center needs to know there was a problem and that it needs to be looked into. The Post Office takes pride in providing good service, but also wants to know when there is a problem so that service is improved. (Most people have a bad impression about employees and contract employees of the Post Office, but the majority are hard working people who want to do thier best for you. I know, I have been a contract employee now for almost eleven years.)

I'm glad that your chicks finally arrived, but the FIRST thing that anyone needs to prepare themselves for who has birds shipped, by any means, but especially through the post office, is that it's a gamble. Mail gets lost, delayed and rerouted all the time. One has to be prepared to accept the consequences when he or she chooses the inexpensive and imprecise method. I don't understand why one would get children involved, and get their hopes up without making them aware of all of the potential outcomes.

Many hatcheries make good on lost chicks due to mail delays, as a gesture of good will, but it is not their fault. I'm always at a loss to understand why a person who requests shipment through the post office, will hold the shipper responsible for postal delays.

I question the Saturday shipping. Most hatcheries are reluctant to ship when it will result in the package becoming stuck in the system over Sunday or holidays, and it really just makes common sense to me as the recipient to not allow such arrangements when placing the order.

I agree about the majority of postal employees being extremely hard working. I've had some go above and beyond the call of duty, IMO, both from my local PO and my area distribution center. It is too bad that there is such a range of experiences allowed by individuals and variables built into the system, and I'm unfortunately seeing a change in my local service recently with a new post master.

People love to talk about the horror shows, too. I've heard some doozies. I myself have had one, which WAS caused by the shipper, a couple of nail biters, and a dozen or so success stories, but few talk about those.

What has me Patrick is I can walk into the Post Office Distribution Center on Sunday morning and there will be rack after rack of chicks sitting in the Express Mail area. Depending on who is working the department those chicks might sit there until Monday morning, and even when they ship them out on Sunday to the local Post Offices there is no guarantee that the Postmaster or clerks will come in and call to get them picked up. As to better service I don't know of anyone else who does nationwide delivery. In many rural areas the other parcel delivery companies send their shipments out via the post office because it is too far from their terminals or there is not enough business to make it profitable for them. Also, the others only do deliveries M - F, and any deliveries that they can not make will be returned to the terminal, with a note left saying "We attempted delivery, please call to arrange getting your parcel". At least the Post Office will call before attempting delivery, whenever the reciepent requests it on the order form. And in most cases the post office employees will try thier best to give your chicks the best care they can. The ones though that get my goat are the people who order chicks COD and either fail to pick them up or REFUSE THEM! If you didn't want them bad enough to pre-pay for them, why did you even order them in the first place?! Well, that is the view from the inside of the system, and I can tell you that in most cases the price you pay for postal delivery is much more reasonable than the other guys.

Yes, people are something. Did you ever wonder how we became the most successful species on the planet? And PO employees apparently are just like any other workers. Some do their all, others are there to do the minimum that is required and pick up the paycheck. I've had some call from the distribution center for me to come to pick up a package of bees, although I'm not sure that one was so much a case of good service as it was they're wanting them out of there! When I arrived they were nice and cozy, secure in the boss' office.

I have had an unintentional potential problem by PO employees who have been too concerned and too worried about the birds. Often they have to lift a corner or even open the box altogether to see if the birds are OK. Being appreciative of their efforts, I try to tactfully explain without trying to dampen their concern, that there really is nothing that they could do to help the birds, even if the worst were happening. If they tried to give them water, the result would be wet chilled chicks. I try to explain that the best thing is just to call ASAP on both home and cell numbers which I ask the shipper to put on the box. The other issue is that often adult birds which can fly are also shipped, including doves, pigeons, pheasants and wild ducks. I know of a case where an adult chicken escaped during such a "concern check" by a postal employee, and was loose and crowing in the rafters of the distribution center for several days. So far I've not been able to make the kind ladies at my PO understand that this could happen to them too if I were to get such such birds shipped. They're always too involved with listening to the cute fuzzy chickies at that point to pay attention to my warnings.

Patrick,

That "rafters story" reminds me of something that Craig Russell told me about once, with one of his shipments!

Here's my good story. Back in 2002 we ordered chicks from Sandhill Preservation Center. They're in IA and we were in NJ. The shipment came through reasonably quickly. I actually got a call, from a lady at the distribution center about 2 hours north of us, and that, the night before they were to be delivered to my local post office. The woman who called was obvious VERY much an urban person. She called me at work, having tried the house, and said: "Sir, we have a box of baby chicks for you. They's a peep'n and a cheep'n! What do you want us to do with'em? Do you want to come for them here, tonight?!" I chose not to make that trip, and the chicks arrived first thing the next morning, and they were fine. But I've never forgotten that woman, her way of speaking and obvious concern!

George
Tahlequah, OK

Obviously, I am an employee of the postal service. One time, we recieved a package which was marked live animal. It was a very rare pheasant from russia. Of course, one of the clerks had to look at it. So, he opened just a corner to peak in. WHOOSH! Out it bursts from the box and out the dock door into the woods, never to be seen again. The postmaster was not happy making that call to explain.

Okay Mailman, Patrick, and George, here is a true story. It is not racist, it is the gods honest truth, I was there, and saw it happen.

A number of years ago one of the drivers brought in a medium large dog crate that had the door and vent holes covered with paper. It was labeled, "Rush, Live Animal". The crate was so heavy it was all one man could do to lift and move it. Anyhow, some of the overally curious dock workers moved the crate and whatever was inside hissed! Well, one of them asked the driver, "do you have any idea what is in there," to which he said, "no, the office was closed and everyone was gone when he picked up the mail. It might be some sort of cat." So the dock worker went over to the crate and gave it a shake, and whatever was inside hissed again. His curiousity overly peaked, he decided to pull a little piece of the paper off the crate and looked inside. Upon observing the contents of the crate he instantly became several shades lighter complected and ran inside, refusing to return to the dock. Word quickly spread from inside what was in the crate, and most of the black workers made a bee line off of the dock, leaving us white folks behind. Inside the crate was an eight foot Burmese Python!

As to the bee situation, what happens is many of the workers fear being stung, due to allergies. As you are aware some of the bees occaisionally escape from the wood and wire crate they are shipped in, and the workers fear the loose bees will sting them. I have explained numerous times to them that if they set the crate in one location that is open the loose bees will come to the crate and stay there with the rest of her pals. I further explain to them that the only thing they have to fear, regarding being bee stung, is if one of the loose ones gets caught in thier hair or clothing and stings while attempting to get free or if they were to crush one. I am seriously allergic to bee stings, and generally do not fear handling them, but those people who have never been around them do not understand how the domesticated bee acts, or how to treat them.

George, yes, that example was from Craig's story. I love his answer to the ignorant postal employee who accused Craig, or the shipper, I forget who was sending and who was receiving. The man calls Craig to say that he lied on his documentation. Craig asks why the man thinks so. Answer: well, you said that you shipped a chicken, but you didn't, it is a pheasant. Graig calmly asks why the mans thinks that the bird is a pheasant and not a chicken. Answer: well it can fly, .....and all chickens are white! He goes on to ask Craig who will pay for the attempts to catch the bird, something about them hiring a humane society employee to come in and try. Craig says, "Well, I don't know who's going to pay for it, but I'm pretty sure that I can tell you who is NOT!"

Mailman, my fear exactly. Isn't it against federal law to open the mail unless there is a real concern, such as illegal or hazardous substances?

The children are the children of the owners of the feed store where I work they hang out before and after school so they would be there when chicks come in.
One time when we were expecting chicks and they didn't come in I called the Post Office in the next town, 21 miles away, to check on them. Our mail comes by van from that PO, the clerk told me the van driver left the chicks there because he couldn't stand the cheeping and another driver would bring them on Monday. It was Friday and the night temps were in the 20's!!! The owners went and got them.

Unfortunately Acorn, that is one problem that often occurs in some areas. Are you aware that the residents of the Grand Canyon basin get mail once a week? It is trucked to a Post Office on the rim and then is packed in by mule train! Who says the pony express no longer exists? In some areas it is the only way the mail can be delivered. (And with the cost of fuel, might become more prevelent in others.)

Songbirdmommy, it has been over a week now. How are your chicks doing? Anymore fatalities, or did you luck out?

If you think that chicks peeping drive the mailman crazy, try a box of several thousand crickets! The carrier that delivers to my workplace had to bring me crickets during my sugarglider days and he was very tolerant of the cricking box! They quickly drove me crazy!

Terry,
what on earth is a sugarglider?

-Sheila

Yes. What is a sugarglider? Is it something like a small plane that spreads sugar?:)lol! I'm kidding! Just acting stupid, pay no attention to me:)

A sugarglider is a small mammal, akin to a flying squirrel, if my memory serves me correctly from Australia. They are cute little critters with big eyes and are nocturnal and arboreal. (I knew my PBS watching would eventually pay off. I hope no one is stumped by my twenty dollar words.) By the way, that little guy that is on Johnny Carson's head in ads for the compliation videos of the Tonight Show is a Sugarglider. They have made appearances on a number of TV shows like Letterman, The Tonight Show, etc.
Kevin

Sugargliders are actually marsupials (like opossums) and are nocturnal and arboreal like mokevinb said. They are insectivores, hence the crickets (and mealworms). They are small-about the size of a large hamster. If handled correctly right after they leave their mother's pouch they can make charming (and not easy to care for) pets. However, they certainly are not for the casual pet owner. They require specific care and handling (did I mention nocturnal, so that handling is often done at night?). I loved my pair, but when they passed on, I decided not to get any more. They also can have a bit of an odor, so cleanliness is important. I'll see if I can find some pics of my guys and post them later.

oops! Oh well, it is easy to lose some of the reproductive specifics about some animals. Scientists were stumped for years as to what the Platypus should be classified as.