Think twice about ordering chicks through the mail (the dire effects of shipping)
When I first decided to get backyard chickens, I learned I could have day-old chicks mailed to me from pretty much anywhere in the United States via the U.S. Postal Service. My first reaction… WTF!
Seriously? How could that possibly be a good idea?
And then I read what you’ve probably already heard.
Chicks won’t starve, dehydrate, or become malnourished. Chicks hatch with some of the yolk material from their egg still available for sustenance. This yolk sac is inside their bellies and will completely nourish them for 72 hours without food or water.
Chicks stay warm during shipping, no matter how cold it is outside. They huddle together in the shipping box and produce all the heat they need. (As an aside, small orders may ship with heat packets.)
Chicks don’t overheat, no matter how hot it is outside. Chicks love the heat!
The mortality rate doesn’t increase with shipping. The number of deaths from shipped chicks is comparable to non-shipped chicks.
No… No… No… And no.
I didn’t know at the time that these claims were all false, but, regardless, I didn’t order mail-order chicks anyway. Instead, I picked them up in person from a hatchery about an hour away. Why? Because something just didn’t sit right with me about having chicks shipped in the mail.
Even if the claims were true, I could not fathom how terrifying that experience must be for young chicks. Shoved in a box, jostled by transport vehicles and handlers and not understanding why, peeping in fear for days with no response from a caretaker, living in the dark, not being able to move around…
What a sad start to life!
Since then, I’ve learned it’s much worse than that. Because the golden claims the hatcheries make aren’t true. None of them. After reading dozens and dozens of scientific papers around this topic, I’ve found the truth is rather ugly.
The truth about shipping day-old chicks (This is your TLDR section!)
Here’s the truth in a nutshell:
Ugly truth #1
Ugly truth #2
Ugly truth #3
This higher mortality in shipped chicks may occur during shipping, immediately after shipping, or weeks later.
That’s the truth in a nutshell. Now, let’s get into the weeds!
The egg yolk sac: You need to know the basics
What is the egg yolk sac?
What is the egg yolk sac for?
Vital.
The yolk sac nutrients help assist chicks during this learning period.
Unfortunately, shipped chicks miss this learning period and have to learn how to eat after their yolk sac is already depleted. By this time, they tend to already be malnourished and dehydrated, and some are even on the edge of starvation.
How long does it take for the yolk sac to be absorbed?
Why your day-old chicks are likely older than the hatchery tells you
Hatcheries and the USPS tell you you’ll get your chicks within a 72-hour window. And that’s true much of the time, but it’s not as straightforward as it seems. You’re going to see that chicks are typically older than what you’re told.
Does that mean the hatcheries are lying to you? No. It just means they calculate the age in a strange way, a practical way that’s been the industry standard for…well, probably forever.
What is a day-old chick?
Why chicks hatched together are never the same age
Why day-old hatchery ages aren’t accurate and why it matters
The myth of the all-nourishing egg yolk sac
Why the egg yolk sac isn’t enough to sustain chicks
Why newly-hatched chicks need food a.s.a.p.
Catastrophic deaths of mail-order chicks
How are mail-order chicks shipped?
The risk for mass deaths during and after shipping
The dire effects of shipping on the average mail-order chick
Malnourishment and starvation increase mortality rates
Suboptimal shipping temperatures increase mortality rates
How temperatures that are too high contribute to mortality
How temperatures that are too low contribute to mortality
How the low humidity conditions on airplanes contribute to mortality
You’ve learned that high humidity can prevent chicks from being able to cool down in the heat, but low humidity can have its problems too.
Something really awful happens in the cargo hold of an airplane when cruising altitudes (10-12,000m) are reached. As one study explains it:
“…when the flight altitude is reached, there is a special situation with regard to the relative humidity, which is generally little known and is therefore insufficiently taken into account.
At flight altitude (10,000 to 12,000 m) the air temperature is about -50°C and the relative humidity below 40%. If this air is compressed to the required cabin pressure, on the one hand heat is released… and on the other hand there is an extreme drop in relative humidity to below 0.5%. While the supply air heats up almost instantly to values of around 25°C due to mixing with the cabin air, the relative humidity in the cargo hold only reaches values between 10% and 15%.”
G. Schlenker and W. Müller, Berliner und Münchener tierärztliche Wochenschrift
Why the USPS refuses to ship chicks as live animals and what that means for mail-order chicks
But the U.S. isn’t there yet. And our chicks pay the price.
Other factors that potentially harm shipped chicks
Aside from problems with malnourishment, starvation, dehydration, overheating, and overcooling, there are many other factors that adversely affect chicks. Almost everything about the shipping process is stressful for them.
Additional stressors may include:
What’s the solution to mortality problems for mail-order chicks?
The obvious solution is to never order mail-order chicks. Just pick them straight up from your nearest reputable hatchery or breeder instead. Alternatively, you could learn how to hatch them at home (although there is a learning curve for that). Or go the natural route: once you have an established flock, you can let your mama hens hatch them!
But if you do decide you want to have chicks shipped to you, consider ordering your mail-order chicks from a hatchery near you, rather than one from across the country.
First, contact the hatchery to see where they ship from. Some hatcheries you find online are middlemen, meaning they don’t hatch the birds themselves. The birds may actually ship from several states away from the company’s location.
But are there any other ways we can improve our chicks’ shipping experiences?
This might sound crazy at first, but factory farms are actually at the forefront of finding solutions to some of these problems of shipping chicks. It makes sense when you realize that factory farms aren’t in denial about the increased losses they incur from shipping chicks. These losses lower their profits significantly, so it’s in their best interest to find solutions.
Adopting some of the practices factory farmers are testing out may be beneficial for shipping backyard chickens as well.
What can you expect when you order shipped chicks?
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