Sending Birds by Mail

by gloria scholbe
Spring 2003

Why Mail Birds? :: When Things Go Wrong :: Replacement Chicks :: Looking for Answers :: Solutions :: Other Options :: Accountability

Why Send Birds by Mail?

Birds, mainly various kinds of poultry, have been transported by the United States Postal Service for decades. The main reason many people choose this method of transport is financial. For some reason, it costs significantly less for the post office to ship a bird by an airline than it does for an individual to ship a bird via the same airline.

For example, the price that North West Airlines quoted me for sending a 10" x 10" x 3" high container of day old chicks from Dallas, TX to Appleton, WI was $112.00 at the cargo rate. Their VIP rate was considerably higher. North West Airline offers a reduced rate for shipping poultry on their website, so I asked their Air Cargo representative to please double-check for the poultry rate. After placing me on hold for several minutes, the representative returned and told me that the poultry rate only applies to international transport of poultry.

The same container of chicks can be transported by the post office for about $7.75. This cost difference can make or break the possibility of a:

• 4-H project,
• small flock of laying hens,
• private release and stocking of game birds,
• raising food for the family table,
• natural weed and bug control,
• yard companionship,
• backyard hobby,
• supplemental income,
• and more.

Other reasons for using the post office involve transportation and delivery issues. Some folks in rural areas do not have reliable transportation that would enable them to drive long distances to an airport for bird pick-up; some are not able to drop their chores for a possibly lengthy round-trip drive; some are reclusive and terrified of navigating city street and airport traffic; some cannot drive, don't even own a car, and don't have friends to drive for them. For folks like these, the post office provides a crucial service.

When Things Go Wrong

(photos in this can be clicked for a larger view.) Using the post office for live animal delivery is not foolproof. Like it or not, a number of things can go wrong. Some are:

• wrong address
• crushed or lost package
• flight delay
• transfer to wrong fight
• weather
• routing mistake
• human error

Any of these can result in suffering or death of the birds being mailed.

My own bad experience happend this past April when I decided to add some Silkie bantam chickens to the small flock of bantams I raised last year. Since I was particularly interested in a color variety offered by Ideal Poultry in Cameron, Texas, I placed an order with them for 26 chicks, which hatched on April 16 and were shipped out that same day.

On April 17, I called the post office in Green Bay, Wisconsin to notify them that I was expecting a shipment of chicks and I would drive

Newly hatched chicks still retain some unabsorbed yolk sac, which can provide them up to two days of nourishment. After that, the chicks begin to dehydrate and die.

there to pick them up as soon as they arrived. I called both the post office and the hatchery several times on Thursday, on Friday, and on Saturday to no avail. The chicks had been sent but never arrived and the general consensus by all was that the chicks by now had probably died.

On Easter Sunday, the Green Bay post office called me to say that the chicks finally arrived, but most were dead. Immediately I drove to the city. When I arrived, I found that kind-hearted postal employees had placed nine still living chicks in a separate box and provided them with heat and water. They allowed me to spend some time trying to stabilize the remaining chicks before the drive home. One of the chicks died in my hands and then there were eight dehydrated and dying chicks left.

Chicks continued to die that day and the next even though I treated each individual baby with water and electrolytes every ten minutes through that day and night. Out of the 26, only three eventually survived.

Replacement Chicks

Ideal Poultry generously offered to send me a replacement order of chicks and I accepted, but I wanted some assurance that these chicks would not also be lost. They said they would insure the chicks. Insuring the value of 26 chicks adds $2.00 to the postal fee for a total of $9.75.

Next I asked about tracking numbers, for which the post office had asked each time I called to see if the chicks had yet arrived. But Ideal Hatchery told me that there are no tracking numbers for Priority Mail, which is how the chicks were sent. To confirm this, I called other hatcheries in other parts of the country, and they said the same thing. The usual way hatcheries send chicks is by Priority Mail and there are no tracking numbers.

The bird on the right is four weeks old and from the first chick order. The three week old bird on the left is from the replacement order of chicks. Growth in the first bird was affected by lack of nourishment during the days it was lost.

My replacement order of chicks hatched on April 23. The post office shipped them from Dallas - Fort Worth airport (DFW) on North West Airlines April 24. Since I knew from the label on the previous box of chicks that the post office was using North West Airlines and I also knew that the chicks would go to Appleton (ATW) rather than Green Bay (GRB), I started calling the Green Bay post office, the Appleton post office and North West Airlines in Appleton several times all that day. Each time I ended up talking to someone different and each time I had to explain all over again what happened to the last chicks and how much I did not wish the same thing to happen to these chicks.

Finally, at 8 p.m., North West airline employees told me that the chicks had arrived and the Appleton post office had picked them up. The post office left a message with North West for me: I could drive to Appleton and they would hold the chicks for me at the post office. So, that's what I did. Every single one of these chicks survived. However, if I had not gone to Appleton that night, these chicks would probably have also been lost.

Why? Because Appleton post office is not a processing post office. Mail picked up from the Appleton airport needs to be trucked to Oshkosh for processing before it gets routed North to Green Bay and other northern cities. This step can add an extra day or two of delay, which is critical time for the well-being of live animals. The extra handling also increases the chance of errors, damage, and becoming lost.

I wanted to know why chicks were being sent to the airport in Appleton rather than the one in Green Bay, which is larger and can also process mail; another reason for live animals to be sent to Green Bay rather than to Appleton.

Looking For AnswersIt took more than 30 local and long-distance calls over a period of three weeks to personnel of post offices and North West airlines in Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Minneapolis, Waco and Dallas-Fort Worth before I obtained the answer to that one simple question. During this quest, I was placed interminably on hold, transferred from one person to another, given different and unhelpful numbers to call and on three occasions was rudely disconnected (by North West air cargo personnel in Dallas-Fort Worth, who said they had no information for me, poultry is not shipped out of DFW on North West airlines (untrue) and I was taking up their valuable time.)

The point I'm trying to make in this section is how difficult, frustrating, and expensive it can be for people to obtain any information assuring them of a safe trip for their birds. Very few airline or post office employees are good resources for that kind of information and most don't even know the correct person to ask. This accounts for all the futile leads I had been given and all the time wasted on dead-end phone calls. Typical customers might find it hard to pursue the issue further once faced with a seeming brick wall. My advice is: persist. You may not be able to get through a brick wall, but you can go around it or over it or dig under it. Someone will have the answer you seek. The problem is finding the right contact.

A few days ago, a combination of calls finally did hit pay dirt. Apparently the reason for my own lost chicks involves something that the post office calls Planned Route Distribution Tables. These are developed by a network of Transportation Managers at various post offices. As it turns out, my chicks were routed incorrectly to Appleton when they should have been sent to Milwaukee and transferred from there to a Green Bay flight. This particular error is being corrected and will be in effect by the end of the month.

What about other problems resulting in lost chicks?

Solutions

One problem I was told about occurs when two containers are fastened together, one on top of the other. Only the top container is given an address label. If the containers become separated, postal employees do not know where to send the bottom container. Obviously to prevent this problem, the sender should label each container even though they are fastened together.

Insuring the container or paying an exra amount for express mail can give your birds an edge of safety. Express mail will also reduce travel time.

Another common problem involves people who are expecting chick arrival on a particular date but the chicks are shipped a day or two early. Some of these people will let the chicks sit at the post office even though postal employess take the trouble to notify them that their chicks have arrived. I heard this complaint from postal employees at more than one post office. As a matter of fact, I was at the post office on Easter Sunday, when one of the employees called a lady from Algoma to let her know that her McMurray chicks had arrived. Algoma is about a 45 minute drive from Green Bay. The lady said she was going to be in Green Bay for Easter dinner, but she wasn't expecting the chicks until Monday or Tuesday. Since it was inconvenient for her to pick the chicks up on Sunday, she decided to leave the them sit at the post office. How can we expect postal employees to care about bird health and welfare when some owners seem so unconcerned?

Although it is true that freshly hatched chicks can survive for two days without food or water because of their yolk sacs, that doesn't mean they should be have to do so unnecessarily. Chicks raised by my own hens will start to peck at food and drink water within 12 hours of hatch. This indicates to me that despite the yolk sac they are still driven by hunger and thirst. The sooner chicks are provided food and water, the better chances they have for survival.

What about juvenile or adult birds without yolk sacs? What do they have for nourishment during two or more days of transportation? Some shippers will send along pieces of fruit as a source of moisture, but few birds eat while being transported. This means that juvenile and adult birds essentially go without food and water for however long it takes to arrive at their destination. Larger birds can survive two days if the temperatures are mild. They will, however, suffer hunger and thirst. Small birds won't survive two days without water. As temperatures and time increase, chances for survival decrease. Keep in mind that birds are transported in mail trucks as well as by air. Trucks can get hot and excess heat can kill.

Insuring the birds or paying an extra amount for express mail can give mailed birds an edge of safety. Express mail can also reduce travel time.

Other Options

In addition to using the post office, there are three other options for obtaining delivery of birds.

1. Short drive: purchase birds locally
2. Long Drive: make the interstate drive and transport them yourself
3. Book a flight by airline for the bird

However, none of these options is foolproof. Life isn't foolproof. Automobile accidents can happen on a short or long drive. Your birds could die in an overheated car when you stop to eat on a long drive. The scent of the air freshner in your car could kill them on a long or short drive. Automobile transportation can take longer and therefore be more stressful than delivery by the post office. Birds can be lost or misrouted by the airlines. Containers can be crushed or undergo rough handling by cargo handlers. They can also be left out in the weather or on the hot tarmac. Be advised that the airline's priority is passenger luggage, not live cargo, so even when animals are sent VIP, they can be bumped until the next flight.

Purchasing birds locally would seem to be the best option, but not every state has a hatchery and the bird or birds one wishes to purchase might not be available locally.

Each of us must weigh the choices available and decide for ourselves whether the benefits outweigh the risks of our choice. I urge everyone to make an honest effort to minimize those risks so birds need not suffer or be lost.

• Pick up your birds at the post office as soon as they arrive rather than waiting to have them delivered
• Find out about your birds' transport route ahead of time
• Arrange for both you and the shipper to deal with major post offices instead of rural post offices in order to reduce transport time
• Know when birds were shipped and when they should arrive
• If they don't arrive when expected, make calls to backtrack the route
• Pay the extra amount for insurance and/or express mail
• Make sure the shipper will provide moist nourishment
• If delivery can't be guaranteed within two days, find a different source

Accountability

Finally, if you do run into problems and your birds are injured or lost, please challenge the system. Find out what caused the problem and ask them to make appropriate changes. Don't think it isn't your business or responsibility to do this because it is. If you use a system, you become a part of it. If you order birds to be sent through mail or by any other method, you have initiated a process and that means you are at least partly accountable.