Has anyone shipped adult chickens before?

[Guest]

I have someone interested in one of my daughters roosters and wants us to ship him to them.

Some questions:
Post office or UPS?
Guess on costs?
What do they get shipped in?

Thanks,
Sarah-Rachel\'s mom

[bantamhill]

Sarah:

Get the zip code of the person interested and go to your postmaster and see if you can ever ship live birds to that zip code. If not, find out the nearest zip code you can ship from and determine what the gas/time cost will be. UPS will not take live birds.

The shipping cost will be in the $35-$55 range and you will have to ship priority mail. (make sure to put tomatos in the box for the birds to eat along the way)

You (or the buyer may drop ship or ship to you a shipping box) need to use an approved shipping box like found at the following website, www.hm-e.net. You can buy shipping boxes one at a time or in larger amounts.

I will share that due to airline schedules, shipping live birds in some parts of the country is almost impossible. Central Missouri is one of those areas. I have to dtrive 90 miles one way to the nearest post office that can take adult birds or day-old chicks on a regular basis. My local post office (all between me and the St. Louis airport and 90 miles to the west - I have to get to a post office that ships out of Kansas City) is totally hit and miss and they do not know the schedule in advance. I have to call every morning to check when I am wanting to ship an adult bird. Day-old is impossible since by regulation the chicks have to be less than 24 hours old and one cannot hit a target hatch date unless you have the target to start with. Oddly enough, I can receive shipped birds from anywhere - it doesn\'t make a lick of sense to me and the post office cannot explain it.

Michael

[Guest]

Thank you for the wealth of information.  I know it will be cheaper with the price of gas, this person lives 10 hours away.  

Sarah

[John]

priority mail

Except for day-old chicks all \"lives\" must be shipped Express Mail and there is a $1/pound airline surcharge on top (it may be a bit less in some areas).
You\'ll need an approved shipping container: http://hm-e.net/
Mail early in the week.
This year was one of the most problem free for shipping lives, for me.

[bantamhill]

I stand corrected! They used to go priority mail and then the regulations changed . . . although Express doesn\'t mean next day! It is a scam as far as I a concerned. If I am sending something Express I expect it to get there the next day . . . if it is going to take 2 or 3 days then let\'s be honest and call it what it is . . . priority mail!

I am bitter about my recent dealings with the USPS rules and regulations here in Central Missouri . . . although the local folks are very nice.

Michael

[Guest]

We are getting a new post office here in Fowlerville.  It is set to open September 2.  The hours for the week will be 31 hours open.  It is not going to benefit the customers at all.  The longest they will be open on a given day is 9am-4pm.  Wednesday is 9am-2pm.  Oh yea and they will be closed daily during lunch.

So if someone works out of town, or in town for that matter, from 9am-5pm they cannot use the post office.

I went to the current building on Saturday at 11am and they were closed.  they use to be open to noon.

We are told the hours are set by the postmaster general.  Hopefully it will be temperary.  No one in town is happy.

Sarah- Rachel\'s mom

[John]

Also, \"lives\" aren\'t \"Next Day\" with Express Mail.  They could and ofter are delivered the next day, but there is a special rule (or whatever they call it) that even if the PO computer says they should arrive the next day they only guarentee 2nd day with them.  

[Jean]

If the computer does say next day though and they do not arrive, you can get your money back.

And, I suggest everyone who ships to get a refund on shipping if the birds do not arrive.

I am hoping it will make them more aware that they are constantly messing up and should take more care in ensuring that live animals get to their destinations quickly.

Jean

[bantamhill]

The computer will never say next day for poultry.

Michael

[John]

If the computer does say next day though and they do not arrive, you can get your money back.

I\'m quite sure even if the computer says next day it doesn\'t matter with lives...the PO clerks are supposed to write second day.  As I\'ve said some clerks don\'t deal with accepting lives enough to have all the exceptions memorized.  I can\'t find it in the PO regs, but that\'s the deal here in Birch Run, Michigan.
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/601.htm#wp1064884

[Jean]

Don\'t tell my clerks that.  I\'m going on my third refund.......

Jean

ETA:  I don\'t see that in the regulations anywhere, I would call the 800 number about that. I think you might be getting the short end of the stick on that one to put it politely.

[John]

Don\'t tell my clerks that.

Mums the word.  The 2nd day deal may not be a national deal.  When it comes to the word \"acceptance\" with the PO it can have a broad meaning and the rules then give the clerks and thier superiors some room to make life miserable.
I have collected several copies of \"Policy on accepting LIVES\" and emails related to the subject from the PO clerks I\'ve dealt with for years.  When they tell me of a new policy I always ask for a copy (yes, some PO clerks are very friendly and really try to help while others  ).  Anyway these pertain to lives shipped from Detroit and even though they are not all worded the same they say the the same \"Inform customer of 2-day service standard for Express Mailings\".

[Jean]

John,

I pay all my postage online now as I get a discount.  Everyone who pays with click n ship does, and if it is two days it says two days if one it says one.

I have an address label printed out and an additional part of that sheet that says what the service is, next day by noon or 3:00 or the following day by noon or 3:00.

The clerks have never questioned it and when they scan my birdies in, their computer says the same thing.  They put the date, time and their initials on my receipt.

I have to drive my birdies about 10-12 miles into the Spokane Valley as it takes an extra day from Newman Lake for some reason.

Jean

[John]

click n ship

I know Barbara uses that also.  I\'ll have to check into it sometime.  

[Paul]

We have sent many boxes of both breeding show birds and layers.  We use to use paper towel boxes which we modified to ship trios.  About a year ago, rule changes required special shipping boxes with filters in tack.  The required shipping boxes are expensive and three times as heavy as what we were using.

We are very fortunate to be close to DFW (Dallas/Ft. Worth).  Since Fed Ex is now carrying \"Lives\", we can send them anywhere in the continental U.S.  It was a nightmare for several years checking to see which zip codes were good for delivery for that week.  Yes, the list changed each week.
 
We must have live shipments to our local PO by 3:00 PM to catch the first truck out for the day.  There is a second truck at 5:00 PM.  Many of our birds are delivered by the next day.  Some are two day deliveries.  It is marked on the express mail label while at the PO.  Express mail lives is very expensive, but it is the only source of delivery.  We\'ve checked with other companies-UPS; Fed Ex; DHL; bus lines, etc...to try to deliver some when the PO was choosing only certain zip codes.