We just phoned our favourite hatchery about getting our mail order chickens. They informed us that after Feb. 26 commercial airlines were no longer accepting live birds and hence after Feb 26 they could only service local customers and those within 1 days drive. Has anyone else heard this. What will it mean for Hatcheries like Murray McMurray which specialize in mail order birds.

I guess as homesteaders you can see pros and cons if this is true. It's good to do business locally but the mail order hatcherie offer lots of rare birds which have a small market. At least where I live it is easy to get Cornish Cross' and Leghorns but the old standard breeds aren't nearly as common.

Anyone else who mail orders chicens should check with their hatchery to see if they will be available after Feb 26.

Kim

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), February 16, 2000

Answers

Wow ! That going to be hard on many of us .I'm going to call some hatcherys now , I'll let you know what they say.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), February 16, 2000.

Good news .I called a hatchery and some airlines will no longer ship the birds .But the good news is that as far as they know any airline that takes postal mail will still ship birds . Boy do I feel better.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), February 16, 2000.

I ordered pullets from Murray McMurray to be shipped on March 20th and the process was uneventful.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), February 17, 2000.

We ordered pullets from Murray McMurray again this year, and unfortunatly, almost half were dead when we picked them up. The post office neglected to call us and let us know they were in! Last year they couldn't wait to get rid of them, and called on Sunday afternoon to let us know they were there. This year, expecting them to arrive on Sunday, I waited and waited, and on Monday afternoon, I finally called and asked if by chance they were in yet? Sure, they're here, was the answer. They had sat there an extra day, and sadly, paid the price. I called M.McM, and they are sending another order on the next hatch. Nothing was said about the shipping problems with some airlines, so I suppose it is just SOME of the airlines. Jan

-- Jan Bullock (Janice12@aol.com), February 17, 2000.

It makes me wonder what type of people work in your post office .How could anyone spend the day listening to those babys and know they have no food or water.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), February 18, 2000.

I always call the local post office myself and ck. on whether my chicks have come in. I alert them weeks prior that they will be arriving by such & such a date. Then I keep on it DAILY. I think it's my (our) responsibility to keep on top of it. It's too bad that P.O. didn't "think" to call the customer; but in today's world, it's wise to make that all-important call YOURSELF. :) Smiles.....

-- Teresa Antrim (bygones@netINS.net), March 21, 2001.

I happen to have read the mother earth news january issue. thanks to petta they are passing laws to stop airlines from shipping chickens. I have never recieved a dead chicken and my post office is really good at calling with the chicken orders. I feel that petta is running out of animal crisis to complain about, so they want to bother with things that weren't as bad as they make them out to be. I will never support petta and any air lines that have stoped shipping chickens I will no longer be requeting thier service when i need a vacation. This my way of getting back at them. In any chicken order one or two chickens may die because they are week or they are stood on. this can happen even if you have baby chicks on your farm. what's going to happen next. Petta going to get a list of farms and homesteads in the u.s. and check to see if they animals are being cared for by their standards. I hope some one from petta reads this because i think all of you at petta are crazy in fact if this was person to person i'd go into more detail of what i really think of your organization. please petta don't send me no more crap i am sick to death of looking at rabbits half dead in pictures you send to me trying to get my money. i'll send my money to are real animal rights group.

-- brandi peterman (spuds @riverview.net), February 23, 2002.

From what I have been able to find on this subject is that an interm bill was passed in congress which runs out in june of this year to ensure that at least the sping birds would go out. I continue to email my congressional delegation requesting that they follow up on this and as I am from missouri the loss of the mail order business would hurt. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef@getgoin.net), February 24, 2002.

Will try again as I received a notice that the page had expired when I hit submit. From what I know congress had passed a bill requireing the shipping of poultry by mail through june when they will reconsider this. gail

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef@getgoin.net), February 24, 2002.

I hope to order chicks soon too from McMurray.

PETTA: People for the Eating of TasTy Animals.

-- LBD, in Maryland (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.