6 ms·
Mail-order chicks are arriving dead, costing Maine farmers thousands of dollars
- bennettfeely 6y agoI'm curious how they protect the chicks in the mail during shipping when the temperature has been in the low-mid 90s the past few weeks in PA. Even in Maine it hit 90.
- ed25519FUUU 6y agoLike the article says it’s worked perfectly for a very long time. Having it be too warm is probably much safer than a little cold (our chicks would gather directly under the heat lamp and I wondered why it never bothered them). The problem here is probably dehydration from having shipments intentionally delayed.
- poulsbohemian 6y agoI agree - dehydration / starvation is the primary issue here, followed by the risks of simply more moving and shaking.
- colechristensen 6y agodifferent species have different temperatures and tolerances, chickens seem to have a body temperature something like 5-10 F warmer than humans which helps, what feels hot or cold to you doesn’t seem the same for another animal
- poulsbohemian 6y agoChicks are ideally at 90F for the first few weeks of life. When weather is cooler, they put chemical heat bags in the shipping boxes. I’ve never experienced it, but I’m told that during particularly hot times the hatcheries also use cool packs instead. Point being, they are trying their best to equalize the temps and get those birds to their destination as fast as possible. Heat is generally the bigger issue - birds that are a few weeks along have a greater problems when it’s too hot out. If it is cold, they will pack together and keep each other warm - it’s actually quite happy to see, as at least with my birds they seem to put aside their issues and look out for each other when they get cold.
- lurquer 6y agoI had a friend who recently got a mail-order chick from Russia... she was a bit thin and pale. But, she's doing well now. I can't imagine how those lonely Maine farmers must feel. Tragic.
- mikeyouse 6y agoThe long tail of business that's transacted on the assumption that the USPS is a reliable, cost-effective business is absolutely massive. I honestly can't believe it's being dismantled in this manner for purely short-term partisan goals by an ostensibly "pro-business" political party.
- dave5104 6y ago> USPS is a reliable, cost-effective business I'd even rephrase that to say, USPS is a reliable, cost-effective service, because I think it's important enough that it doesn't need to be considered a "business"--and assumed to have a chance at generating profit.
- toomuchtodo 6y agoIt is a foundational utility of a developed country, and our folly is not defending it as such (as you would for water, power, schools, fire services, etc).
- mikeyouse 6y ago100% agree on your correction.
- clumsysmurf 6y agoI shouldn't be a surprise, the Republican party created the EPA under Nixon for good reasons, and now does everything it can to undermine it.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago> I honestly can't believe it's being dismantled I think your news is about a day old. USPS backed off any changes until later: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/18/usps-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy-election https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/18/usps-postmas... https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/18/politics/post-office-dejoy/index.html https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/18/politics/post-office-dejo...
- peterwwillis 6y agoAt some point, probably when it's too late, people will realize that Trump appointing people who intentionally destroy the agencies they oversee was an intentional plan to destabilize the government.
- nexuist 6y agoThis is not surprising nor recent. American politicians have been trying to dismantle the government for decades; almost immediately after the New Deal era. See also: regulatory capture, gerrymandering, campaign financing, etc.
- wtn 6y agoUSPS regulations for day-old poultry: https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm
- oneplane 6y agoWhy is it even allowed to mail animals at all? I would have expected a specialised service for that.
- idbehold 6y agoPeople used to mail children through the postal service: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-chil...
- cipher_system 6y agoLol, I hope the mortality rate were lower than the 2% for birds.
- elihu 6y agoThe post office actually transports quite a few kinds of live animals. It seems like it makes sense, since it's a very useful service for some kinds of farming, and there's not much incentive for some specialized service to deliver live animals to the middle of nowhere for a reasonable cost, whereas the postal service has most of the infrastructure in place already. https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/packaging-and-supplies/special-care-shipments/animals.page https://www.ups.com/us/en/help-center/packaging-and-supplies...
- stock_toaster 6y agoThis has apparently been a service since 1918. It appears in some circumstances (for medical research or making antivenin) you can also ship live scorpions[1]!. [1]: https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep184083 https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm#ep184083
- 6y ago
- oneplane 6y agoWho thought it was a good idea to 'mail' live animals? Seems like a rather harsh thing to do... especially when it's done using a process that doesn't care about what it is mailing. (regardless of who is influencing that process)
- zorpner 6y agoThis is a normal, regulated, and common use of the USPS.
- oneplane 6y agoSeems rather absurd to put a live animal in a box and put it in a process that is designed for moving non-living man-made objects around. The only time I've heard about animals shipping via a postal service was illegal imports of birds (tied up and put in tubes).
- idbehold 6y agohttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-chil...
- kolanos 6y agoAt one time, USPS was used to mail children. [0] [0]: https://www.history.com/news/mailing-children-post-office https://www.history.com/news/mailing-children-post-office
- omg_ponies 6y agoThat's an inaccurate statement. The shipment of live animals via USPS is a specific service documented in detail at https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm These include bees, day–old poultry, adult birds, and small, harmless, cold–blooded animals.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> Who thought it was a good idea to 'mail' live animals? The USPS: https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm And it's been used for this (well, technically, it was the US Post Office, when it started, not the US Postal Service) for more than a century.
- howlin 6y agoFrom the article: Usually they arrive every three weeks like clockwork,” she said Wednesday. “And out of 100 birds you may have one or two that die in shipping. The wrongness of what's happening here is not just that the Post Office is experiencing unusual delays. Even the normal state of affairs shows a grotesque indifference to life.
- marcinzm 6y agoYou do know that for every chicken you eat a male chick was pulverized to death, right? (in the US, some countries prefer suffocation).
- howlin 6y agoYes, I am very well aware of this. Which is why I don't eat chickens, other animals, or consume any other livestock product. But every once in a while I forget the fractal nature of the horrors we inflict on any animal that is unlucky enough to get caught up in our agricultural industry.
- Arnt 6y ago"Caught up" is a good way to put it. Imagine what this does to bird nests: https://cdn.agriland.ie/uploads/2015/03/Harvesting_winter_wheat_2_OGP-e1503043417724-730x375.jpg https://cdn.agriland.ie/uploads/2015/03/Harvesting_winter_wh...
- drenvuk 6y agoThe male chick's death was planned for. These weren't.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y agoThe macerator is preferable. They are pulped faster than a nerve impulse can send a pain signal.
- colechristensen 6y agoReal life has predators and infant mortality too. Should i feel bad about keeping predators as pets and seeing them hunting bunnies in the yard? I don’t. The state of affairs where people find grotesque ordinary life occurrences because they are so separated is troubling.
- esalman 6y agoI am from SE Asia and postal system is non-existent to most people in my native country. Last time I sent anyone a letter was to my grandfather 30 years ago. I came to the US 5 years back, and I still marvel at how crucial USPS is to the growth of tech and economy here. You see, back in my country an entrepreneur would have to tackle the last-mile delivery problem using their own fleet. Only in last 2-3 years ride-sharing service has become commonplace in major metropolis and as a result facebook-based housewife-run boutique shop businesses have boomed. But here in the US, you could always stick an address on a parcel and forget about it.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- poulsbohemian 6y agoI’d been expecting articles like this to pop up soon. USPS has long been known for its efficiency in moving poultry around the country. All our birds arrived by mail as day-old chicks and like the article indicated, it isn’t uncommon to move hundreds at a time with very limited loss. That said - it’s only possible to make this work because the USPS has had a functioning, effective system for decades, where birds are born Monday and typically to their destination somewhere in the country no later than wednesday. The boxes have a chemical warmer and the birds have just enough food in their tummies to make it across the country. When I started hearing about these delays, I knew this would be a problem as their little lives are on a time-sensitive system that works because everyone from the hatchery to the receiving farmer understands the criticality.
- csours 6y agoBirds today, your medication tomorrow. The USPS provides a public good well beyond its cost.
- legerdemain 6y agoOther things of commercial significance that you can mail: bees.[1] https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm https://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_008.htm