After talking to several hatcheries, the concern about airlines refusing to accept poultry seems to be real. The opinions of a few may cause the continued gradual shutdown of small farms getting fresh birds. I like the idea of being able to get birds from different hatcheries as it improves the gene pool. Is there a group that will fight for the rights of poultry people? Has any thought been put to organizing a web hot line, etc? Do the feed people realize it will also effect them? For instance, if airlines completely shutdown delivering poultry, then Purina's feed sales go down. If hunters can not get quail to train dogs, it effects the sales of dogs which in turn effects feed sales. Is all this just a ripple on the political pond of animal rights or is it a real threat to the economy of the poultry business? We only raise chickens for eggs etc but this does effect all bird people. Since we are just getting started, are we over concerned or is the threat real?

The Postal Service delivers chicks. They will even call you so you can go down to the Post Office and pick them up

Mark and Brenda your right, this seams to be a surfacing problem with the airlines who carry United States Mail. It appears some of the airlines who have postal contracts are starting to refuse to deliver not just Poultry but also Bee's. This should be intresting to see where it ends up. There is a Hatchery website which has a link to a site that explains more about this problem www.cyborganic.net/people/feathersite/Poultry/BRKHatcheries.html I hope the postal system is able to straighten out this problem.

I ordered chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery and the chicks were sent by Post Office. The expected arrival date was a Monday, but the Post Office called me on SUNDAY to let me know the chicks came in. Now that's great service. The post ofice is generally closed on Sundays, but they have a crew that takes in new mail. I was very pleased with the whole shipping process.