Hello my name is Liz and I live in Washington state. I live on a farm and have been raising chickens & ducks for six years. 

I placed an order with a Metzer Farms hatchery for ducklings and goslings to be shipped to me in April 2021.  Hatcheries are businesses that offer many different breeds of birds. They typically ship through the mail the day that the bird hatches. 

The hatchery I used, Metzer Farms in CA, shipped priority mail (not express or overnight). That combined with the delays in the postal system meant that the box took four days to get to me. I received a box full of dead baby animals.

So many birds are arriving dead,  or weak and dying shortly afterwards.  Please look at Metzer Farms Facebook or Google reviews to get a sense of what is happening.  These reviews of dead animals are numerous, this is animal cruelty.  

It’s tragic that these babies are dying by the dozens and yet the hatcheries are not making any changes in their shipping policies or how they’re handled. They should be shipped express or overnight (not regular priority mail), no exceptions, no expense is too great for these lives.  

Additional steps can be taken to ensure healthy animals by: 

1. Adding more heat packs to the packages
2. Providing more grow-gel (food & water).  My pack of 6 birds only had one cup that was empty.
3. Consider shipping older birds that are stronger and have had a chance to dry off before shipping.

These babies spent the entirety of their short lives in a box.  They froze and starved to death.  These hatcheries need to take action to prevent this from happening by changing their shipping policies.  

Countless dead chicks, ducklings, and goslings are not acceptable. These babies never had the chance to see sunlight or feel grass under their feet, we need to demand a change to save these lives. Please take a moment to sign this petition to let them know they need to do better for the lives of these little ones. We need to be their voice and demand change.