What is my best minimum order?
We don't have required minimums per breed, but the total number of birds you order must meet the minimum order for your area.
It is extremely important that you calculate your minimum order correctly. As few as three large fowl chicks (or five chicks in orders containing bantams) can be shipped to major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Portland OR, etc. due to the speed with which they can be delivered. A good rule of thumb to use when trying to determine if your city is considered a major for the purposes of shipping is whether or not it has an international (as opposed to a regional) airport.
If you live within 30 minutes of a major city, the minimum is five large fowl chicks (or seven chicks when your order contains bantams).
For any town or rural area that is more than 30 minutes from a major city (or any islands), our minimum is eight large fowl (or 10 chicks if bantams are ordered).
We do not ship chicks to a particular airport or post office: they are shipped with your address on the package, so they will be processed by the post office that distributes mail to your address. The reason we mention airports in determining your minimum number is not because we use specific airports, but because cities with international airports are likely to be postal hubs, meaning it will affect how quickly the postal service can deliver your precious package to you.
You should contact your post office to find out how they handle chick deliveries; every local branch can be different. Most require you to pick the chicks up at the post office, but rarely carriers will bring them to your door. It's important you find our what the local policy is so you can be prepared.
Understand that our minimum order requirements aren't based on a matter of the few additional minutes of driving that it takes to get from the nearest metro postal hub to your home--it is much more than that. Our minimums have been set in order to protect the chicks--we want to send them safely. When you live outside the area serviced directly by the postal hub, your babies will have to be processed by the hub's post office first, before being routed to your local Post Office. In some cases, there will be several intermediate stops at other smaller postal distribution centers outside the nearest hub before they reach their destination at your home town post office. This can add many hours or even a day or more to their travel time, just because of the way the post office services your area. For that reason, when you are having babies shipped to an area that is not serviced directly by a large postal hub, it is safer to have more babies traveling together, because it eases their journey so much. That is why we have established these minimum orders: the minimums are for the safety of your babies.
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