15 hours Ago By DAVID ERICKSON [email protected]
A poultry farmer in St. Ignatius says that a recent change implemented by the U.S.
Postal Service has led to hundreds of chicks either dying or getting sick while they are being transferred from a hatchery to her ranch. Gizem Nance of Eagles Acres Family Farm buys chicks from a hatchery in Iowa and pasture-raises them here in Montana for customers who want locally-raised meat. The chicks are sent by mail via the U.
S. Postal Service. "Everyone says 'well, why don't you buy local chicks?'" Nance explained.
"The thing is, I raise meat chickens. It's a certain breed. We don't have a hatchery in Montana where I can get meat chickens.
They have better feed conversions, so they gain weight faster. The optimal weight that people want to eat is 3-4 pounds. I have egg-laying chickens too, but it would take 2-3 times the feed and duration and then you would end up with two-pound chickens with no breast and very tough meat.
" Gizem Nance of Eagles Acres Family Farm feeds chicks in a crate on her farm in St. Ignatius on Tuesday. The chicks are sent by mail via the U.
S. Postal Service, but recent changes implemented has led to hundreds of chicks dying or getting sick while in transit. Buying unsexed local chicks is a great option for backyard chicken owners or hobby farmers, she added, but not for people who are actually running a business that rely on efficiency.
She also sells eggs commercially, and that means raising her own egg-laying chickens isn't financially feasible because half the eggs would be roosters. "I am a farmer," she said. "This is not a hobby farm.
I have to turn a profit. So we just have to get them from hatcheries. There are no hatcheries in Montana that I can source my chicks from.
They have to come from out of state." In the three years she's been buying chicks, she's never had a problem. The chicks can survive 72 hours in the mail, and that was easily accomplished when the chicks were flown via airmail from Iowa to Billings and then shipped on ground transportation from Billings to Missoula and then to St.
Ignatius. But recently, she said, the USPS began flying all airmail cargo service to Great Falls instead of Billings. And because Great Falls doesn't have the same type of processing/distribution center as Billings, that cargo has to be trucked from Great Falls to Billings.
Then, it goes to Missoula and then on to the Mission Valley. The time the chicks were in the mail increased to about five days, and that's true for poultry farmers all over western and central Montana. For the chicks inside the boxes, the extra few days has been deadly.
Nance buys chicks from a hatchery in Iowa and pasture-raises them here in Montana for customers who want locally-raised meat. "People are getting mountains of boxes of dead chicks because of this stupid route change," Nance said. "It's a horrible thing.
It's wreaking havoc on small businesses like ours. A lot of people are in the same boat." There's a poultry farming discussion group on social media where other Montana farmers have complained of the same issue.
Nance is a member of the American Pasture Poultry Producers Association as well. "It's really hurting my business and a lot of other small businesses," she said. "Personally, I think it's unacceptable, just so USPS can save some money.
They know the chicks are not gonna survive this." The solution, so far, is for her to make the nearly 7-hour, 420-mile round-trip drive from St. Ignatius to Great Falls and back every time she gets a delivery of chicks.
But that's a headache that adds expenses to her bottom line. Or, she can rush to pick up the chicks if the Postal Service workers in Missoula call her. "But that's better than getting dead chicks," she said.
Gizem Nance holds eggs recently laid by her chickens at Eagles Acres Family Farm in St. Ignatius on Tuesday. Nance sells eggs commercially, and that means raising her own egg-laying chickens isn't financially feasible because half the eggs would be roosters.
She is under Montana's 1,000-bird exemption for small poultry farmers, so she raises a total of 1,000 chickens and turkeys every year. She said the hatcheries don't have an option for overnight delivery. The hatchery offers insurance to customers for the dead chicks, but if the problem persists the hatcheries would stop sending the chicks to Montana, she said.
Zachary Laux, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service, sent the Missoulian a statement about the issue.
"This change is part of the Postal Service’s broader initiative to enhance the efficiency of its transportation network," Laux wrote. "In specific circumstances, this involves consolidating trips—using a single journey both to deliver mail and to pick up outgoing mail for processing. By implementing this strategy, the Postal Service aims to optimize transportation network usage, reduce the total number of trips, and lower costs and carbon emissions.
" Eagle Acres Family Farm is under Montana's 1,000-bird exemption for small poultry farmers, so she raises a total of 1,000 chickens and turkeys every year. This initiative is one of several components of the Delivering for America plan—a $40 billion, 10-year strategy designed to "achieve financial sustainability and service excellence," Laux added. He said that the Postal Service strongly recommends that baby chicks be mailed via Priority Mail Express, the overnight mailing service.
But, as mentioned previously, Nance said that the hatchery she works with doesn't offer that service. Nonetheless, Laux said the Postal Service always wants to hear directly from customers immediately when they have a delivery concern, and urges them to call the U.S.
Postal Service's Customer Care line at 1-800-ASK-USPS or contact their local Post Office as soon as possible so that the issue can be looked into and addressed promptly..
