Bird Shippers of America and Salmonella

Shipping poultry across the US is a very big industry. All across the nation, people are ordering birds and picking them up at their local post office throughout the year. Thanks to the internet, the industry is growing daily and information is being constantly shared. Because of this, everyone with access to a computer or a phone is able to bring poultry on to their property as pets and farm animals, yet many are unaware of what raising poultry entails.

Other than the obvious care and management required to keep poultry, many, especially those looking to keep birds as pets, are unaware of the health risks associated with the task. That is where Bird Shippers ofAmerica (BSOA) comes in. BSOA is an online organization dedicated to the education and safe practice of raising fowl. It endeavors to be a vital source of information for all of your bird raising needs and “ - to improve the Backyard Poultry Industry”. This includes information of different breeds of birds, various tips and tricks in raising them, and making people aware of the dangers of Salmonella and how to protect you and your loved ones.

Salmonella causes 1.2 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths every year within the US according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Most Salmonella infections come from food, but there are some strains of Salmonella that do not harm poultry but are carried by them and can infect people. It is because of these strains of Salmonella that those handling poultry must be careful.

To help educate our customers, we include a pamphlet from the CDC attached to the back of each invoice about the dos and don’ts when handling fowl.

Do:

• Wash hands after handling live poultry
• Adults should supervise hand washing for young children
• Use sanitizer if soap is not available until you are able to wash your hands

Don’t:

• Do not let those with weak immune systems, the elderly, or children under 5 handle live poultry
• Do not keep live poultry in the house, bathroom, or any area where food or drink is prepared, served, or stored
• No snuggling
• No kissing

We invite you to read about Salmonella from the BSOA site and to continue to use its resources for any current and future poultry projects.

If you are involved with the mail-order poultry shipping industry, we also you encourage you to join the organization. Membership benefits includes the sharing of information within the poultry industry, access to updated information on research for the caring and shipping of day-old poultry, an avenue of information and response to any legislative changes that would adversely affect the industry, and a discount on postage for shipping your poultry.

Below is an infographic provided by the BSOA regarding precautions against Salmonella.

How Do Our Ducklings and Goslings Actually Get To You?

Originally posted by John Metzer on Fri, Dec 03, 2010 @ 12:06 PM 

The logistics involved in getting our ducklings and goslings to you are fascinating.  But first I want to give you a little history.

Until about twelve years ago the United States Postal Service (USPS) had its own planes and flew much of the mail throughout the United States.  This was their Eagle Service system.  But then the USPS decided they could do it cheaper by tendering all of the mail to commercial airlines (Delta, United, Northwest, Continental, etc.), so they got rid of all their planes.  This worked fine for most mail but not for day-old birds.  There are two problems with live, day-old birds: 1) the carriers are paid by weight and a box full of letters weighs more than a box full of chicks or ducklings and 2) they have to make sure the temperature and ventilation in the hold is sufficient for live birds.  Though it was in their contract to do so, some airlines stopped carrying live birds because of these problems and shipping became a problem nationwide.

At this point the Bird Shippers of America was formed by mail order hatcheries and associated companies and customers.  A lobbyist was hired and we made some headway.  But the situation continued to deteriorate.  It was so bad in the spring of 2005 that it changed from week to week on where we could mail our birds.  We could take orders but we never knew if we could mail there on hatch day.  Luckily in the fall of 2006 FedEx signed a contract with the USPS to haul day-old poultry on their planes.  FedEx took this very seriously and I was soon visited by three national FedEx managers to better understand the hatchery business and ensure the system they set up would work.  Since that time, shipping has been very consistent and relatively trouble free.

But back to my story.  Where do the ducklings and goslings go when they leave our hatchery?  We mail them in the local town of Chualar, population 600, Monday afternoons.  My father started mailing ducklings there on the way to work 40 years ago and we have continued ever since.  USPS trucks pick up the shipments there and take them to Salinas, a nearby distribution center and then on to San Jose.  Some are flown from San Jose but most go to San Francisco or Oakland airports.  They are transferred to FedEx late Monday evening. 

FedEx has a Day Turn and a Night Turn.  Day Turn are those birds going by Priority mail.  They leave early in the morning and are sent to one of two FedEx sorting centers for live poultry: Oakland by truck or Memphis by plane.  At this hub they are sorted and transferred to the plane going to your nearest, major airport and usually arrive by late afternoon Tuesday.
Night Turn are for Express Mail packages.  They travel at night and arrive at the destination airport the next morning.  The only way we can ensure Express Mail packages travel on Monday's Night Turn is by delivering them to the San Francisco airport Monday afternoon.  But even by our doing this, there is no guarantee they will arrive the next day to your Post Office.

Once they arrive at the destination airport, FedEx transfers the birds back to the USPS.  Sometimes the USPS distributes from the airport post office and other times they are transferred to a regional distribution center.  That evening and early the next morning the USPS has trucks taking the mail to all the individual post offices in the area.  Most arrive at your local post office between 4:00am and 8:00 Wednesday morning.  Some larger post offices have a second delivery later in the day.

 You can always drop by your local post office to learn their procedure but 99% of the time they will phone you early that morning to ask you to come get your birds.  It is better for you to go pick them up so your birds get water and food as soon as possible – and don't travel with your mailperson all day before they deliver your mail.  Make sure you give the hatchery the most appropriate phone number for you to be contacted in the morning.
FedEx carries most of our birds but some of the other major airlines, including Continental, Northwest (now Delta) and American, also carry day-old poultry for the USPS.  It is an excellent system that works very well the vast majority of the time and is envied by hatcheries and their customers in Canada and most of the European countries.

Testimony to US Postal Commission on Mailing Day Old Poultry

Originally posted by John Metzer on Sat, May 29, 2010 @ 09:24 AM

This week I spoke in front of the US Postal Regulatory Commission.  As you may have heard, they are conducting hearings throughout the United States to discuss the consequences of a Saturday closure.  One of their stops was in Sacramento, California.

I made several points with them:

1) The mail order hatchery industry is completely dependent on the US Postal Service to deliver our birds throughout the nation.  No one else will deliver day old poultry.

2) I felt their service is excellent as very few orders do not arrive on time and death losses are extremely minimal.

3) Much of the credit goes to their contract with the FedEx, which carries the majority of the birds for the USPS from airport to airport throughout the nation.

4) The hatchery industry can handle nondelivery on Saturday but it is paramount that they not close midweek and keep Saturday open as it takes three continuous days to ship day old poultry successfully: the ship day, the travel day and the delivery day.

5) The mail order hatchery industry is growing – probably one of the few industries that is growing in postage purchases.

My assumption was that they were only considering a Saturday delivery but Commissioner Acton said they had considered closing Wednesday.  However, their polls indicated that the vast majority of customers preferred a Saturday closure and that is the only day they are now seriously considering.

In my research for the presentation I did learn that the US Post Office shipped 1.8 million pounds of day old poultry from May 13, 2009 through May 12, 2010.  If you add in the adult birds that are mailed, my guess is the total postage paid by the mail order hatcheries is easily over $10,000,000 a year.

For more details on how we mail your birds through the USPS, please visit our website at http://www.metzerfarms.com/ShippingOptions

For more information on the consequences of Saturday closures for you, go to

http://www.usps.com/communications/five-daydelivery/