The sound of peeping, fuzzy, freshly-hatched chicks drifts through Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, Missouri.
It’s a busy time for third-generation owner Jeff Smith. For hatchery season, which occurs from February to October, 300,000 eggs are delivered every seven days to the hatchery. For hatcheries, getting newborn chicks to their owner is a race against time. He has about a hundred employees working to get 200 varieties of chicks delivered safely to customers.
“We work 24/7 here, everybody is tapped out on the time and energy that they can put into it,” Smith says.
But extreme weather has made the task more challenging.
How hatcheries work
Logistics is the name of the game at Cackle Hatchery. Staff take orders months in advance. They usually have about 1 million eggs in the incubators or hatchers at all times, Smith says.
The incubators are like giant metal hens — they are set at just the right temperature and humidity, rotating the eggs so the membranes don’t stick to the shell.
“If you ever see a mama hen brooding, sitting on eggs, and she’s got her head under her, kind of rolling her eggs around. That’s what she’s doing. She’s always turning those eggs,” Smith says.
Chickens take about three weeks to hatch. Once they do hatch, employees spring into action. They determine which are hens or roosters, vaccinate them and put them in boxes ready for shipment.
Chicks in the mail
The chicks are shipped through the United States Postal Service. Smith says his grandfather also shipped eggs through the post office and by railroad when the business started in 1936.
Smith says the post office does a pretty good job for a reasonable price. Live animals are placed into a priority shipping category that typically delivers them within three days.
The anatomy of the baby birds helps them survive shipping. Dana Zook, a livestock extension specialist for Oklahoma Cooperative Extension, says when chicks are about to hatch, they absorb the yolk inside of their egg. This gives them the ability to have energy for 48 to 72 hours after they are hatched. They need to be warm, too, Zook says.
“They’re not able to maintain their body temperature very well,” Zook says. “So, you know, that’s the reason they like to ship quite a few chicks at a time. They kind of hold their body temperature together.”
Smith says they also have a heightened immune system that helps them weather extreme temperatures. After that, things can get dicey, which is why the hatchery relies on the speedy delivery from the USPS.
Danger in the freeze
Because of subzero temperatures in February, the USPS put an embargo on live shipments. That’s caused all sorts of headaches for Smith’s business. He’s had to find home for thousands of chicks after more than 4,000 orders were delayed.
“It’s just really hard to manage because we’re already, you know, taxed at our limit,” Smith says. “We just don’t have automated systems in place that can manage shuffling all these orders around.”
They do the best they can to help the chicks get to their owners safely. Hatchery employees put bedding in the boxes for better insulation and absorbs moisture. But Smith says it’s hard to know what each shipping process will look like.
