To ship live day-old chicks, you must enter into a Commercial Agreement with us (regardless of the volume shipped) before the mailing.

Acceptable service

• Expedited Parcel™ (COD service option isn’t available)

You can only mail live day-old chicks between March 1 and October 31 each year. It’s highly recommended that you deposit your shipment at one of our facilities on either Monday or Tuesday.

Delivery to your destination is required to be achievable in 48 hours (excluding weekends and statutory holidays) from the time of mailing.

The shipment must be within local or regional boundaries.

Generally, this means:

• Local - where the destination city or town is the same as the originating city or town
• Regional - where the destination is to an adjacent province and the items can be safely delivered within 48 hours

Please note: You can only mail these items domestically.  You mail these items at your own risk.  We don’t cover loss or damages for this type of mail.

Live day-old chicks must be:

• Free from disease.
• Properly prepared for mailing (the boxes used by a hatchery for the marketing of chicks must be clean and strong).
• Registered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Regulations. You must provide a copy of the “Licence to Operate a Hatchery” issued to you by the CFIA for our records for us to grant you a contract to ship live day-old chicks.

Review the Health of Animals Regulations -Part VIII.1 (Hatcheries and Supply Flocks) and Part XII (Transport of Animals). You must maintain a record of each shipment as per HAR 154.

Live day-old chicks must not:

• Need food, water, or attention during handling in the mail. To comply with Part XII of the Health of Animals Regulations, newly hatched poultry must reach their final destination within 72 hours after the time of hatching so they can be provided with feed, water, and rest.
• Be shipped to remote locations in Canada. For a list of remote locations, see our air stage offices list.

The manual manifest must bear the designated article number 8731.

We strongly recommend that you place a noticeable label on each package stating:

“LIVE DAY-OLD CHICKS. THIS SIDE UP. HANDLE WITH SPECIAL CARE. DO NOT WATER OR FEED IN TRANSIT. DO NOT PLACE IN MAIL BAG OR COVER WITH OTHER MAIL MATTER. DO NOT PLACE NEAR HOT PIPES, STOVES OR RADIATORS. DO NOT EXPOSE TO COLD WINDS OR HOT SUN. PLEASE PROTECT FROM EXTREMES OF HEAT OR COLD. PLEASE DISPATCH AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE AND DELIVER TO THE ADDRESSEE PROMPTLY ON ARRIVAL AT OFFICE OF DESTINATION.”

We’ve made an exception to accommodate the shipment of day-old chicks. You may strap no more than 4 boxes together, and the dimensions must not exceed our specifications.

Each box must:

• Offer adequate ventilation for the chicks
• Have new chick box pads
• Have its own address label