FINCHforum

I picked mine up tonight from USPS. The evening postal supervisor asked me what kind of birds they were. I told him Finches. He told me that Finches were illegal to ship (I had no idea) and was surprised that they werent returned back to the sender along the trip. But since they were here no big deal as far as he was concerned. He told me to be careful on any future shipping. Personally I was pleased with the outcome. I got my birds. They were healthy and unharmed

There seems to be no rhyme or reason with USPS. Some POs accept the package knowing it is finches, others say you cannot ship finches and will not accept them. The written regulations say that finches are not acceptable for shipment. Some of the bigger aviaries that ship birds all the time via USPS probably have a good working relationship with their local PO. I think the best thing is to check first. And for some people, airline shipping is not an option. Either they live hundreds of miles from a major airport, or they do have airline service, but many of the smaller regional aircraft cannot carry live animals/birds.

Sally...this is interesting in regards to USPS. John and I sent birds back anf forth to each other. Early on I would call our local post office and ask if the weather permitted shipping birds, they asked what kind and they took my number said they had to call the Tampa office since that is were they would fly out of, they would call me back say yes and off the birds went to John. I did this twice, he shipped to me and I picked them up at a annex office near me. Both places here fully aware finches were in the box.

I wanted to ship John some zebras I had so he could get different bloodlines, I called and they went through the same routine and called me and said no...I decided to call the Tampa office myself it is a definate no in shipping out of Tampa. I was once told it depends on the director of the main office whether they over ride the rule or not, not sure how true that is. It was an overnight 8 to 10 hour trip by USPS to John's and visa versa. We have two airports here, the International and smaller on in Clearwater/St Pete....30 minutes from me, but $95 for shipping is steep unless you have quiet a few birds to ship.

I really wish the PO would get their act together. IMO, they should allow finches to be shipped. As I said before, many people live in small communities far away from any major airport, so airline shipping really isn't an option for them. If they can't ship USPS, then they are restricted to what is available in their local area (which is pretty dismal in some parts of the country).

When all the airlines went to using regional aircraft for so many of their routes, that even makes airline shipping problematic for some who live in a city with regional airline service. When I was checking out shipping from Baltimore to Dallas, two large cities, you would think it wouldn't be a problem. But Continental (all the airlines, actually) has put regional aircraft on so many routes that even though there were lots of flights, only a few could take live animals. Now not all regional aircraft are automatically exempt, it is just a few, but if that is the type aircraft that services your city, you are flat out of luck.

And $95 for airline shipping is out of the question for a few Zebras or Societies! I even try to combine shipments with a friend so that we don't both have to pay the full price. And we all need the option of shipping birds in order to get new bloodlines.

Does UPS not ship live birds? They shipped the beluga whales in to the Georgia Aquarium. You would think some finches would not be a big a deal.

May be if most finch lovers would complain about the issue to the main office in DC then they would look at the request and change their policy, because not that many people using USPS due to internet. This would bring more work for them.

The reasons that the USPS gives for not shipping are for the animals protection RE: food and water issues. When you ship USPS you are actually breaking several regulations, they are not allowed to be shipped with food or water.
I would think if you tried to get them to decide and enforce the regulations they would stop ALL the illegal shipping that they allow now.

yet they allow for chickens and quail to be sent...the reason I was given is that finches and smaller birds are deliate and they don't want to be responsible.

chickens and quails can go without food and water for the duration of the trip which meets their requirements.
Not saying it's fair but they have reasons and I think any animal rights group will go nuts if they catch wind that they are shipping finches.

I am sure they know, look at the mass breeders that do it. They need to go after dog mills, there are more horrific things going on there.

It's been 3 years now that I have been getting birds through USPS. I have not experienced one bad incidence. Birds arrive safe and in great condition.

Reading through this I feel we are all taking turns beating a dead horse so to speak.

I have no experience shipping finches or canaries through USPS but when I had my chickens and stuff I shipped chicks to all the US states but Alaska and Hawaii and eggs to every state but Alaska. Eggs went out in the morning on the first truck. I brought in the day-old chicks and started birds (and on the rare occasion and adult) just in time for the last truck where my lovely local post office kept them inside in the air conditioning until the trucks were loaded. I also shipped the started birds with sliced apple or some other fruit for moisture. The chicks still had their yolk sacs so they were shipped without food or water.

managermania wrote:Does UPS not ship live birds? They shipped the beluga whales in to the Georgia Aquarium. You would think some finches would not be a big a deal.

I don't think the beluga wales were shipped via a normal UPS truck... *LOL*
(Sorry, no offense... But I had a mental picture there that just cracked me up. )

I got my button quail shipped per USPS, and I was nervous like hell. The package was shipped "hold at the post office" and it had a giant note on it "please call addressee" but I had to call them anyway several times that morning when I knew it must have been there and could just prevent them from putting the quail on a hot delivery truck! I would NOT ship any birds with USPS, even if it was legal...

Couldn't you see the Brown truck rolling through South Alabama coming from Mexico with a Beluga Whale tail hanging out of the back! But I think you're probably right. A pretty big fish bowl would have to be involved!

managermania wrote:Couldn't you see the Brown truck rolling through South Alabama coming from Mexico with a Beluga Whale tail hanging out of the back! But I think you're probably right. A pretty big fish bowl would have to be involved!

Did you ever do the behind the scenes tour at the aquarium? That's very interesting, and you can actually see the loading dock where the big whales were unloaded from the trucks. (And that's not a joke now... )