I don't know AD. If I opened a box and there was a dead chick, I would blame myself I guess. Plus, I only get 6 so I always thought you had to buy in bulk.Robin, just curious, why are you opposed to ordering from a hatchery? They overnight your day old chicks to your post office. In our case "overnight" is 2 days. We've seldom had any losses in transit. Also, they still mail out catalogs on request. There's a lot of good information in their catalogs too.