How do you guys do it? I shipped my second mount from Illinois to Minesota and called customer to see how it came. Busted up was the answer. The first bird I shipped was a oldsquaw drake standing on one leg--- well you can guess what happened to that so I thought I would get smarter this time-- A pair of Eiders, the hen laying with the drake standing behind her. I made a rock of Urethane with a plywood bottom I put as heavy a guage wire as I could in the legs. When I mounted it I put a bunch of silicone aroung the " drumstick" so it would be solid yut flexable. I poured fantasticast doun the holes for the leg wires and epoxy sculpt under the webbing of the foot
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Hazel Creek taught me a lesson on shipping turkeys and I do it with all my birds. I make a 1x2 wooden crate inside the cardboard box. Then I bolt the birds to the wooden box,set it inside the cardboard box and then fill the entire box full of foam peanuts and seal it. Makes it a little messy for the receiver, but the birds don't get crushed during the trip.
wood crates.I use a simple design. two identical peices of plywood for top and bottom (lenght x width). Then screw 4 2x2s, one in each corner, that are all the same length. Then screw the mount through the bottom peice of plywood, i would also recommend pre-drilling. Then i staple cardboard on the sides. Take the top off and gently wrap the bird with something soft and inexpensive. and fill the box with foam peanuts. Make sure you fill gaps underneath the bird. Shake it and see if the birds moves. fill the box and close it up. tape the corners and ship it. Havn't lost a bird yet using this method.
I'm with George and CB...Knock on wood, but I haven't lost a bird yet with the crate & peanut method! And, I ship out a lot of birds!
....what CB said about covering the bird with something light. If you put peanuts in without covering the bird, they will work their way into the feathers and ruffle them badly.
Did you read the post at all! Or did you just skim it and took out selected words and put it together. Or were you refering to georges post and that he dind't mention anything about covering the bird. Or maybe you weren't wearing your glasses. I said to "wrap the bird with something soft and inexpensive."
Then you stated that if the bird isn't covered, then the feathers will ruffle. If the bird is wrapped then isn't it covered?