Baby chicks can still fly — in crates on airplanes. Northwest Airlines had planned to quit shipping day-old poultry on cross-country flights, but a new federal law extends the service, but not indefinitely. Mike Lubbers is co-owner of the McMurray Hatchery in Webster City. He says it gets them through hatching season and allows for further negotiations.The new law calls on the Postal Service to come up with a “reasonable surcharge” for shipping baby chicks by airplane. Northwest was the only remaining airline to agree to ship live chicks, but in August announced it would end the service September 1st.The federal law only forces the airlines to continue shipping poultry ’til June 30th. Lubbers says his firm, his clients and other hatcheries are pressing for a long-term resolution that’ll keep the baby chickens and ducks flying to customers around the globe
