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“In fact, the U.S. Postal Service has strict guidelines on mail-order animals — from songbirds to snakes. Kittens, for example, are ‘not mailable’ under USPS Publication 52, Section 525. Neither are ‘poisonous insects and all spiders, except scorpions under limited circumstances.’ Day-old chickens, on the other hand, can be mailed. If everything goes right, anyway. It didn’t for a farmer in Mercer, Maine, who told the Morning Sentinel in 2014 that his order of 25 baby chicks arrived late and as dead as King’s canaries. The owner of the hatchery that mailed the chicks told the outlet that 1 or 2 percent of its shipments die in transit — up to 26,000 dead chickens a year.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/12/29/a-woman-ordered-canaries-to-brighten-her-home-usps-delivered-a-box-of-bird-carnage/?utm_term=.a02ab10f9e08

A woman ordered canaries to brighten her home. The USPS delivered a box of ‘bird carnage.’Days later, the Alabama woman received a special delivery from the Postal Service: Seven replacement canaries. An eighth will arrive after breeding season.