Murray McMurray Hatchery?

Madviolin said:

Sultans are supposed to have extra toes along with silkies and favorelles ( i think thats how you spell it XD). Just thought id let you .

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an etra toe not multiple extras!! XD

I have order several times from Mcmurray and have never been disappointed. The chicks all ways arrive when they say and in good shape. Only once did I have problem where I lost 75% of the chicks with in two to three weeks after arrivial and McMurray replaced everyone and added extras. I would highly recommended them.

check out ufc 1st they are awesome. www,ultimatefarmchicken.com they are small so they are hard to find. they are in SC.

I ordered a variety of bantam breeds last Sept. Of the 23, 7 passed away in the span of a week. Being a newbie chicken owner I'll take the blame and say some may have been due to my inexperience. Of the 6 frizzles 1/2 had the double frizzle gene. OMG. It's bad. Poor things. I don't think I'd order frizzles from them again, it's too much of a crap shoot. That being said the regular frizzles were beautiful and the rest in general are wonderful birds. Just an FYI. I ordered straight run and of the 16 survivors 11 were male, 5 female.

I have an order placed for another 23 full sized birds for late March. A variety of rare and feather footed. The variety in my area isn't the greatest even though I'm willing to drive several hours, so I don't have much choice but mail order.

I canceled my order. id rather just go to a swap and get my chicks/chickens.

I ordered 15 day old chicks with one free "rare and exotic" about a year ago. I ordered all female with vaccinations since I know the trouble of roosters and had no need or use for them. Since sexing isn't a perfect science, I expected at least one chick might turn out to be male. The chicks arrived in a timely manner, I was notified of their mailing and movement and picked them up before the post office even opened. Within 24 hours, it was clear that at least one chick was diseased with some kind of eye condition that is apparently rampant in Murray McMurray, but not a reportable condition by law, so it goes unaddressed (this told to me by a Murray McMurray rep). The chick didn't survive. Then turns out that out of the 15 chicks left, that were all supposed to be female, 3 turned out to be male . . . I find this a pretty high error margin for professionals, I expected one, but not 3. When the mating began, the roosters were the demise of some of my hens and had to go. Now, my flock, including those I had prior, is down to 12 hens . .. because of Murray McMurray. I won't say do NOT do business with them, but be warned and be ready, buyer beware situation. I won't do business with them again. Their customer service is fine, but I don't want the heartache and stress.

polliwogchick said:

I ordered 15 day old chicks with one free "rare and exotic" about a year ago. I ordered all female with vaccinations since I know the trouble of roosters and had no need or use for them. Since sexing isn't a perfect science, I expected at least one chick might turn out to be male. The chicks arrived in a timely manner, I was notified of their mailing and movement and picked them up before the post office even opened. Within 24 hours, it was clear that at least one chick was diseased with some kind of eye condition that is apparently rampant in Murray McMurray, but not a reportable condition by law, so it goes unaddressed (this told to me by a Murray McMurray rep). The chick didn't survive. Then turns out that out of the 15 chicks left, that were all supposed to be female, 3 turned out to be male . . . I find this a pretty high error margin for professionals, I expected one, but not 3. When the mating began, the roosters were the demise of some of my hens and had to go. Now, my flock, including those I had prior, is down to 12 hens . .. because of Murray McMurray.  I won't say do NOT do business with them, but be warned and be ready, buyer beware situation. I won't do business with them again. Their customer service is fine, but I don't want the heartache and stress. 

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im so sorry. Thank you for the warning.

We've purchased twice from MMH two years ago, and were pleased with our order both times. Only 3 chicks passed away from both orders totaling 100 chicks. First, we ordered 50 Production Red pullets, and a few months later we realized we really DID need roosters to help watch for predators, so then, it was 40 pullets with 10 cockerels, so we could pick and choose from the males. All were correctly sexed. The stock for us was robust, and healthy, no sick chicks.

Overall, extremely friendly in disposition- even the roosters. Some of our friendliest and most social roosters are PR. They work extremely well in groups when freeranging, and are great with additional later added males of other breeds. We have BC Marans in with them now,
and they all get along well.


The only real complaints I have is that the PR hens have very dry feeling/ crunchy "brittle" feathers. The hens with these feathers break feathers or wear away them away easily, so they can look ratty at times. (No mites or lice.) We up their protein and give BOSS to try to help. The other thing is since they are a hybrid, their egg color is all over the place, no uniformity, and the hens can be small. So, we decided to go with breeder bred BCM, and just have a few PR for test mating purposes.

In the first order, the free exotic chick died within 24 hours. In the second order, the exotic chick was male and ended up being a gorgeous Partridge Cochin. He gets along well with others, wonderful freeranger, very docile, and used to be at the bottom of the pecking order- although he's well over 10 lbs. He is shyer... not an an friendly extrovert, like many of his PR hatchmates. His feathers are pliable, silky and nice- unlike the other MMH birds we have. He does however, get along well with other males, and is good to the hens. Partridge Cochin are not known as being good layers, and males take 2 slow years to mature. He didn't crow for 9 months, so we might actually have chosen this breed if they matured as fast as the BCM.

OK, so here is my story about Murray McMurray. Started January 2015, order 2 started pullets ready to lay. 1 BR and 1 RIR both raised in Wacco Texas. 2015 was OK and winter came fine. By Spring 2016 the BR started laying eggs with no shells. RIR was fine, eggs no big but laid many. By June the BR was laying internally and the RIR started going broody very often. Had to put the BR down and the RIR by late July rehomed...broody at the time, I know they go broody but every other week was not what I was told. I did break her each time and she would start to lay. Next in late August of 2016 I order 2 Red Star started pullets and in late October 2 Black Star started pullets The Red Stars I still have one is doing great and the other is starting to lay eggs with no shell...it is Sept. of 2017. The 2 Black Stars though healthy only laid very small almost white eggs. One hen was the size of a bantam. Rehomed the 2 Black Stars to a woman who wanted them. So, after $300 mostly in shipping. I have ,in my opinion, 1 good hen out of 6. This is just a hobby to me and understand hatcheries are not breeders...this is my McMurray story.