2014 Hatchery Chick Orders

[ayschmidt]

I can't decide if I want to order by mail or wait until my local feed store gets in their chicks. I want to get a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot more, but my husband is not thrilled about that.

I've also been talking a lot about adding goats to our "mini-farm" (lol), so I think he's just fighting all animal additions at this point.

My first experience with shipped chicks has not been a good one to say the least. I have purchased dozens from the feed store over the years and only lost one. Just depends everyone else I have talked has not had the experience I have just gone through. I only ordered chicks because we wanted a few of certain breeds for my son's 4-H project.

 

[Shido Burrito]

Who did you order them from, ayschmidt?

 

[SlipsWife]

I did and they still did not make it. I had a couple with Pasty Butt and they seem to be doing ok today but I lost 3 more over night and I got up every two hours to tend to them. They are just not doing well at all. They looked great last evening and about 2 this a.m. those 3 had gone downhill quick. IDK what the deal is.

Which hatchery did you use? We had an order from Cackle last week that we went through what sound like almost the exact same thing. We had so many chicks we thought they were all doing amazing. We kept losing chicks, for a week. When I sat and really watched them I noticed that the healthy ones were making the group appear spunkier than they were. We dealt with pasty butts, for a week and one still has issues at 10 days. I've NEVER dealt with a pasty but past day 2. The ones that I noticed were weak we ended up losing. Things finally calmed down but we lost 9 out of 47 chicks. Different breeds. Could have been the weather, handling during transit...I even started stressing the feed we used since it wasn't our 'normal' feed but the 1 week old chicks ate it too and were fine.

I wish I had a fix all for you but I don't. We were lucky enough the weather was amazing and we put our surviving chicks out in a pen to play during the day, I think the fun and sun did an amazing job. It was the only thing that seemed to help..I know...sounds crazy...its more than likely we were just at the point of no more losses thought I have 2 with issues still.

We've had other Cackle orders that have done great.

 

[ayschmidt]

We ordered from Meyer hatchery.

 

[ayschmidt]

Which hatchery did you use? We had an order from Cackle last week that we went through what sound like almost the exact same thing. We had so many chicks we thought they were all doing amazing. We kept losing chicks, for a week. When I sat and really watched them I noticed that the healthy ones were making the group appear spunkier than they were. We dealt with pasty butts, for a week and one still has issues at 10 days. I've NEVER dealt with a pasty but past day 2. The ones that I noticed were weak we ended up losing. Things finally calmed down but we lost 9 out of 47 chicks. Different breeds. Could have been the weather, handling during transit...I even started stressing the feed we used since it wasn't our 'normal' feed but the 1 week old chicks ate it too and were fine.

I wish I had a fix all for you but I don't. We were lucky enough the weather was amazing and we put our surviving chicks out in a pen to play during the day, I think the fun and sun did an amazing job. It was the only thing that seemed to help..I know...sounds crazy...its more than likely we were just at the point of no more losses thought I have 2 with issues still.

We've had other Cackle orders that have done great.

Yes I thought after I had lost the bunch yesterday we had everything under control and then this morning 2 more dead and one this afternoon our last Silver Spangled Hamburg. So sad. My son was so upset about losing his prized future fair project that we had to go to the local feed store and buy ducks.

I was not to excited about it but he has been wanting ducks for soooo long I finally just gave in and it has definately taken his mind of losing the others. I am just perplexed to what has gone wrong.

 

[SlipsWife]

Yes I thought after I had lost the bunch yesterday we had everything under control and then this morning 2 more dead and one this afternoon our last Silver Spangled Hamburg. So sad. My son was so upset about losing his prized future fair project that we had to go to the local feed store and buy ducks.

I was not to excited about it but he has been wanting ducks for soooo long I finally just gave in and it has definately taken his mind of losing the others. I am just perplexed to what has gone wrong.

Ugh...ducks...we bought our first ones this year and then got 2 in our Cackle Surprise. I will NOT do ducks again. We had to separate them because they were making such a mess with the water we were cleaning the chicks bedding constantly. I found this idea for a waterer for the ducks and it has been a lifesaver. (the ducks are super cute though!)


I've had a few straight from the hatchery orders. My only suggestion would be to give it one more shot for a personal order. You could stick with Meyer (I've never used them) or try a different hatchery but don't not order again just because of this experience. I've had 2 out of 3 good experiences with Cackle, 1 out of 1 with Privett and 2 out of 2 with Ideal. I did have losses from my first Ideal order BUT it was my fault for ordering a small amount of chicks, they did add packing peanuts, and we had an extreme cold front come in and the bantams just didn't make it. My bad experience with Cackle is more than likely not their fault at all...but it was a looooooong week...

 

[Searsmom]

Ugh...ducks...we bought our first ones this year and then got 2 in our Cackle Surprise. I will NOT do ducks again. We had to separate them because they were making such a mess with the water we were cleaning the chicks bedding constantly. I found this idea for a waterer for the ducks and it has been a lifesaver. (the ducks are super cute though!)


I've had a few straight from the hatchery orders. My only suggestion would be to give it one more shot for a personal order. You could stick with Meyer (I've never used them) or try a different hatchery but don't not order again just because of this experience. I've had 2 out of 3 good experiences with Cackle, 1 out of 1 with Privett and 2 out of 2 with Ideal. I did have losses from my first Ideal order BUT it was my fault for ordering a small amount of chicks, they did add packing peanuts, and we had an extreme cold front come in and the bantams just didn't make it. My bad experience with Cackle is more than likely not their fault at all...but it was a looooooong week...

Ducks....I had them in with my chicks last year. Threatened the DH that if we were having them again this year, it would have to be later in spring when the weather is warm so they can go straight outside. So here we are. I have ducks coming in two weeks. Inside. They get their own tub this time. At least he doesn't fuss about my chicks.

 

[ayschmidt]

LOL I have them in with the 1 week old chicks ( I have 3 different brooders going at the moment

) They are getting along alright but you are correct they are making a mess of things quickly. I may have to figure out something else for the ducks tomorrow. My son told me today that "we may have a chicken problem." My only problem is I am running out of places to put the little suckers.

 

[hickchick1980]

My first experience with shipped chicks has not been a good one to say the least. I have purchased dozens from the feed store over the years and only lost one. Just depends everyone else I have talked has not had the experience I have just gone through. I only ordered chicks because we wanted a few of certain breeds for my son's 4-H project.

I'll probably end up buying from our local TS. I called them today to ask about their breed selection, and she rattled off so many different types I couldn't write them down fast enough. I figure, with that kind of variety, I can make myself and all three kids happy, and not have to worry about the stress of shipping. I read about your bad experience with your order, and I'm sorry for all the trouble you're having. Hopefully, you'll have a better run of it with future orders.

 

[ayschmidt]

I'll probably end up buying from our local TS. I called them today to ask about their breed selection, and she rattled off so many different types I couldn't write them down fast enough. I figure, with that kind of variety, I can make myself and all three kids happy, and not have to worry about the stress of shipping. I read about your bad experience with your order, and I'm sorry for all the trouble you're having. Hopefully, you'll have a better run of it with future orders.

Thank you. Like I said many of the others I have talked to have not had the problems I did. Meyers was very good to work with I called this morning and they credited me all the chicks that I lost no questions asked. We would have tried to have more shipped but the breed that we wanted was not available again until August and that was too late for our county fair. Like I said Meyers offered great customer service but we were just sad to see the babies go. Good Luck and a trip to TSC is always fun because then you can pick the ones that you want and all the supplies you will need. You may want to do some research on breeds that you do have wrote down. Some tend to go broody more often and you don't want hens that sit on un-fertile eggs because they won't be producing for you then. Welcome to the crazy world of chickens.