Brown Egg layers laying green/olive eggs?

[TexasBlues]

I feel like I read so many complaints from hatchery customers. Wrong breed, deformed chicks, dead chicks, wrong sex, unidentified chicks. I don’t think I would order from a hatchery unless they couldn’t be found anywhere else.

 

[Sefirothe]

cool stuff. And, Cackle is new to me. I've had Hoover, Murray, and Metzer bookmarked so far. I went with Hoover because they had lower minimum orders than the others at 15.

Meyer's has miniums of 3 at certain times of year. With a premium on shipping of course.

 

[MMelton67]

Meyer's has miniums of 3 at certain times of year. With a premium on shipping of course.

I've seen that. I think it's a $45 surcharge for the small batch. That puts the price per chick really high. I'm aiming to have 50 chickens for production by the time I'm done with the buildout in 2024/2025. I think they 3-6 with a premium surcharge is aimed at the backyard chicken keeper.

 

[MMelton67]

I feel like I read so many complaints from hatchery customers. Wrong breed, deformed chicks, dead chicks, wrong sex, unidentified chicks. I don’t think I would order from a hatchery unless they couldn’t be found anywhere else.

I don't think I've have really been complaining. As a first time chicken buyer, I've just been trying to figure out how it works. As someone with over a decade in retail and another 20+ years in service trades; delivering on what you say you are selling is important to me. I just didn't understand how variable the industry seems to be. Hoover's has satisfied my inquiries and stated that any mistakes in sexing or breed will be compensated with proof. The customer care person was quite decent to talk to.

 

[ShrekDawg]

cool stuff. And, Cackle is new to me. I've had Hoover, Murray, and Metzer bookmarked so far. I went with Hoover because they had lower minimum orders than the others at 15.

Meyers has a minimum order of 3 I think or it might be 8 during winter.

 

[Rose_adamaj]

I don't think I've have really been complaining. As a first time chicken buyer, I've just been trying to figure out how it works. As someone with over a decade in retail and another 20+ years in service trades; delivering on what you say you are selling is important to me. I just didn't understand how variable the industry seems to be. Hoover's has satisfied my inquiries and stated that any mistakes in sexing or breed will be compensated with proof. The customer care person was quite decent to talk to.

@MMelton67 I am one person. My experience with Hoover’s has not been good.
I ordered 20 chicks. 10 Black Star 10 ISA Brown
I got neither of the breeds I ordered.
@NatJ has tried to help me identify one of the breeds.
Murray McMurray had a longer wait time to get the same breeds. I feel like I now know why.
I waited until Murray McMurray could send me RIR chicks, I’m so glad I did. They also vaccinate for Marek’s for a fee.
As I said, I am one person, I don’t know what other people experiences have been.

 

[TexasBlues]

I don't think I've have really been complaining. As a first time chicken buyer, I've just been trying to figure out how it works. As someone with over a decade in retail and another 20+ years in service trades; delivering on what you say you are selling is important to me. I just didn't understand how variable the industry seems to be. Hoover's has satisfied my inquiries and stated that any mistakes in sexing or breed will be compensated with proof. The customer care person was quite decent to talk to.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to imply you were complaining. I just see a lot of complications with hatchery orders on this website.

 

[NatJ]

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to imply you were complaining. I just see a lot of complications with hatchery orders on this website.

People tend to post when they have a question or a problem. It is less common for people to post a thread that says "I ordered chicks from a hatchery and nothing went wrong!" (Although there are some threads that pretty much say, "look at my cute chicks!")

If you look at threads about brooder setup, and sexing chicks, there are usually quite a few people who ordered from hatcheries and did get the correct chicks.

Cackle is new to me. I've had Hoover, Murray, and Metzer bookmarked so far. I went with Hoover because they had lower minimum orders than the others at 15.

You might look at Ideal Poultry as well. Their minimum order is in dollars rather than a set number of chicks. If you sign up for their sales emails, they sometimes run nice specials on some of the good layer breeds (typically very early spring and also late summer on into the fall: the times when not as many people are ordering chicks.)

There is a good practical reason for the minimum order sizes and small-order surcharges. Putting 15 or 25 chicks in a correctly-sized box will let the chicks' own body heat keep them warm in shipping. For orders smaller than that, the hatchery needs to pack them differently, and often needs to include heat packs as well. That takes quite a bit more time and supplies, which is why they have the surcharge.

 

[MMelton67]

@NatJ I understand the issues with shipping. My comment was that for my purposes, I want to get 16 or so chickens started in early spring of 2024, and maybe another 16 in late spring if finances allow for the buildout of a 3rd coop system this year. If not, then spring 2025. Then, the 1st experimental batch I'm discussing here gets culled as they age out and replaced with pure production breeds like the Australorps I've ordered in this year. It seems like a very large portion of this platforms members are more hobby/pet oriented. So, I'm not going to spend 15 or 16 dollars per chick for my end goals.

 

[MMelton67]

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to imply you were complaining. I just see a lot of complications with hatchery orders on this website.

all good.