Cackle Hatchery

[SueT]

I also think it’s shipping stress. We live close enuf to Cackle to drive there and pick our chicks up. And those have been fine. Cackle will ship in Feb in cold weather, the post offices might have delays, and I wonder how the poor babies can survive.

 

[aynesidea]

I’ve always used a heat plate. My shipped chicks did fine, but I ordered in June when it was hot. Ideal & McMurray chicks. I wonder if the cold weather during shipping chilled them too much?

Since my chicks are kept in the garage attached to the house, I would not use a heat lamp due to fire hazard.

We got ours from TSC, so they were 2 days old when we brought them home, we had pad set up to use in 68 degree bedroom, but they kept making noise so we added lamp at other end of brooder, ahhhhhh quiet! We had pasty butt on 2 different chicks once and used the lamp for 10 days, then the pad only, which they preferred to sleep on, not under. 5 wks later, they were outside in the cold and doing fine.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

We started back into chickens 15 years ago and even then Cackle was getting panned, and this was before this minimum order option was available from various hatcheries. We ordered36 Barred Rocks and had one DOA, only one we ever lost. The rest grew into some of the best birds we've had from McMurray. With all the problems people were having with hatcheries this time I searched for hatcheries/breeders in our state and found one with a great selection of birds that we were interested in. If we want to expand I will return to the same hatchery. Not one death and all are active healthy chicks.

 

[Whittni]

This thread makes me a little nervous, we have 5 silkies coming from Cackle that shipped yesterday

 

[JacinLarkwell]

This thread makes me a little nervous, we have 5 silkies coming from Cackle that shipped yesterday

How did you get only 5 bantams shipped?

 

[NatJ]

How did you get only 5 bantams shipped?

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/availability-chart/
Scroll down a little on this page to see a big yellow listing of kinds of poultry, months available, and minimum per kind.

It includes:
Bantams, February to August, minimum 5
Chickens, February to September, minimum 3
There is a $20 surcharge for orders under 15 birds

 

[JacinLarkwell]

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/availability-chart/
Scroll down a little on this page to see a big yellow listing of kinds of poultry, months available, and minimum per kind.

It includes:
Bantams, February to August, minimum 5
Chickens, February to September, minimum 3
There is a $20 surcharge for orders under 15 birds

Wow. It's been years since I ordered from there, their minimum is less than MPCs!

 

[Whittni]

We ordered 27 total bantam chicks. I'm seeing people have issues with the Cackle Silkies this year even on Twitter

 

[TheWasp]

I received 22 Silkie chicks from Cackle Hatchery last Wednesday. One was dead on arrival, three died later that day, four died the next day and three more died Friday. I called Cackle Hatchery today and was informed that they have no culpability even for the DOA chick and the other 3 that died same day. I was lectured on chick care as it was stated that it was my responsibility for their deaths.

I currently have 24 Silkie chicks in a grow out area that I incubated and 10 others between 6 and 12 months old all of which started in the same setup I used for the Cackle Hatchery chicks. Further, I’ve ordered some 100 chicks from Meyer and McMurray hatcheries with only two deaths. I’ve also raised many quail and duck hatchlings and aside from “losing” two quail that escaped, I’ve never had anything close to a 50% loss! And I’ve incubated quite a few as well. In fact, of the more than 300 chicks I’ve raised, I’ve had less die than this one order from Cackle Hatchery. Very disappointed.
Any thoughts?

This happened to me with my Mini Surprise. My previous orders from them I had 100% survival. Out of my 23 chicks, i ended up with 13. It was disappointing.

 

[Whittni]

This happened to me with my Mini Surprise. My previous orders from them I had 100% survival. Out of my 23 chicks, i ended up with 13. It was disappointing.

Horrifying, my 5 are the surprise silkies....