McMurray.. Good, Bad, or Ugly? or Ideal

[Elphaba2140]

I have ordered from McMurray's twice now. I am overall happy with the quality and health of the chickens. The first time I got the Bantam special and I still have all the hens from that shipment. They are beautiful birds and pretty close to standard. This last year I picked my chickens for specific breeds. Those birds too are beautiful and healthy.
Both times there was an extreme cold weather front that moved in just as the chicks were due to arrive so I did have what I think is a fairly big loss of about 7 chicks each time. Not anyone's fault really but they were able and did give me refunds for the chicks that were DOA. I would order from them again.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

The only things i got from mcmurray was my geese and they are nice big and heathly if they only would lower the chick min i would get my chicks from them.

 

[Harli50]

i have a blue andalusion and a VERY hansome buff brahma that came from murray. my BB is deffinately goin to show next year

 

[bantamboy93]

Hey, i'm looking at Ideal. They now do less than a 25 chick order. just has to be 25 dollars. Most of their birds are sold out. But they still have some 'assortments' of bantams. Question. If i ordered the assortment, would I get less diversity? Because a lot of breeds are sold out... Or would they have a few of those breeds that might be included in my order??

 

[HollyBird24]

Quote:
If they have extras, they would include them. I prefere Ideal.

 

[bantamboy93]

well the fact that i can get like 10 chicks is IDEAL.. lol!

 

[quelzinharj]

I had problems with them. So far i would not recomend.

My boyfriend ordered 40 chicks. At first I disagree because we already had 23 birds. And it was febuary, mid winter in northen wisconsin.

I coudn't believe that they ship to here at this time of the year.

But he was stuborn, and order them anyway.

Aparently in a combination of the hatchery and the local post office, those chicks didn't travel well.

When he got them, 2 were already dead on the box.

Withing 24 hours he lost 14 more. It didn't matter what he did. Heat lamb, Quick Chick. He tried to save them, but was a nightmare.

Well the 24 chicks that made the first day, were put in the brood as we done before.

I wasn't living in here when he first had them. So I don't think he took a good look at them.

When I arrived in his house, they were already 3 weeks old.

At first I didn't notice anything weird, but when i start petting them, I notice that 2 birds had the beak dislocated that died few months later.

And more than half had their toes that were not straight.

1 chick in particular had her legs splayed . I couldn't fix her, and after trying everything she died 3 months later.

I got devastated, because her "best" leg finally collapsed and she got sick and died.

I read that this problems are because the chicks were not hatched right, or something went wrong on this process.

They should have more respect for the life of these innocent animals. Ship them when the temperature is below zero?!

 

[rachel1]

I have ordered several times from mcmurray and have always been pleased with the quality of the bird and they seem to meet the breed standards well. Also all mine have been happy and healthy upon arrival and grown the be great flocks. I did once question the quality of my australorps once......not health just the "robustness" of the bird, I should also mention that as that flock was maturin we were in the middle of one of South Texas' hottest winters, they have come along very well and are beautiful birds

 

[BlazeJester]

I have had great service from McMurray; they are very helpful with breed selection and are quick to address losses. The primary reason I do not use them now is because I do not have space for large quantities at this time.

This sounds like what could normally be expected from ordering chicks in sub-zero temperatures. The hatchery has a guarantee for chicks within 24hrs (or similar) of arrival; the box should always be opened in front of PO staff so they can fill any DOA claims (they are also obligated to live arrival, to an extent).

It is not the hatchery's fault the chicks were ordered at this time of year, nor that they were not properly cared for. It sounds like they had splay leg from being on newspaper as day-olds. This is "user error" and totally avoidable. The 14 likely died of temperature shock from going from freezing temps to over 90F (if the brooder was set correctly) in a very short span.

Quote: