Metzer Farms Review(s)

[Goosey Girl]

How sad! My order is supposed to ship from Metzers today or tomorrow. I truly hope that if they pack an extra it is at least in good shape. What a heartbreak when you should be happy enjoying new arrivals!

 

[907poultry]

How sad! My order is supposed to ship from Metzers today or tomorrow. I truly hope that if they pack an extra it is at least in good shape. What a heartbreak when you should be happy enjoying new arrivals!

The others are doing fantastic, update when they arrive

 

[mangococonutfig]

I ordered through a 3rd party, but had ducklings shipped directly from Metzer. I, too, had a small order of ducks (1 pekin and 2 runners.) It took them 4 days to get from CA to IA via their normal priority shipping. Not sure why it took so long, but it was long enough. Unfortunately, the 2 runners arrived dead I had my replacements shipped the end of March & even though on Metzer’s website they explain that priority mail usually does not prove any faster than express, I decided to call and update my shipping to express hoping they would get here much faster than the first time. With express, it took them 2 days to get here! Both the runners were lively & continue to be!
I wanted to share because in my case, express shipping proved to be worth it! Hopefully this can help someone else who might be nervous about their ducklings arriving in good time. I know Metzer is currently building a facility out of TN, so hopefully the Mid/Eastern side of the U.S. will see much faster shipping times soon!

best, xx

 

[Awaytome]

This is my experience ordering six female chocolate runner ducks from Metzer recently.

I paid $14.09 unit price and $18.25 small order fee for a total of $102.79.

Hatch was 4/4/22 and I received them 4/6/22, shipped to Sequim, WA from the farm in CA.

Box contained one heat pack and six live ducklings. I could see one duckling fading in health by Thursday and it unfortunately died Friday night, 4/8. The others are all lively and well. I assumed it was past the 48 hr warranty and didn't contact Metzer about a refund. I'm still sad about the loss.

 

[acet400]

We ordered 3 ducklings (2 Rouen, 1 Welsh Harlequin) that hatched Mon 4/4 morning and shipped that evening, but I was surprised that instead of coming from CA to WA (state) they were shipped from the new hatchery in TN. They thankfully arrived Weds 4/6 in the morning just before 8 am so the trip was short despite the distance, but I was nervous that they were shipped from TN instead of CA to WA. We called and they said their system does not differentiate east/west in terms of locations, but the disappointing part is that I have seen customers are assuming the new hatchery in TN will focus on customers on the east part of the country, when this is not actually true (and they haven't corrected any customers that I have noticed on the Facebook page).

Our ducklings arrived healthy and peeping with a heat pack and so far they are growing quickly and well, but I was also frustrated that there was no GroGel with them when their website states that they automatically include GroGel with all their duckling/gosling shipments. Thankfully their trip was fairly short and they were thirsty when they arrived, but if the trip had been delayed even a bit longer... I feel like this could have easily been a close call. So it's not that I can say the experience went poorly, but I'm disappointed with the handling and details with this. Also, one of the Rouens has feathers on her leg.

(On a sidenote, John Metzer responded to my email regarding this and said that unless they are going to Northern California, they always go through Memphis first because USPS often uses FedEx for air shipments. He added a few other thoughts on shipping I didn't find particularly relevant, but he did not address the lack of GroGel in our box.)

On top of that, we got 5 ducklings spring 2021 from Metzer via a local feed store. We had special ordered 5 Buffs, 2 died en route so we added a Cayuga and Rouen from the store for 5 total again. Despite doing everything right, like feed, temperature, water, probiotics, etc., feeding Mazuri feed (grower then breeder when they started laying, etc.), our Buffs never grew to full size, nor did our Rouen and have been constantly underweight despite 24/7 food access this entire time. We ruled out parasites/worms, asked a few vets, and no ideas other than potentially genetic issues. One of the Buffs died last fall due to severe egg binding (she was too small) and the Rouen recently died of severe bumblefoot that had eaten into bone (despite having treated it from the time the scab first appeared). So we lost 2 of the 5 before they turned 1. The Cayuga is the only one who got to full size. The Buffs also don't look at all like the Buff breed should look and very light/cream-colored, on top of being very small.

I did contact Metzer about this, not to blame but just to ask if others had any similar problems, and initially they made it sound like I had not fed them properly—the person I spoke with was not familiar with the Mazuri waterfowl feed. They were busy setting up their TN hatchery so I never heard back again.

I don't mean to say all of this to rag on Metzer at all, but I find it important to make others aware of some of these things in case they experience something similar, because these ducks are my daughter's babies and this past year has been incredibly stressful and heartbreaking for our family. I have wracked my brain to figure out if we could have done something differently, but we did all the research and followed all the best advice for our duckies. It could be possible there is something else I'm completely unaware of playing a role. But in case anyone is reading this wondering these things as I have, at least you might know you aren't the only one. <3 I hope that with our new 3 ducklings we'll have an easier time (like I said, so far, so good, so time will tell).

 

[CoriM]

Wow, that's terrible about not having the Grogel. I would have been so frustrated to see that. I'm glad your little ones survived. I'm so surprised they got shipped through TN. Seems crazy. I currently have a Buff duckling from Metzer - she's 3 weeks old. I've never had one before so I've nothing to compare with what she should turn out to look like. I hope she doesn't have problems with laying! I also feed Mazuri. I had a duck from Metzer three years ago that also was euthanized after Bumble ate to the bone, and it happened in just a matter of several days, despite my finding the scab right away when it was tiny. Sad - I'm so sorry for all your tough experiences. I don't find ducks to be hardy at all...but maybe it's partly due to hatchery stock. Just not sure. I did notice that Metzer is not selling chickens - does anyone know if this is typical? I don't own chickens so I don't usually look at that part of their web site, and I wondered whether it had anything to do with the bird flu.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I live in Ohio and ordered my two female Mallard ducklings from Metzer Farms. This was before they had the Tennessee plant as it was 2 years ago. They were to be pinioned so they would not fly away. The grojel container was empty by the time I got them but they arrived just fine. I picked them up at 6 am from our local post office. My neighbors have large dogs and I did not want my ducks to get killed by flying out of my yard into theirs. They were not pinioned as I figured it out when one took off and flew quite a ways away to another neighbors house. I got her back and had to clip their wings to keep them in. Now that they have been here a couple of years they seem to stay put. They lay excellent eggs, are quite the good mothers and will even hatch out my other ducks eggs that are laid in their nest by my other ducks. I would not ever order from any other hatchery then Metzer myself as I have heard so many complaints about some of them. Sorry for your bad experience with your one duckling. It very well could have been injured during shipment with that many in a container.

 

[acet400]

Wow, that's terrible about not having the Grogel. I would have been so frustrated to see that. I'm glad your little ones survived. I'm so surprised they got shipped through TN. Seems crazy. I currently have a Buff duckling from Metzer - she's 3 weeks old. I've never had one before so I've nothing to compare with what she should turn out to look like. I hope she doesn't have problems with laying! I also feed Mazuri. I had a duck from Metzer three years ago that also was euthanized after Bumble ate to the bone, and it happened in just a matter of several days, despite my finding the scab right away when it was tiny. Sad - I'm so sorry for all your tough experiences. I don't find ducks to be hardy at all...but maybe it's partly due to hatchery stock. Just not sure.

I'm so sorry to hear about losing your duck to bumblefoot—we have also had issues with bumblefoot getting to the bone quickly, sometimes before a scab shows (or it's tiny). It seems that sometimes it just immediately heads into the bone and what can you even do to stop it if the bumble otherwise seems mild or not fully developed. Antibiotics for every bumble seems overkill, but at the same time if it would have saved a ducky, I wish we could have done it differently. We're trying to bolster their immune systems to hopefully prevent more of this, but I don't know how much genetics are playing into it either.

 

[Mkdietrich]

I’ve ordered from Metzer twice and both times all birds (ducks) arrived in great condition. I got an extra female in my first order and was happy to have her. There is one very small bird in my second order, but she is healthy so far. Keeping an eye on her. My only concern is that the second order was for Silver Appleyards, and they are mixed, not purebred, which is not what I was expecting. In fact, the “runt” may actually just be small because she’s got a lot of Welsh Harlequin in her. I’ll know for sure when she’s a little older. I’ll be looking for more SAs from another source because I was hoping to start a breeding program. Unfortunately, I can’t do that with these ducks. Disappointing.

 

[Goosey Girl]

A year later update: had ordered and received 2 female runner ducks and 3 Sebastopol geese (1 male, 2 female).

One of the runners died about a month into laying eggs, egg binding I think. She never seemed to keep up with my other runners even at a very young age. Despite the availability of extra oyster shell and a great diet, I believe she was not right from the beginning.

My Sebastopols are a different problem...the bird that I thought was a male started being mated by my other buff and lavender males and showed an interest in making nests. Okay, not that unusual. But, when I started getting 3 eggs in the morning in their private barn enclosure that only the 3 Metzers had access to, I knew something was unusual.

My beautiful "boy," Basil, lays eggs. Metzer will be sending me a replacement male soon, so that is good, but it puts off breeding pure whites for an extra year. Oh well. Have several of his eggs in my incubator right now...should be beautiful goslings!