Murray McMurray hatchery???????

Gotcha, yeah I live in NY. My babies are in my basement.... not happy, but it got down to 33 last night. Rather be safe than sorry! Can't wait to get them to the outdoor brooder.
 
That's what I'm told!
Although we have had a couple of nice days and I finally got a sunburn today! 67 degrees has never felt so good.
Except its going to rain now until monday...
 
We have ordered birds from McMurray for, oh, maybe six years. The last three years we have ordered birds, McMurray shipped them on Friday. The Post Office is not open until Monday. On each shipment, we have had stress losses. Last Monday, we ordered 50 Cornish and six Polish layers. Three of the Poles died within 36 hours. The other three - and mind you, these birds are $4 each - are not as strong as they could be. I ASKED about this shipping program the first time it happened. I COMPLAINED about it the second time. This time, I am angry. Worse, these people are not interested in "making it right". We asked they replace the birds since we need a certain number of layers to supply our extended family's needs. They replied that "we can't ship three". So, I suggested they sell us as many Cornish hens as necessary to safely ship them and send the Poles along with them. No, we can't do that...you have to ORDER the birds through the sales department. I'm sure they have many successes but three years in a row of dead birds is enough. Also, we are ordering 50 and 100 broilers at a time, plus layers. Two years back, they shipped on Memorial Day weekend. The birds were in the post office for FOUR DAYS and we lost half of them. So my advice is get a commitment that they ship the birds during a weekday or shop elsewhere.
 
Where would be a better place to get chicks? I'm may make my first chick order my first in the Fall, and I would be devastated if some arrived dead. If I can find a place near me to buy some, I will do that, but I would like a nice assortment of breeds. I'm only allowed six hens where I live.

Cindy in WV
 
Ordered from them this year for the first time. Received 3 dark cornish, 2 turkens, 1 free rare breed(polish), 10 pioneer.

Overall the shipment came in fine though the polish was very stressed when they arrived on monday 5/5/14 . For the most part they have done great however I have lost 3 pioneers due to spraddle legs that nothing would help mend (out of 10 I had to bind the legs of 6 of them around 2 weeks old). Sexing on the turkens and cornish looks correct as well (wanted pullets).

I think I will order again, although I Iikely won't order the pioneers again.
 
Where would be a better place to get chicks?  I'm may make my first chick order my first in the Fall, and I would be devastated if some arrived dead.  If I can find a place near me to buy some, I will do that, but I would like a nice assortment of breeds.  I'm only allowed six hens where I live.

Cindy in WV


You have to order 15 chicks for a minimum from mcmurray. We've ordered from them several times and the birds are usually very healthy and long lived. We have some barred rocks from them that are six years old and still laying eggs every day. Our issues have been with their odd shipping schedules. The last run we got a few weeks ago, got to the regional post office on a Sunday so they sat in a holding area for twenty four hours because they were shipped out on a Saturday. It was weird.
 
I had an order for 15 BLR Wyandottes, 2 Buff Orps, 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 cornish x rocks, and 15 blue silkies scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Looking at my order, I see that they didn't ship any of the wyandottes and gave me a refund for those. The rest should arrive sometime tomorrow so we'll see what I get when they arrive. Not sure why they didn't ship my 15 wyandottes though. Really irritating. The BLRWs were the main reason I placed an order with them, because they were the only hatchery who hasn't sold out of them.
 
Just an update... I received my order. Out of fifteen "blue" silkies, there was only one actual blue chick (which died), the others are/were black, white, or splash. I understand there is a chance at splash or black when ordering blues, but out of fifteen, there should be a decent # of blue chicks. Anyway, one was dead on arrival and five more died later that night. One has cross beak, and a few were displaying straddle leg, but seem to be doing better. McMurray is sending a replacement order so hopefully they ship better and have some actual blues in there. I was told the silkies ship in a separate compartment in the box apart from standard breed chicks, but mine were all mixed and I think it only added to the shipping stress with the larger chicks squishing the tiny silkies. I also lost a buff orp, but all the other standard chicks are doing great. My other MM orders have always arrived in great shape with healthy chicks and i've only lost one or two prior, but I guess just bad luck this time. I'll definitely continue ordering from them, but probably not anymore blue silkies since it appears only one out of fifteen will be blue. They have great customer service though and always refund/replace any losses in the first 48 hours.
 

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