Hatcheries, Day Old Chicks

Then they are probably worth the $10 a chick....I have paid as much as $6 a chick myself, but the darn things died, so I guess I am leary of high priced birds. Just my own experience. Can you post some pics to this review some time? I love baby pictures.

The $10 is with shipping, I believe that they were $6 per chick, but then I paid for express shipping, because the last time I got chicks in the mail via Priority, I did lose a few of them.

i dont think they should mail chicks the poor things die and get stressed out! thats mean! they should take better care of them while they are shipped! i am happy that none of yours died though the site of dead chicks saddens me

What hatchery did you get them from ?
Ideal Poultry in Texas has them, and they produce tons of HUGE eggs. Of course , they are production-bred, and aren't show birds; they usually aren't even the correct color to be called "Ameraucanas," but that's what they sell them as.

Oh, and that's www.idealpoutry.com .

I did not get them from ideal. I got them from Paul Smith himself. You have to contact him via email which I posted in the review.

My neighbor and I went in on an order together from McMurray this spring, Mar. 4 delivery. She ordered 15 RIR pullets, and I ordered 16 str run Dominiques. She also ordered a couple of special chicks. McMurray sent me 17 doms, her 15 pullets and specials, and sent her an extra chick as well. I lost 2 doms, and my neighbor lost the 1 extra chick. I will definately use them again. We didn't even bother with trying to get them to replace or refund the money for the losses, but EVERYTHING I've read about them said they would with no problem. We just didn't want to mess with it because being multi-generational farmers, we understand that livestock dying is a part of the process. If the losses had been greater, maybe. But I also bought 4 chicks from tractor supply that didn't make it. I didn't go trying to take dead chicks back to them, either. I liked doing business with McMurray, and if I buy hatchery chicks again, I wouldn't hesitate to use them.

My four Brown leghorn chicks purchased from Atwoods (originating from Ideal) have grown into healthy, beautiful, 8 week old pullets. The only thing I don't care for is the wing bands they put on. Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Ideal.

I agree with your assessment of MPC. I've ordered from them twice and both times the chicks arrived happy and healthy. I received my latest order from them a little over a week ago. All chicks are lively and this order of 15 (which turned out to be 18 - they shipped 3 extra) are all doing very well. They do respond to my e-mails and are genuinely interested in the well-being of the birds. I wish they had better availability of the Marans, but that would be my only con.

First thing to do when you see ANY chick struggling.
1) remove that chick and isolate it.
2) do not handle or play with any of the other chicks
3) actively watch them for several hours to see if they are actually eating the food and drinking the water.
4) more often than not, they dont know how to drink the water or your container looks different and will die of dehydration. They will also refuse to eat your food you're giving to them. ESPECIALLY IF IT'S MEDICATED OR HAS VITAMINS.

So when you first get a batch of chicks, watch them for 24 hours. dont handle them. make sure they are eating and drinking. If they start to get sick, start isolating them and put them on antibiotics immediately. Observe what is wrong with them. You should notice if there's something off with them.

:/ this is coming from someone who had to get shipments of chickens /every/ year for our FFA program in highschool. I cant believe how many times people just put the chicks in the brooder and leave them alone and not show them where the food or water is.

We once lost a whole entire shipment because the idiot who put the water in there put it in a container too high for them to drink out of.

I'm so sorry for your horrible experiences but hopefully sharing them will spare others from similar heartache. I will never order from this company since reading your review and am grateful to you for posting it.

what a bunch of clowns, that is 1 reason i like to buy local even if there is some driving to do on my part, i can inspect the adults & babies before i lay out any of my hard earned cash.

What else than a mess did you expect..These people price their stock 50% higher than others...They ship one or two chicks 2,000 miles in February....The whole promo and web setup looks like a company out to grab a fast buck...The company name is a dead giveaway clue as to what type person they are trying to exploit...If anyone is looking for less than 15 chicks he/she needs to go to a local feed store or check local peddler-type magazines.....If anyone wants several chicks have a enough sense to research the history of the hatchery before ordering...If it has been around 96 years like McMurray, 77 years like Cackle, or 91 years like Estes then one can reasonably expect a good experience....My Pet Chicken is nothing more than someone who figured out that the internet is an easy way to make money without really have to do the hard work involved with providing a real service....Some of the "broker" drop shippers are ok: Randall Burkey and Stromberg's....But their chicks are way over priced...

I have had several orders from My Pet Chicken and never had a problem. Never had trouble getting what breeds I wanted unless I ordered in March or later, for any of the less common breeds. The less common breeds sell out fast for the whole year.
I see you mentioned Meyer, which is another one I have used several times and also been happy with.
I wonder if my good luck was location. I was living in eastern Missouri at the time and the chicks are not far from that state when they are shipped. They are shipped from Ohio. The only way to send and/or ship chicks is through the U.S. mail.
The USPS gives delivery time of 2-5 days. So once the post office takes possession of the chicks, it can take up to 5 days for them to arrive to you. When you live further away from the hatchery or shipping place, and the longer they take to arrive, the less healthy they will be. That could be a reason why you had so much better luck with chicks from a place closer to where you live.

Oh, I forgot to mention I am now living in central Illinois and will be getting chicks from Meyer the last week of May. I will be interested to see if being closer to their shipping place will make any difference. But, I never had any problems when I was about 300 miles further from it.
I am getting 15 chicks from Cackle the first week of June. It will be my first time I have gotten any chicks from them.

I've ordered from McMurray for over 30 years and they have done an excellent job of delivering healthy, high quality chicks, ducks and turkeys. I've only had one mishap, just last year and I blame it on myself for ordering chicks way too early in the year. My chicks arrived on a cold, January day. There were a few dead ones and I lost quite a few more during the next week. I called them and they refunded my money, no questions asked. They were as nice as can be about it. I would recommend having your chicks vaccinated by them.

I have had the best luck with Cackle Hatchery in mo. Check out there web site.http://www.cacklehatchery.com/default.html

I've used Cackle Hatchery too for the past three years and have been very pleased with them. No casualties. I tried Meyer this spring. I should get my chicks today or tomorrow so will see how they compare to Cackle. Meyer customer service has been wonderful.

What hatchery? We got ours from Meyer Hatchery in Ohio and they did wonderful.They arrived on time and All ours chicks were happy and healthy.
I'm so sorry for your chicks, but I love the hatchery we got ours from. Did you ever get them?

Nope He never got them the Hatchery name was Far west its here in oregon they are pretty new and he was trying to give them a chance , Its all between them other then he just sold the shop and the new owner asked me to post here . Pretty sad now their web page does not work the phone is busy 24/7 and they totally Ignore people that show up and ask Questions about their chicks LOL oh well .I like Meyer,murray and Ideal have not tried others but have not ordered Hatchery chicks in years other then for The feed store and mostly meat chicks