Best Hatchery?

[RoboDuck]

I don't know which hatchery is best. The only one I've ever used in McMurray. I've order 25 chicks from them every year for 4 years and i am satisfied. I had 1 shipment that was all dead but that was due to a postal employee that went into rage over having to deal with a box that made noise. Murray promptly replaced by order at no cost even though it wasn't their error.



There was one instance that was weird. In my county there are 4 different big agri egg factories with the nearest one less than a mile from me. A shipment of 1000 white leghorns was accidentally shipped to my address. I assume it was meant for one of the factory outfits. I called them and reported the error and they actually let me keep the 1000.

This thread is cracking me straight up.... What did you do with the 1,000? You must have a big back yard.

 

[Fluffnpuff]

I'll answer the questions in the last 2 posts.

In regards to the post office employee that killed my entire shipment, here's the background. I live in an agricultural region that in totality raises a lot of chickens. In addition to big agri having several egg battery factories, there are a lot of people that keep backyards chickens and/or are breeders of heritage breed chickens. Part of the reason is our state offers generous tax breaks for people who can vaguely claim to operate something relating to agriculture so lots of people who live in rural regions have some type of hobby farm. In addition to even that, the nearest city doesn't restrict agriculture with burdensome ordnances. Inside city limits there are fields of corn during summer and we even have a cattle farm believe it or not.

Due to all the above factors, during spring and summer the back of our post office is filled with massive crates of baby poultry being shipped in. If you walk in the back during the right time of the year and didn't know better, you might think it was the back of a hatchery. The sound of thousands of baby chickens, ducks, geese, ect is very loud. I usually order my 25 chicks from mcmurray in march. Its cold but if i get them in march, they will mature enough for me to move them outside right before i start plowing so the time frame works out.

To cut the story a bit shorter, when my package arrived in march, an employee flipped out that a package was making noise and in anger she threw it outside. To go further in detail, baby chick packages usually arrive between 5-6 am. The post office doesn't open to 8 or 9 but they will open gates in the back for people picking up birds. At 5:15 she called my phone to tell me the chicks arrived and told me to pick them up. I told her i was going to drink a cup of coffee and i would be right out. At 5:30 she called my phone again and angrily told me to get to the post office immediately because they were making noise and she didn't want to deal with them. I left but it takes about 30 minutes for me to get to the office from my house. Before i even arrived she called again at 5:50 this time in a rage and told she didn't want the **** chickens. By the time i arrived she had thrown them outside instead of taking them inside where they normally store the crates of chicks. the whole box froze to death because we had insanely cold weather that day.


As for the 1000 chicks that were mistakenly sent to my house, that was obviously way to much for me to handle so we gave most of them to family and friends. There were enough family, friends, and co-workers that raise chickens that we had given them away within a week. I only kept 8 white leghorn hens. This happened 3 years ago and i still have one of the hens. The rest got taken by redtailed hawks, but the one that's left is still laying eggs.

 

[RoboDuck]

I told my wife about the 1,000 chickens story... she wished that could happen to her.... LOL!

As for the post office lady, I believe I would have had a long talk with the post master about her behavior. I don't know what state you live in, but her she could very well have faced felony animal cruelty charges.

 

[Coopin-It-Real]

Not sure what happened this year, but I have had terrible luck with my orders from Meyer Hatchery. I have ordered once for a friend of ours (last week of January), and although they were shipped during the coldest temps we've seen all year, all of those chicks were healthy and according to our friend are all alive and thriving.

Our shipment was scheduled to arrive two weeks later. The chicks shipped on a Monday afternoon and I picked them up at the PO on Tuesday morning around 11:00 am. Four of the fifteen were DOA and three others died within the next 36 hours. Meyer made good on the replacements although the breeds we had originally chosen were not available, so we compromised and chose others (we also had to order 8 additional chicks to increase the number of chicks to the 15 needed for shipment) and sent us a second shipment. These chicks were shipped out just this past Monday evening and I was amped up and had everything ready and waiting for their arrival on Tuesday morning, included a separate brooder for fear of the first batch of "wild" chicks trampling over the babies. No call, no delivery on Tuesday. But I didn't lose hope. Last years shipment took two days and they were in perfect condition. On Wednesday, I called the PO and the clerk said that they had just arrived, so I hopped in the truck, warmed it up for the chicks and had them home in less than hour.

This time five were DOA. One of my roosters had splayed legs and several including him looked weak. I was upset, but determined. I mixed up mash for those struggling to eat, added vitamins, electrolytes, and probiotics to their water, made them a mash of yogurt (which the healthier ones are crazy for) and sadly, of the second shipment of fifteen, I have six that "seem" healthy (for the moment) and two that I am feeding with a syringe every 1-1/2 to 2 hours as well as giving corid for possible respiratory infections. I don't know if they will make it but I have to do all I can to help them survive. It is too sad to watch them die.

So, of the two orders of fifteen chicks each, ( I was sent 16 in the first order) I received a total of 31 chicks and currently have 17 surviving and that number is subject to decline.

I'm not sure if it's their breed stock this year or just plain bad luck but the trip from Ohio to Virginia has not been easy on the chicks this year.

This is the first time we have ordered this early too. My best advise might possibly be to wait it out and let it warm up a bit before you have them shipped. I know most people would say they are just chickens, but here, they are our responsibility and just like part of our family! I won't be ordering this early again!

Best wishes for your order!

 

[CKelly]

McMurry has been good for us also.