Cackle Hatchery reviews

[mwtrees]

received an immediate refund upon request this morning from Efowl/Cackle hatchery.

Ordering from ideal and pray this goes better!

 

[dekel18042]

received an immediate refund upon request this morning from Efowl/Cackle hatchery.

Ordering from ideal and pray this goes better!

This isn't an indictment of any hatchery but I do think the bantams, being smaller, are less harder than the larger fowl. Most hatcheries require, if you're ordering bantams, to order more to keep them warmer.
It does help if you have balmy weather during their shipping.
I've found the best way to acquire bantams with less losses is to get some that weren't shipped.

 

[MoreChickensPlz]

Ordered 20 bantam chicks. What I really wanted were the porcelain D'Uccle but a few cochins were always nice too...so 10/5/5 for a total of 20. They shipped 3 day (I called expressing my displeasure at that) and chicks arrived at my post office early on the 3rd day (this morning) 10 DOA, I am now down to 5, but expect it to be 4 or less by morning.

So far they have been responsive to my previous emails and phone calls. Will see how the rest of this goes. Will update how they deal with this.

Very disappointed.

This is making really nervous... I ordered 4/23/16 and its expected to be shipped on 6/1/16...
25 bantams total
8 cochin assorted
7 silkie assorted
5 d'uccle assorted
5 japanese assorted

edit: also 3 day shipping is ridiculous.

 

[LiraEstates]

Anyone know Cackle Hatchery's NPIP #? I got my chicks from the grain store and they didn't have it handy but mentioned the chicks came from Cackle Hatchery. I'd appreciate it! Makes keeping track of NPIP stuff a bit of a challenge.

 

[mwtrees]

I have heard the porcelain are a bit fragile and those were all the ones that died en route. IF they hadn't I think everything would have been ok for the others, so hoping that is the case with your shipment.

 

[bantie25]

We get all of our chicks there and none of them have ever died except three bantams, but they were the only ones out of hundreds. We always picked them up though so that's probably where they die.

 

[jakebata06]

We ordered three cayuga ducklings. We ended up receiving four ducklings, three of which were the wrong breed! So out of the three cayugas we ordered we only received one and the other three were anconas. We called them and they requested that we e-mail them pictures of the ducklings, which we did. They have yet to respond to our e-mail.

 

[WhitehouseFarms]

Bad review.

My partner and I received shipped chicks from Cackle the 23rd of May, had 1 DOA. The rest were sickly. There were blue sumatras, splash silkies, spitzhaubens, and Easter Eggers. We are down to 1 spitzhauben, 2 Sumatra and 1 silky. 4 Easter egger chicks. We contacted Cackle on arrival to let them know the chicks were sickly and one was dead. No response. A couple days later, lost over half the chicks we ordered. Contacted them again, they responded this time. We spoke brooding requirements and they tried to tell me my brooder wasn't hot enough and it needed to be 105 for shipped specialized chicks. That right there has infuriated me. 105 will boil a chick. Not good customer service. Won't ever order from them again. I asked them about their policy and they just skipped it and blamed me before we even finished the conversation. Won't ever by hatchery chicks again. Even when I need Easter Eggers, nope.. I'll order from a breeder or hatch them myself.

Horrible experience.

 

[ledbythelamb]

Sorry for your experience with C.H. That seems to be their standard operating procedure..blame you when they send sick birds. Wish you the best with the rest of them :/

 

[meltel]

Bad review.

My partner and I received shipped chicks from Cackle the 23rd of May, had 1 DOA. The rest were sickly. There were blue sumatras, splash silkies, spitzhaubens, and Easter Eggers. We are down to 1 spitzhauben, 2 Sumatra and 1 silky. 4 Easter egger chicks. We contacted Cackle on arrival to let them know the chicks were sickly and one was dead. No response. A couple days later, lost over half the chicks we ordered. Contacted them again, they responded this time. We spoke brooding requirements and they tried to tell me my brooder wasn't hot enough and it needed to be 105 for shipped specialized chicks. That right there has infuriated me. 105 will boil a chick. Not good customer service. Won't ever order from them again. I asked them about their policy and they just skipped it and blamed me before we even finished the conversation. Won't ever by hatchery chicks again. Even when I need Easter Eggers, nope.. I'll order from a breeder or hatch them myself.

Horrible experience.

I have yet to contact them but I am having an experience similar to your. I ordered the 15 bantam special 5 rare breed, 5 polish and 5 crested top hat special. They sent 37 chicks so i was impressed thinking that even if I lost 7, I would still be ahead of the game. WRONG! I have been losing a chick per day!!! One came DOA, one died the next day, one the next so I chalked that to shipping. Then I had the pasty butt problem-I have been using the same food, water and brooder method I have used on all my past chicks and none of them had had this-from our local feed store, a breeder, My Pet Chicken and a friend with a farm-so all different levels and places of chicks. 2, I believe died from pasty butt and another 2 died from me trying to cure pasty butt so that is 6. I am now on day 11 and lost another one at the rate of 1 a day! They all start off looking healthy then the one looks weak, gets white diarrhea and breathes heavy with a purple distended belly and then within 12 hours is dead despite all the electrolytes, probiotics etc I have tried. In that time frame, with no experience, I have managed to hatch 3 Seramas and 1 silkie with 3 more on the way-the seramas are from my birds and the silkies are shipped eggs!!! And I have never hatched before with an incubator and it is not a brinsea or anything fancy! So even though I am not a super experienced chicken person, i have done my homework and committed to their care and still........

I am waiting for a second large shipment from My Pet Chicken (30 chicks-thats large to me) I do have to say I had a bird with an injured leg up arrival-the refunded my money and gave me tips on how to best care for it. And they ever tried to help me with the problems I was having with my new batch that did not even come from them. I also want to add the breeder that I got my Seramas specializes in Avian vet care and when I told him what was happening and everything I had tried, he had nothing to add and said " sounds like you might have got a bad batch".

In Cackle Hatchery's defense, I did not attempt to contact them because the chicks are outside the "48 hour warranty period" and the 3 that did die within that period, I accepted the extras as make up above and beyond what i ordered. Does anyone think it would be worth my time to call and speak to them? I am not writing this as a bash against them but as an upfront and honest review as to what I have experienced as far as the health of my birds and for advice as to what I should do. I did post on several forums here asking for advice in regards to their care and did contact my vet but without actually making an appointment which is nearly impossible seeing as though they go downhill so fast or getting an autopsy on one of them, he is at a loss as well.

I'm sorry about your lost chicks-I feel ya on this one. Hoping for a new healthy batch and more hatches to come.