cackle hatchery reviews?

[EZFarms]

We recently placed an order with them and the chicks are due in Feb. does anyone have good/bad reviews on them or on their poultry? ( Like do they have bad quality birds,are they show quality,pet quality,etc) tthat kinda stuff

 

[1876 Farm]

For those who love CH... don't dis me... nikki asked for our opinion and I'm just giving her mine...

We used to purchase from Cackle Hatchery, (2009 - 2011)
1) always had a couple of chicks dead in the box and then a few die within the 1st week. - We had no control over the ones in the box, but we learned afterward that if we put a little sugar in the water when they first arrive, that will give them extra electrolytes and more energy. Better survivor rate. Even with the sugar water, in subsequent deliveries, we lost some.
2) The black Australorps we received weren't the hardiest (didn't last a year in our Northern IL weather) - They just didn't integrate well.
3) The Silver laced Wyandotte- were pretty but just didn't quite look like the picture they advertised. They also struggled with our weather.
4) My husband wasn't too thrilled with their customer service (but he's not always the easiest to get along with. - but, shhh, don't tell him that). - They told him they would ship us extra chicks the next spring when we made our yearly order, we ordered but no extra chicks... I guess you have to remind them. That was the last year we ordered from them.

We switched to Murray McMuarry in 2013 and every chick we ordered (15 of them) arrived healthy and are still alive today.

I'm sure for every negative reply posted, you will get a positive reply.

Do some research before you get your chicks ... to determine how much sugar to put in their water..

 

[EZFarms]

We have ordered from murray in the past and they are good but expensive >·<
ive read good and bad about cackle and hopefully we have good luck with our chicks. we ordered from efowl before but.their birds are mutts basically none purebred but we did get them all alive so hopefully thats how we get our cackle order. its an order of 25 bantams

 

[Trefoil]

I was just on John Blehm's site, he says some of their chantecler stock came from him so they at least should be good stock.

 

[EZFarms]

I know on cackles site they say "specializing in show,meat,egg and pet quality poultry" so hopefully. efowl.com is where my current flocj came from and they are. not good at all. we get eggs and meat but thats it the RIRs are mixed and same with the top hats abd just about every other bird in my flock is mixed so im hoping they will stand by their word and.have good stock

 

[1876 Farm]

I know on cackles site they say "specializing in show,meat,egg and pet quality poultry" so hopefully. efowl.com is where my current flocj came from and they are. not good at all. we get eggs and meat but thats it the RIRs are mixed and same with the top hats abd just about every other bird in my flock is mixed so im hoping they will stand by their word and.have good stock

Of the birds that survived (Buffs, Barrred Rocks, RIR, Guinea hens) I was very happy with them, they were to standard, and they laid nice sized eggs and for years.

I have tractor supply Red Stars that I bought in 2012 that haven't laid since last October......

Only the BA and SLW from CH didn't work out for us.

 

[popsicle]

I'm happy with my Cackle birds, and placed an order for more coming in March--including some of the Chanteclers and Black Copper Marans.

I find it's best to check the "breeder flock" videos for a representation of what you might actually get, because the photos are of course the very best of what they might produce if they aren't just stock photos of the breeds at shows. My Silver Laced Wyandotte looks similar to what's in the videos.

Last year my box had 43 birds--none DOA. One little Silkie was severely spraddle legged and died--had I separated him from the LF he probably would have been fine. I also lost a BBW turkey that I assume didn't understand feeding/drinking lessons. Otherwise 41 birds survived just fine.

Like all hatcheries there will be good reviews and bad reviews. There will be people that will say the service sucks and people that say it's delightful. I haven't had any problems myself.

 

[1876 Farm]

I'm happy with my Cackle birds, and placed an order for more coming in March--including some of the Chanteclers and Black Copper Marans.

I find it's best to check the "breeder flock" videos for a representation of what you might actually get, because the photos are of course the very best of what they might produce if they aren't just stock photos of the breeds at shows. My Silver Laced Wyandotte looks similar to what's in the videos.

Last year my box had 43 birds--none DOA. One little Silkie was severely spraddle legged and died--had I separated him from the LF he probably would have been fine. I also lost a BBW turkey that I assume didn't understand feeding/drinking lessons. Otherwise 41 birds survived just fine.

Like all hatcheries there will be good reviews and bad reviews. There will be people that will say the service sucks and people that say it's delightful. I haven't had any problems myself.

That's a great suggestion of checking out any videos from the hatchery!!

 

[EZFarms]

Ive looked at all of the videos and they look pretty good from what i see. given some of their silkies have red combs and waddles but thats just a given.
we ordered black and white silkies 5 each, 5 dominiques,5 colombian wyandottes and 5 buff brahmas so hopefully all goes well. the wait is killing me though xD i want them nowwww

 

[popsicle]

I have three Silkies from Cackle--two buff and one black. The black one has a black comb, I think one of the buffs has a black comb also--I know my non-bearded buff has a dark red (what's that called, raspberry?). I'm not a silkie expert, I'll try to post some photos later.