Cackle Hatchery's "Happy Cackle Special (Hatchery Choice)" Assortment?

[critterranch]

i ordered my cuckoo marans from there in 2010. i talk to a very nice lady on phone to take my order . i ordered 15 pullets 2 roos. all lived no deaths. no weak chicks. only thing is 2 pullets turned out to be roos but thats ok thats normal for hatcherys. i sold 7 of my pullets at 16 weeks for $10.00 each on craigslist. totally paid for rest of my birds i kept. they are very healthy birds and very close to standard. they started laying at 24 weeks.

 

[ND]

I can't comment on the assortment you're considering, but I love Cackle and have had very healthy chicks from them with zero mortality. (and I'm a total chick newbie- I've never brooded chicks before)
Now, I didn't have them shipped... I don't live terribly far away, I wanted a smaller order (and a mix without ordering 5 min of each breed), so I ordered and picked them up myself. It was when the season was winding down, and they were very willing to let me order odd numbers (one of this, one of that, a few of this, etc). I don't think this is something they usually do, and I wouldn't probably even ask in peak shipping season!

Anyway, I ordered 7 pullets, I got eight. I was sure my freebie must be a cockerel (that seems what most freebies will be anyway), but my birds are 16 weeks now, extremely healthy, and ALL appear to be pullets. (unless one of the EE's is really holding off giving ANY clues at this point... I only ordered 3 EE's, got 4, but they all appear to be pullets) The four EE's are beautiful colors, all different, 3 of them with quite a bit of blue in them. Can't comment on egg color laid yet, but I'm thrilled with the variety as they've feathered out.

I think what you may get in your assortment will totally depend on what time in the season you order. For instance, when I ordered, there were only a handful of breeds available...and they were only hatching for a week or two more. If you wait until they have a lot available for many breeds on their site, your chances of getting a nice assortment is going to be better, I'd say.

 

[Cargo]

I have never ordered from Cackle.
I have however read a ton of reviews. It appears that they have a larger % of unhappy customers.
Seems like when there is a problem they lack customer service. Lots of the negative feedback could have been avoided if they had just replaced a few catastrophic orders.
I for one, will not risk my money ordering from them based on the reviews I have read.

Every business has stuff go wrong. How they take care of problems separates good from bad.

 

[DrinkTheRainbow]

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That is certainly true!

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

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I've had experience with Cackle.In 2009 I got EE's and Cuckoo Marans.They sent an extra EE but when I took them out of the box one was not doing well so I lost one.The rest did just fine.The Marans that year were just straight run and were all cockerels so they went into the freezer.I was disappointed about that.I am very happy with my EE's.I requested at least 2 blue EE's (if at all possible) and got 2 in my pullets.The rest of the pullets and the 5 cockerels in the EE's all had blue on them as well.Some were red ,white and blue.I am not going to look up when they started laying (don't have time right now) but It was about 22 wks.Five EE's lay a nice blue aqua egg and one lays a green egg.The green egg layer does not lay as much as the others but her eggs have the best taste.They are 18 mos. old now and are just fine.I would want EE's again from them because from what I've read here some EE's from other hatcheries lay very late.
Cackle is hard to reach on the phone and it was very hard to find out when they would be shipped.I didn't like that part but I am still very happy with my EE's.

 

[shchinchillas]

I was thinking about ordering this package this spring... I think my fiance will kill me (we need more chickens like a hole in the head).

I did order from Cackle last year. We purchased 25 chicks and were sent 27. We ordered 5 pheonix, 5 sumatra and 15 silkies(UGH! We only wanted 5 splash however we needed 10 more bantams..so my fiance just threw in more silkies--wish he would have gotten something else). They gave us an extra sumatra and an extra silkie. We did loose 2 sumatras and 2 silkies. One died shortly after they got home, the other 3 were just tiny and were bullied by the others.

All were straight run. We ended up with 1 pheonix roo, 1 sumatra roo and a few silkie roos.. Not too bad. I am happy with my order other then the fact that we received a note with it saying they had a bad batch of chicks , and sorry for the wrong order. I'd have rather had a phone call then the animals shipped wrong, however they refunded the "wrong" birds... but everything we ordered was there? So really we recieved 5 "rare" birds free.

 

[Whiskey Bay]

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Do not take this wrong, but there is always someone to come along and give out stories like this. Not saying they didn't have the bad experience. But in the years that I have dealt with Cackle they have always done me right and I recommend them very highly. Always get a copuple three more than I order and never had a DOA, and only lose a few 1 to 2 after maybe a week, which is not due to anything on Cackle's part. There is just chicks that do not make it.

I don;'t think you will go wrong in ordering from Cackle.

I don't worry about peoples replies. Not putting out a "story" but an experience.Never suggested for anyone not to order or anything like that,just said I wouldn't deal with them again. Just a reply about ordering from the hatchery. It took almost 2 months for me to get my order,3 weeks after they were supposed to ship.I was told thats because that was the first available time for all (4) the breeds I ordered to be sent...??? I only received 2 of the 4 breeds.... It took persistant calling to finally get them. I would not have had a problem if they would have handled themselves better.I wrote off most the 18 I received even though they were not in good condition to start.My main problem was the missing birds and the lack of service...Thats it....

 

[ivan3]

Cackle supplies our feedstore (impressive selection of breeds last Spring). I hope Cackle gets up to speed. They didn't see the `chicken craze' coming and are still playing catch up (transitioned from a mom&pop operation - probably need a customer service center in Mumbai...). We order from them through our feedstore because we can get whatever count we like. Will order turks from them again (their contracted Royal Palm breeder is very good). Chickens? Prefer Black Sex Links from Estes (try to order from outfits in-State).

List of hatcheries by State: http://www.countrychickens.com/country_chickens_4_003.htm
Article on Cackle: http://www.ruralmissouri.org/08pages/08MayCackle.html

Post up experiences good/bad/ugly in the breeders/hatcheries section (am thinking BYC is getting to be regular reading for all the hatcheries).

 

[crash0330]

I highly recommend them too! This past year I ordered 15 assorted rainbow pullets, 5 EE's pullets, 1 EE roo, and their WaterFowl special (6 ducks and 4 Geese). I got 1 extra pullet and their sexing was right on really alive healthy chicks, lost 4 of them but to dogs. and for the geese I got 4 Chinese geese and 6 Rouen ducklins.

 

[AZBootsie]

My experience with Cackle was positive.

I ordered 15 chicks, 5 each of EE's, Dominiques, and Cherry Eggers. They shipped 16. They arrived healthy and happy. One died for no apparent reason on day 3. They are now 15 weeks old and nice looking birds. The EE's are beautifully colored with big fluffy beards. The Cherry eggers (production reds?) are a deep red mahogany wtih black markings. The Dominiques look true to breed, with uneven barring and rose combs. I ordered pullets and their sexing was 100% correct. No one is laying yet, so I dont know what color eggs the EE's will make.

My one gripe is that I didn't get any notification that they had shipped. I had to call to verify, and yes they did ship when they promised. It took the full 3 days for the chicks to arrive. If you watch the videos on their website, it looks like the birds don't get to the post office until late in the afternoon.

Over all it was a positive experience. I just ordered an incubator and going to try my hand at hatching. But, if I ever order from a hatchery again, I will probably go with Cackle.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide.