Cackle hatchery's Hatchery Surprise- Anybody got this before?

[dealfinder500]

Only 1.5 hours? I spent days on this thread (reading some comments more than once) before finally putting in my order! It's pretty cool that there's a "surprise" aspect to it--but its both good and bad. However, if you know exactly what you want (and would be disappointed if you didn't get it), then I would suggest not buying this deal. If you are just looking for a fun variety and 50+ chicks, then this is great!


Ooh, show us pictures of your guineas!!! I know this question may be dumb, but how can you tell the difference between bantams and regular (LF) sized chickens? Is it just a size difference? Was the size difference apparent from day 1? The reason I ask is because I got my chicks about two weeks ago, and on first inspection they all seemed to be the same size (so I thought they were all regular sized chickens), however, now after two weeks, there's clearly 1 that's almost half smaller than most the other chickens --> is it a possible bantam or just severely malnourished? (Although it does eat, drink, seem healthy, etc). I thought it would be strange if Cackle only sent 1 bantam in the mix also, so slightly confusing for me.

It could just be a smaller breed of chicken. Some also grow slower. Maybe it's a game bird - they are bigger than a bantam but not as big as a "normal" chicken.

It also may not be as strange as I thought about getting a single bantam... I always thought that the hatcheries kept all the chicks separate for the surprises - and someone just went along grabbing a few here and there out of the different kinds for your box. But I found out from another hatchery how they do theirs, and Cackle may do similar. After all the specific orders are done, then they are combined to do assortments - then all the assortments are combined to do the surprises. So that actually makes sense as to why they can't give you a list of what you get - they don't even know! By that point they are all mixed together!

 

[thePluckyChick]

When you get the surprise and put requests in the comments of your order, do you typically get what you specified?

I put in a wish list and pretty much missed on all of it. Was I too specific or was it chance?

(context: I got my surprise Friday - 44 chicks, 2 turkeys - I've already sold half of it on Craig's List as I got a lot of 'no thank you' birds.)

 

[dealfinder500]

When you get the surprise and put requests in the comments of your order, do you typically get what you specified?

I put in a wish list and pretty much missed on all of it. Was I too specific or was it chance?

(context: I got my surprise Friday - 44 chicks, 2 turkeys - I've already sold half of it on Craig's List as I got a lot of 'no thank you' birds.)

I would imagine if you put in a big list they'd probably just ignore it and give you the opposite! I can imagine that they get that all the time, and you get the worker who for the 20th order in a row sees a list a mile long of what breeds they want or don't want in a Surprise, and says screw it, you're getting all roosters!

I've learned not to be too specific. It is a surprise, by the way. Maybe something like, "please send a turkey or a duck", or "no meat birds", would be fine. But I wouldn't get into saying "please send some white leghorns and some buff cochins and some turkens and some .... " I think it makes them mad!

Of course, I think it really comes down to you just end up getting whatever they happen to have left.

 

[thePluckyChick]

makes sense - I'll apply that wisdom next year ...

 

[snuvy]

When you get the surprise and put requests in the comments of your order, do you typically get what you specified?

I put in a wish list and pretty much missed on all of it. Was I too specific or was it chance?

(context: I got my surprise Friday - 44 chicks, 2 turkeys - I've already sold half of it on Craig's List as I got a lot of 'no thank you' birds.)

Hrm. What did you ask for and what did you get?

What are "no thank you" birds?

On my order I wrote that I wanted: "Silkies, Turkens, Top Hats and EEs for pets. No meat birds please."

On my invoice they wrote "Customer looking for assorted variety for pets. No meat birds."

In my actual surpise I got 55 chicks; about 19 Top Hats, 11 Cochins, 4 Easter Eggers, 2 Austra Whites, 3 Barred Rocks, 3 Colombian Rocks, 3 Golden Laced Wyandottes, 2 Brahmas, 2 Australorps and varius others (and 1 possible bantam or very small LF). I did not get anything but chicks, (no turkeys, ducks, guineas, etc).

I'm pretty happy with my surprise (I mean they could have given me 40 RIR Roosters! Lol). Of course, I would have enjoyed some Silkies and Turkens, but I was really looking for a mix--so pretty good overall I think (as long as I don't get too many roosters).

 

[kbarnes]

The surprise is the left over birds that are left after specific orders are completed. Like if someone ordered 15 RIRs and they had 18 the three extra would be thrown into the ssurprise. It states hatchery choice in the description. I gave no requests and received a mix of about 18 different breeds and 2 Pekin ducks. I was happy. I am curious as to what the no thank you birds are as well. I would say if you wanted specific birds you probably should gave done a specific order.

 

[SpringPeeper]

It does seem like they try to accommodate any customer preferences, but it isn't always possible. They're at the mercy of other people's orders, and they won't have everything hatching every day. People do seem to have better luck when they just put down one or two requests, though.

 

[dealfinder500]

It does seem like they try to accommodate any customer preferences, but it isn't always possible. They're at the mercy of other people's orders, and they won't have everything hatching every day. People do seem to have better luck when they just put down one or two requests, though.

Yep. If you are the guy picking the order, and it's really up to you what goes in there... "please send a duck" or "please send a polish chick" are more likely to be fulfilled than "please send this and this and this and this and this".

 

[thePluckyChick]

Thanks, everyone for the discussion. The 'no thank you' birds are the ones (resistant to confinement, long range roaming) that are sure to annoy the neighbors. Although we are on an acreage with no 'limits' to what we can have, we also have 'high maintenance neighbors' who are also enjoying their acreage and have expensive landscaping, the kind that doesn't mix well with chicken scratching and chicken droppings. We don't want to be 'THAT neighbor' so we put a lot of energy into keeping our birds home. (6 foot high fence, etc)

Several of our birds from the last surprise and really good at defying those efforts .... those are the ones I had to see right away on Craigslist.

So what I really want (and am open to all poultry that meets the criteria) are big fowl that stays home. We have 3 acres so staying home is actually pretty far away to roam.

I the end, it all worked out. We got enough that we can keep and sold the rest at cost.

 

[dallasathome]

Just an update frm my 6/25 surprise! (Yep, a month old)!

My 26 various Crested Polish

Various LF heavies? (8 were EEs)!
Can anyone guess at these:

This chickie started out solid yellow, started feathering out white, then as u can c, started turning light brown....very odd?

Several of the little red chicks - started out reddish yellow and now red with flecks of white and black ....?
Other than that a few light Brahma, one Australorp, one black Jersey Giant and one White Jersey Giant (or huge leghorn!) - a few barred rocks, and some brown chicks that started as chipmunks and are now looking game birdish? Anyway a few more pics to enjoy!

Oh! And this one .....

59 chicks in all!!!
Too many to get photos of!!!