Favorite Mail Order Hatchery

[Khaleesi_of_the_coop]

What is your favorite hatchery to order from?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Meyers all day long every day... for my route.

I have the most survivors when I order from Meyers over my pet chicken, purely poultry, cackle, whelp, and others... All had decent customer service.

Meyers has better quality (stronger) birds than purely poultry, still not perfect regarding show or breeding quality.

MPC, has a nice selection of breeds, but the chicks seemed the weakest.

My route to the CAL/OR border is VERY challenging. No such thing as express shipping but worse... places that ONLY ship express... guarantees they will miss the hand off in SFO (between Fed Ex/USPS) to come my way and therefore express takes an extra day over priority EVERY time in addition to costing WAY more. So knowing your route, may influence your choice. Non express shipments stay with USPS so no hand off to miss at the airport.

Only reason I would order from somewhere other than Meyers is if they didn't have the breed I desperately wanted.

Meyers also included a heat pack without charging extra.

Your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

 

[Khaleesi_of_the_coop]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Meyers all day long every day... for my route.

I have the most survivors when I order from Meyers over my pet chicken, purely poultry, cackle, whelp, and others... All had decent customer service.

Meyers has better quality (stronger) birds than purely poultry, still not perfect regarding show or breeding quality.

MPC, has a nice selection of breeds, but the chicks seemed the weakest.

My route to the CAL/OR border is VERY challenging. No such thing as express shipping but worse... places that ONLY ship express... guarantees they will miss the hand off in SFO (between Fed Ex/USPS) to come my way and therefore express takes an extra day over priority EVERY time in addition to costing WAY more. So knowing your route, may influence your choice. Non express shipments stay with USPS so no hand off to miss at the airport.

Only reason I would order from somewhere other than Meyers is if they didn't have the breed I desperately wanted.

Meyers also included a heat pack without charging extra.

Your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

Thanks!!

 

[danceswithronin]

Meyer Hatchery, hands-down. Nothing but healthy chicks from them, tons of breeds to choose from, small minimum shipping order for number of chicks (important for me, I can't order 6-25 chicks in one go typically because I have a suburban backyard setup), very very responsive customer service. I honestly don't see myself ordering from any other hatchery unless I'm just absolutely desperate for a breed Meyer doesn't have.

Meyer also has the "Meyer Meal Maker" program where you can agree to get a free extra chick with your order of the hatchery's choosing. It's pretty fun to get a mystery chick regardless of breed.

EDIT: I just convinced myself to go to Meyer's website and add a Meyer Meal Maker to my pending order. Took less than five minutes and now I'm getting an extra chick, yay. <3

 

[lilmillefleur]

MPC actually sources their chicks from Meyer stock. I've only ever ordered from MPC because of the sexed bantams, but I wonder if that affects the chick's health/stress levels at all.
The only time I ordered in the mail, I received 6 bantam pullets. The porcelain d'Uccle died 24 hours after arrival (The one I was looking forward to the most. WHY!). One of the 2 polish bantams developed scissor beak and was stunted and miserable until it died at around 10 weeks old. The others remained healthy and all ended up pullets.

 

[Khaleesi_of_the_coop]

Meyer Hatchery, hands-down. Nothing but healthy chicks from them, tons of breeds to choose from, small minimum shipping order for number of chicks (important for me, I can't order 6-25 chicks in one go typically because I have a suburban backyard setup), very very responsive customer service. I honestly don't see myself ordering from any other hatchery unless I'm just absolutely desperate for a breed Meyer doesn't have.

Meyer also has the "Meyer Meal Maker" program where you can agree to get a free extra chick with your order of the hatchery's choosing. It's pretty fun to get a mystery chick regardless of breed.

EDIT: I just convinced myself to go to Meyer's website and add a Meyer Meal Maker to my pending order. Took less than five minutes and now I'm getting an extra chick, yay. <3

OK I had to go back and add the Meal Maker to mine as well lol! I am quickly becoming chicken addicted

 

[danceswithronin]

OK I had to go back and add the Meal Maker to mine as well lol! I am quickly becoming chicken addicted

I initially declined my Meal Maker this year because I was a little cramped for space in the coop with four adult bantams and six chicks in the brooder, but now I'm building a HUGE coop with my dad with an expanded run and it'll be big enough for way more chickens than I currently have, so I can add freely without too much fuss - at least, up to a point. Plus I sold off my adult bantam flock to make room (three of the four anyway, one was lost to a dog).

I'm also wondering whether I have at least one cockerel in my current group (two of the four were straight run and the black Orp mix is looking a tad suspicious) so that chick will have to be replaced anyway if it does turn out to be a roo.

 

[Khaleesi_of_the_coop]

I initially declined my Meal Maker this year because I was a little cramped for space in the coop with four adult bantams and six chicks in the brooder, but now I'm building a HUGE coop with my dad with an expanded run and it'll be big enough for way more chickens than I currently have, so I can add freely without too much fuss - at least, up to a point. Plus I sold off my adult bantam flock to make room (three of the four anyway, one was lost to a dog).

I'm also wondering whether I have at least one cockerel in my current group (two of the four were straight run and the black Orp mix is looking a tad suspicious) so that chick will have to be replaced anyway if it does turn out to be a roo.

we have 10 acres and I have a large horse barn to build my coop in and run around so I can add pretty freely. I am so surprised by how much I'm enjoying my chickens ( have been around them my whole life but this is MY first flock). They really are little sqawking personalities.

 

[Jammerz]

I have had good luck with most but I prefer Valley Farms Hatchery. I am in Arizona and it is a long ways to ship but I have always got them next day. Only lost one bird this past order of over 30. Just got stomped to death. I usually try to get the earliest shipment they will do so that I have them laying before the 100 degree days hit. It can be cold during the route. No problems. I did have problems twice with the closest hatchery and won't order from them anymore. One of the local feedstores buys from this bad hatchery and I wish they wouldn't .