Last year we began our progressive step towards raising our own poultry. We got an assortment of mutt chicks and ducks of a straight run. We had no problems with raising our flock from little ones to adulthood other than an incident with the dog.
We did not enjoy the part where we butchered our roos. We felt that it was too much time and effort to wait for so long and the last few weeks were miserable with the roosters continually feeding off of each other with their calls through out the day and night.
So we decided that we were going to do meat birds. Earlier this spring I did my duckling order with Metzer farms and they were absolutely amazing! They even sent us an extra duckling and we had no casualties!
This week we received our chick order from another hatchery. We ordered 20 meat birds and 9 egg layers of assorted breeds. When we got our order we had two chicks that were already half dead. We came home and put them in their brooder which was set at 95-97 degrees. Four hours later we lost 2 more. Then six hours later we lost another 2. I emailed the hatchery and they reimbursed me for the first 6 lost chicks. Then after the second night we had lost another chick. At this point I have lost 3 egg layers and 4 meat birds. Tonight before going to bed and checking the temperature we noticed two negative things.
The first thing was that we found a weak bird that starts off with the droopy wings and then eventually lays on its side. We always try to separate them incase they are contagious. The second thing we noticed was that while I moved the thermometer around in their brooder to get an average temperature, we had an accident in which it was pecked at. My reaction was anxiety. We immediately got rid of the brooder and made a new one alongside changing out the feeders and waterers with fresh and clean containers. I placed all the chicks in the new brooder and they all seemed happy, except the one droopy winged hoppy one. At this point it is not a matter of if and when but how many are going to perish.
I have never had such a negative experience with chicks. While looking up any threads of people possibly experiencing the same thing with their thermometer being broken I have found nothing. I guess the point of this post is to see if anyone has had such a bad experience with their hatchery. At this point I do not suggest the hatchery to any friends.
We did not enjoy the part where we butchered our roos. We felt that it was too much time and effort to wait for so long and the last few weeks were miserable with the roosters continually feeding off of each other with their calls through out the day and night.
So we decided that we were going to do meat birds. Earlier this spring I did my duckling order with Metzer farms and they were absolutely amazing! They even sent us an extra duckling and we had no casualties!
This week we received our chick order from another hatchery. We ordered 20 meat birds and 9 egg layers of assorted breeds. When we got our order we had two chicks that were already half dead. We came home and put them in their brooder which was set at 95-97 degrees. Four hours later we lost 2 more. Then six hours later we lost another 2. I emailed the hatchery and they reimbursed me for the first 6 lost chicks. Then after the second night we had lost another chick. At this point I have lost 3 egg layers and 4 meat birds. Tonight before going to bed and checking the temperature we noticed two negative things.
The first thing was that we found a weak bird that starts off with the droopy wings and then eventually lays on its side. We always try to separate them incase they are contagious. The second thing we noticed was that while I moved the thermometer around in their brooder to get an average temperature, we had an accident in which it was pecked at. My reaction was anxiety. We immediately got rid of the brooder and made a new one alongside changing out the feeders and waterers with fresh and clean containers. I placed all the chicks in the new brooder and they all seemed happy, except the one droopy winged hoppy one. At this point it is not a matter of if and when but how many are going to perish.
I have never had such a negative experience with chicks. While looking up any threads of people possibly experiencing the same thing with their thermometer being broken I have found nothing. I guess the point of this post is to see if anyone has had such a bad experience with their hatchery. At this point I do not suggest the hatchery to any friends.
