So I just thought I would put out my experiences of buying and shipping from hatcheries. In the past I have always just got the chicks at tsc (some good some bad ) last year was real bad as far as the quality went. If I didn't get them there then I just used some local farms to purchase them from. This year though I thought I would try the mail order, and oh boy I had no clue how bad the anticipation would be. I ordered from a few different ones. The ones I used were Meyer ( which is pretty local about 2.5 hrs ) the service was great and I recieved them very quick like next morning quick. I also used Cackle they only took the 2 days even with the horrible weather. The service from the was outstanding and very personable. And I also tried efowl not to sure how I feel about them not bad but not good either. With that in mind I never did talk with anyone I just done it all over the Internet, and I lost over half of my shipment. I think most of it was to blame in the weather or the postal carrier seeings how they were in the mail for over 3 days. So to sum all this up I am very happy with cackle and Meyer. They both offer superior service and good looking birds. All 90 or so of mine are doing great and looking good.
I have ordered from My Pet Chicken twice. All chicks where okay. Though one had curled toes. And I ordered a bantam polish, but she is as big as my standards. I just think prices are so expensive. I think I'll order from Meyer next, it's only four hours away. Thanks for your experiences
My 1st shipment was from townline..I must say they were awesome. I called them and as a newby they gave me alot of information on care for baby chicks and they were friendly. What i liked best is i placed my order in one week and the following monday my chicks were shipped they emailed the tracking number to me. On the night they came into the area it was so cold i wass scared they would all parish but i had zero DOA. My little tykes were strong when i opened that box my runt was the only weak one she got very chilled during shipment but she made it he is going on 2 months old now and she now is the same size of the other ones of her breed. I did lose one however i think it had to do with the food i was providing and the crumbles being to big it was not eating well. But even if it died to stress thats not bad out of 18 being shipped.