Has anyone received RIR from McMurray this year?

[phonelady13]

We ordered 300 pullets and 40 cockrells from McMurray. Due to the weather we changed our delivery date a couple of times. When we received our birds on March 6th we only had 3 that didn't make it. The problem, however, was with the coloring. The cocks were very dark red and looked great. The pullets were very light red, if any, and yellow headed. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that maybe the quality just wasn't what it used to be. My husband has been ordering from McMurrays for 20 years and never had a problem.

Now, our birds are two weeks old. The males are turning really dark and feathering out nicely. The girls are not! They are growing in white wing feathers with some red patches. Some have no red spots at all! We think we got something besides what we ordered.

We called McMurray and they asked us to send them pictures so they can determine if our chicks are RIR or not.

Just wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

Thanks!
David & Angie

 

[Arielle]

Hi,
I received 5 pullets in early Feb. They matched the pics on hatchery websites for color as chicks. THey are now about 6 weeks and nicely feathered. I'm a newbie, so forgive the color description. A medium, rusty reddish all over. RIR color. No visible white. I checked 2 pullets by pulling open the wings. Dark gray streaks along the feather shafts and some mottling on some feathers of one of the birds. Does this help?? Good luck sorting this out!

 

[InviteTanner]

I ordered an assortment from MM and three RIR pullets were included. They are a deep mahogany red all over with yellow beaks and feet, so they're fine. I did, however, get some kind of small, skittish breed that even the reps at MM can't identify. Makes me wonder what's going on over there. The rep told me that they incubate over 3 million eggs every year and hatch about 2.3 million so I wonder if there's any flukes, know what I mean?

 

[Rose66]

I am very curious as to what MM says so please post their response. Also if you could post pics of the pullets, that would be great too.

 

[hennyannie]

Those pullets sound like red sexlinks to me. Even the production reds I raised a couple years ago were dark when they feathered out.

 

[phonelady13]

I would be glad to post pics if someone could help me out and tell me how!

Also, McMurray Hatchery called us this morning. They looked at our pics and determined that the pullets were Red Stars. (Big Surprise!) They offered to reship on the next available date which would be April 4. However, they did not want these back. What I am supposed to do with 340 more chicks!!? We declined their offer because we are simply out of room.

I have requested a refund. At first they were only going to refund the pullets. But what good is 40 RIR cockrells with no RIR pullets? Finally, they said they will refund the entire order, including shipping. We are anxiously waiting to see if the turns out.

Customer service was good, people were nice. So far, so good! Will post as to what actually happens.

 

[InviteTanner]

I've been trying to post pics on a couple of different threads and it hasn't worked. Let's try one more time...

Here's a pullet from MM that I got this year.

 

[phonelady13]

Here are some pics of the chicks that we got. I think I did this right.

 

[InviteTanner]

OMG you are being invaded by chicks!

 

[phonelady13]

Tell me about it! And that doesn't even count the barred rocks, partridge rocks, baby games, or the ones that we are hatching ourselves! I think we're chicken poor!