Hoover hatchery? Any good?

[9farmgirl9]

I am wanting to buy some red sexlinks or gold sex links, and Hoover hatchery has them pretty cheep. Has anyone ordered from there and are there red sex links excellent layer?

 

[Freethinker77]

I know this is old, but I always read old comments anytime I am looking for answers.
So I have been buying chicks from hoover's for years and never had a problem. Free shipping got my attention quick and I've bought A Lot! Of chicks from them. Most are still thriving and doing well years later. I start buying my chicks and of October early November all the way until May. Well this chick season got off to a really bad start that has stopped me dead in my tracks from buying from hoover's. Black Australorps are my favorite chickens so I decided it was time to add some more. So I ordered 20 of them. They arrived 2 days later, 8 DOA and 3 more died before the day was up. The next day I lost all remaining chicks except for 1. Keep in mind. I've been raising chickens for 15 years and fair to say I know what the heck to do or how to care for chicks. So I called hoover's and let them know what happened. They were very nice and offered to ship out replacements a week later. I was perfectly okay with that. I guess what they didn't know is that I'm not knew to chickens and know chicken breeds pretty well. When my next batch arrived, all were fine and living, but their was a huge problem, one that as an experienced hatchery such as hoover's it was immediately obvious to me that it was not an accident and really rubbed me the wrong way as I could never do what they did to anyone. My replacements were supposed to be 20 Australorps, well 16 of those had Bright yellow feet meaning they slipped in Jersey Giants thinking I was a fool and wouldn't tell the difference. Now I love Jerseys, already had plenty. The problem, I expect to get what I paid for. I expect to deal with good, honest people and once you fail at that, I'm done never to trust you again. So I'm hear to say that I've gotten a lot of great birds from hoover's and have had wonderful experiences with them, but hoover's will always scam, cheat, lie and send the wrong chicks if they don't have replacements for their dead ones on hand and that is enough for me to never want to hand them my money again. I did call them and wanted nothing in return. I simply wanted them to know that what they had done was wrong and it was caught because I know my chickens and that they've lost a very long time customer that has spent a lot of money over the years with them.
The Jerseys and Australorps are now 6 months old and both breeds are big, healthy and beautiful. Of course Jerseys are huge and grew a lot faster already with huge, bright red combs.... I still look at my birds and shake my head wondering how many other people have they pulled a switch on simply taking advantage of so very little details chick give.
Anyone who don't know, there is an easy way to tell Jerseys from Lorps and it's all in the feet. Jerseys have all black or dark olive green legs with bright or deep yellow feet. Lorps have white or pink under feet. As they start to grow you can definitely tell the difference as Jerseys grow, fill out and Mature a lot faster.
Hope my experience helps, although it's a very mixed one.

 

[MaggieO]

I live in Northfield MN and bought 5 pullets from them this spring on the advice of a friend. The big advantage for me was that I could buy a very small number instead of the minimum 2 dozen that many hatcheries require. Also, Hoovers delivers the chicks directly to local merchants, so they're never shipped via the post. I think that's one reason why my chicks have done so well, though at 5 weeks I don't know yet how productive they'll be. Hoovers threw in two extras, and for the life of me I haven't been able to figure out what they are. For a while I thought they were black sex link cockerels, but I still don't really know!

One other plus about Hoovers: Another feed store owner told me about how they went above and beyond the call of duty when a local kid lost his flock in the wintertime. He was disconsolate, and the feed store owner called to ask if they could help out by making some chicks available for the kid at Christmastime.

 

[MaggieO]

I live in Northfield MN and bought 5 pullets from them this spring on the advice of a friend. The big advantage for me was that I could buy a very small number instead of the minimum 2 dozen that many hatcheries require. Also, Hoovers delivers the chicks directly to local merchants, so they're never shipped via the post. I think that's one reason why my chicks have done so well, though at 5 weeks I don't know yet how productive they'll be. Hoovers threw in two extras, and for the life of me I haven't been able to figure out what they are. For a while I thought they were black sex link cockerels, but I still don't really know!

One other plus about Hoovers: Another feed store owner told me about how they went above and beyond the call of duty when a local kid lost his flock in the wintertime. He was disconsolate, and the feed store owner called to ask if they could help out by making some chicks available for the kid at Christmastime. Sure enough, they delivered the hatchlings on Christmas eve!

 

[crad82]

I am a disabled veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq war and I contacted Hoovers hatchery about some eastern wild turkey poults bc I did not have the space for twenty turkeys if I could just order 5. Not only did I get an email back right away. They told me they could send me 10 turkey chicks and would do it at no charge and thanked me for my service. Thank god for patriotic people like them. They will always have my vote.

 

[StevenW.]

Never heard of them until now!

 

[9farmgirl9]

Quote:
I haven't either but then again i only knew about McMurray, then i startd looking and well i have 9 catalogs from diferent hatcheries, expecting 7more soon. And i was looking for a cheap place to get red sex inks and hoover hatcery is extremely cheap i was just was suspicous of why.

 

[Easily Confused]

I ordered from them. I know absolutely nothing(but I am learning) about chickens. They sent them on May 12 and I picked them up at the local PO the next morning. Every little fuzz muffin was healthy. I lost one about a week later, but that was due to operator error. I let my neice(8 yrs) hold one and she dropped it when it jumped out of her hand. It passed the next morning. So I felt like the worst chicken mommie in the world. But everyone else is doing great. I have 26 left! Since they are only 5 weeks or something like that, I can't tell you about their laying skills. They were recommended by the guy who owns the feed mill though. And they order for people there all the time, so if there was an issue, you would think people would let him know.

 

[western edge]

I ordered their mix heavies several years ago through Runnings Farm and Fleet. Still have some EEs, a Buff Orp, a Black Australorpe. All are still productive and the BO still goes broody all summer. As hatcheries go I would rate them very good.

 

[roocrazy]

ok i have a good story and a bad story about this hatchery, i, presonally would not purchase chicks from this hatchery again. my first ever chickens, and i got 36 birds!!! one week later they started dropping like flies. 36 down to 5 in 2 days all from a disease thaey had contracted at the hatchery. good story is i also got ducks from them and whew did they grow up fast