Hoover hatchery Cornish cross mini rant

[iwltfum]

Happens sometimes. I've gotten shipments of hundreds of birds that were obviously left in post office transport vehicles for way too long that were pretty much all dead on two separate occasions. This was from a reputable hatchery that I have used for over a decade - and I continue to use them because 98% of their shipments come with 0 deaths. They know it's a risk to ship birds and the post office these days is slow as hell so it's even worse than it was pre-pandemic. This is just the cost of shipping birds unfortunately. I have ALWAYS ordered any chicks i need for the year in Feb or March for this reason. If you order at the last minute, you will get the least healthy birds of that hatch every time. Just the way they do things at most hatcheries. Early orders get the best birds. And of course it's better to get birds from the closest hatchery to you possible if you can.

 

[iwltfum]

I'm going to start a base line weight tonight on them. I just wanted to make sure they made it first.

If they were so stressed that most of them died in shipping, then the ones that survive will never be as robust as they could have been without the shipping stress. Just like a vegetable seedling the potential is lost if major stress happens early on in life.

Also, it's important to note that a difference in two or three days can be the difference between the two sizes of birds that you showed in the comparison picture

 

[rollinrockell]

Happens sometimes. I've gotten shipments of hundreds of birds that were obviously left in post office transport vehicles for way too long that were pretty much all dead on two separate occasions. This was from a reputable hatchery that I have used for over a decade - and I continue to use them because 98% of their shipments come with 0 deaths. They know it's a risk to ship birds and the post office these days is slow as hell so it's even worse than it was pre-pandemic. This is just the cost of shipping birds unfortunately. I have ALWAYS ordered any chicks i need for the year in Feb or March for this reason. If you order at the last minute, you will get the least healthy birds of that hatch every time. Just the way they do things at most hatcheries. Early orders get the best birds. And of course it's better to get birds from the closest hatchery to you possible if you can.

I get it, it does happen. its just tragic. I've just been lucky in the 8 years I've been ordering.
and usually I order months in advance but it got away this year. Hard lesson to learn and I will only go back to the two hatcheries that I've used before with almost zero issues.

The chicks shouldn't be more than a day apart, They were both shipped Wednesday and received Friday. As far as them being set back because of the shipping stress I defiantly expect that, which is why I'm curious to see in the end how far they get set back.

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

I get it, it does happen. its just tragic. I've just been lucky in the 8 years I've been ordering.
and usually I order months in advance but it got away this year. Hard lesson to learn and I will only go back to the two hatcheries that I've used before with almost zero issues.

The chicks shouldn't be more than a day apart, They were both shipped Wednesday and received Friday. As far as them being set back because of the shipping stress I defiantly expect that, which is why I'm curious to see in the end how far they get set back.

So youre going to keep this thread updated with their growth or make a new one? I am also curious for the end result.

 

[rollinrockell]

So youre going to keep this thread updated with their growth or make a new one? I am also curious for the end result.

I'll keep this one updated so its all in one place.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'll keep this one updated so its all in one place.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So, four facts and an opinion.

The major poultry ops expect deaths in shipping. USPS costs them millions of birds each year. Nothing to do with the hatcheries, everything to do with USPS. But since USPS is the ONLY option, they don't complain loudly. They don't even file claims for the losses. Its now part of their operational expenses. Without regard to the hatchery (Hoover, Meyers, Ideal, Cackle, etc) in question.

The Pandemic has made USPS losses worse, for a host of logistical reasons. Freak weather doesn't help either - the current heat wave in the south, or the late hard freeeze last year.

As @iwltfum correctly observed above, stresses in ealry childhood have lifelong consequences. Something I have to repeatedly mention on feed threads, after the damage has been done.

TSC has a (well deserved, in my rarely humble opinion) reputation for misidentified birds because they don't train their employees, not because Hoover routinely misidentifies birds. If you hget an invoice that says 40 white leghorn, 40 Cx and have 80 birds in two boxes (or a box with a divider), chances are you got what you ordered. When TSC employees take that box and invoice, but don't know A from B, then place them in stock tanks in the back, where they may (or may not) be seperated before moving them to the sales floor, and later take returns from the sales counter of people who changed their minds before buying... Mistakes happen, frequently.

Finally, and anecdotally, I have not been pleased with the quality of any bird I got from Hoover (my entire initial flock, by way of TSC). They are adequate, hatchery quality birds, in no way exceptional. For their price and availability, they get the job done. If I had more specific needs, or a higher bar against which I measured "success", they would not be my first choice.

 

[Painted Calls]

So, four facts and an opinion.

The major poultry ops expect deaths in shipping. USPS costs them millions of birds each year. Nothing to do with the hatcheries, everything to do with USPS. But since USPS is the ONLY option, they don't complain loudly. They don't even file claims for the losses. Its now part of their operational expenses. Without regard to the hatchery (Hoover, Meyers, Ideal, Cackle, etc) in question.

The Pandemic has made USPS losses worse, for a host of logistical reasons. Freak weather doesn't help either - the current heat wave in the south, or the late hard freeeze last year.

As @iwltfum correctly observed above, stresses in ealry childhood have lifelong consequences. Something I have to repeatedly mention on feed threads, after the damage has been done.

TSC has a (well deserved, in my rarely humble opinion) reputation for misidentified birds because they don't train their employees, not because Hoover routinely misidentifies birds. If you hget an invoice that says 40 white leghorn, 40 Cx and have 80 birds in two boxes (or a box with a divider), chances are you got what you ordered. When TSC employees take that box and invoice, but don't know A from B, then place them in stock tanks in the back, where they may (or may not) be seperated before moving them to the sales floor, and later take returns from the sales counter of people who changed their minds before buying... Mistakes happen, frequently.

Finally, and anecdotally, I have not been pleased with the quality of any bird I got from Hoover (my entire initial flock, by way of TSC). They are adequate, hatchery quality birds, in no way exceptional. For their price and availability, they get the job done. If I had more specific needs, or a higher bar against which I measured "success", they would not be my first choice.

Very well said. I agree 100%. Especially on the TSC ignorance and Hoover's quality.

 

[MysteryChicken]

So, four facts and an opinion.

The major poultry ops expect deaths in shipping. USPS costs them millions of birds each year. Nothing to do with the hatcheries, everything to do with USPS. But since USPS is the ONLY option, they don't complain loudly. They don't even file claims for the losses. Its now part of their operational expenses. Without regard to the hatchery (Hoover, Meyers, Ideal, Cackle, etc) in question.

The Pandemic has made USPS losses worse, for a host of logistical reasons. Freak weather doesn't help either - the current heat wave in the south, or the late hard freeeze last year.

As @iwltfum correctly observed above, stresses in ealry childhood have lifelong consequences. Something I have to repeatedly mention on feed threads, after the damage has been done.

TSC has a (well deserved, in my rarely humble opinion) reputation for misidentified birds because they don't train their employees, not because Hoover routinely misidentifies birds. If you hget an invoice that says 40 white leghorn, 40 Cx and have 80 birds in two boxes (or a box with a divider), chances are you got what you ordered. When TSC employees take that box and invoice, but don't know A from B, then place them in stock tanks in the back, where they may (or may not) be seperated before moving them to the sales floor, and later take returns from the sales counter of people who changed their minds before buying... Mistakes happen, frequently.

Finally, and anecdotally, I have not been pleased with the quality of any bird I got from Hoover (my entire initial flock, by way of TSC). They are adequate, hatchery quality birds, in no way exceptional. For their price and availability, they get the job done. If I had more specific needs, or a higher bar against which I measured "success", they would not be my first choice.

Speaking about the TSC employee thing. Last feed run, I looked at some chicks they had, & had one of them labeled wrong. The bin was labeled Jersery Giants, & AmberLinks, but the bin contained Barred Rocks, & AmberLinks.

The employee heard me, & said they were Jersey Giants, & AmberLinks. It was a new person I don't know.


Plus last year, one of the employees told me the chicks are labeled as they are, from the hatchery. So, Hoover's Hatchery is mislabeling some of the birds, not entirely the TSCs fault.

 

[3KillerBs]

Last spring I posted about seeing chicks at a local feed store mixing themselves -- jumping up on the side of the bin then jumping down into the next bin. It's not always anyone's fault.

I will say that the store in question had the good sense to just provide a list of what breeds they'd gotten in and not claim that a particular bin held a particular breed.