Interesting--Meyer Cornish X vs. Mt. Healthy

[WalkingOnSunshine]

There's only a couple of companies that produce broiler chicks and all the hatcheries get eggs from them. Cobb/Hubbard and Ross. Ask the hatcheries which birds they are currently selling and you will know what kind to buy in the future.

That is good to know. Thanks for the info. I, too, assumed that the individual hatcheries had developed their own strains.

I agree with everyone about Meyer customer service. Great to work with. I buy lots of started RSL pullets from them every year for our egg business as well as other breeds from other hatcheries and the Meyer RSL pullets are the calmest, friendliest birds I have. Not sure how they do it, since they are all floor raised in a giant barn.

 

[BCMaraniac]

There's nothing wrong with the Mt. Healthy birds, per se. They are growing well. But I was definitely struck by how amazingly calm the Meyer chicks are compared to how flighty the Mt. Healthy chicks were. And it was strange to me that they were different colors as chicks!

I'm kind of glad that I have birds from both hatcheries. It will help me make decisions about where to purchase birds from next year.

I bought two batches of CX chicks from TSC. Both batches were 4-5 days old when I got them, and they have been very calm(except for getting excited at feeding time). I processed the first batch 10 days ago, and will begin processing the second batch this weekend.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I bought two batches of CX chicks from TSC. Both batches were 4-5 days old when I got them, and they have been very calm(except for getting excited at feeding time). I processed the first batch 10 days ago, and will begin processing the second batch this weekend.

Where do you live? What hatchery did they come from? That's kind of my point, the difference in temperament between chicks from different hatcheries. TSCs across the country all buy from different hatcheries.

 

[Jo Anne]

Coop deville, I bought my birds from tsc and am pleased with tHem. I think also because we have a retired faculty that used to be dept chair of animal science. He is a wealth of information and knows his birds.

 

[CoopDeViIIe]

Coop deville, I bought my birds from tsc and am pleased with tHem. I think also because we have a retired faculty that used to be dept chair of animal science. He is a wealth of information and knows his birds.

Count your blessings I suppose, I heard so many stories over the spring of birds sold as one breed being another, birds sold as pullets all being roosters, sick birds, etc. Lack of knowledge from TSC staff probably plays a role in it.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Count your blessings I suppose, I heard so many stories over the spring of birds sold as one breed being another, birds sold as pullets all being roosters, sick birds, etc. Lack of knowledge from TSC staff probably plays a role in it.

This is definitely the case. If you don't know what chicks you want by sight, don't go to TSC. They don't do it to be shady, they just don't always have employees that know about poultry. Sometimes the employee will even have me catch my own chicks, because they are afraid to do it.

I've straightened out lots of mix-ups here on BYC over TSC chicks--even things like red sex links being sold as Ameraucanas, and vice versa, and random birds getting into the wrong trough. One person on the Meaties board was sold 50 "cornish X" chicks that turned out to be white Leghorns. He did OK, though--he sold all the Leghorns and TSC gave him his money back and 50 free Cornish X.

That being said, there are two TSCs near me that I go to, and both have the chicks behind a fence--there are no children pawing at them. And the chicks I've purchased from TSC have all turned out absolutely fine, and were healthy. I don't believe that it's anything to do with TSC that my first batch of Cornish X are flighty. I think it has to do with breeding, which TSC doesn't control.