McMurray.. Good, Bad, or Ugly? or Ideal

[galanie]

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No one can or will guarantee shipped eggs to hatch. They have no control over what the post office does to them.

 

[EweSheep]

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No one can or will guarantee shipped eggs to hatch. They have no control over what the post office does to them.

2x I've had my fair share with nada hatches with shipped eggs. I don't get mad, I just keep plugging to get those beautiful babies!

 

[Mic's Chicks]

Just recently I ordered 50 large breed and fancy footed chicks from McMurray......35 rare breed assorted from Ideal.....and 10 Black Swedish Ducks from Metzer. They are all about 12 weeks old now. I have been perfectly happy with all three hatcheries.

All of them were healthy chicks.....

I am already on a waiting list for more in the spring! But just not so many at once.

My only problem is that I am totally overrun with birds now!! Yes, I kinda went wild and over did it.....

Live and learn! I just moved to the country in August and was excited to get chickens....a little too excited I guess!

I sold a bunch yesterday and have a guy coming tomorrow to buy 10. That helps pay the feed bill....

Thank goodness for Craigslist!!

Micki

 

[bantamboy93]

Mic's Chicks :

Just recently I ordered 50 large breed and fancy footed chicks from McMurray......35 rare breed assorted from Ideal.....and 10 Black Swedish Ducks from Metzer. They are all about 12 weeks old now. I have been perfectly happy with all three hatcheries.

All of them were healthy chicks.....

I am already on a waiting list for more in the spring! But just not so many at once.

My only problem is that I am totally overrun with birds now!! Yes, I kinda went wild and over did it.....

Live and learn! I just moved to the country in August and was excited to get chickens....a little too excited I guess!

I sold a bunch yesterday and have a guy coming tomorrow to buy 10. That helps pay the feed bill....

Thank goodness for Craigslist!!

Micki

The first year I had chickens, I did the same... i had around 60-70... then i bought some that were diseased and lost all but around a dozen... i learned my lesson the hard way.. Now i keep around a dozen... that's it... I plan on ordering a batch of chicks in the spring... or ordering eggs... but either way, i won't go too overboard.. It's too easy to get too many.. they're addicting!​

 

[Blondie]

I have ordered from McMurray Hatchery 3 times and have been very happy every time. Now, I may have lost a chick or two out of an order of 50 (51 with the bonus chick), but I am ordering from them again. This time I am taking a chance and getting delivery the end of January. I live south of Atlanta, so I'm hoping the weather won't be too bad here; although they are in Iowa, I think.

I recommend McMurray Hatchery.

 

[bantamboy93]

Thanks everybody for all of your advice! I'm so iffy.. on everything.. I would love some really great quality Blue Laced Red Wyandottes.... i've wanted them ever since i saw them in the mcmurray catalogue in 6th grade... i'm in college now... Haven't gotten any yet... it's a lot of money investment to get them... At least for me it is... And a lot of chicks... at one time... usually i stagger my chicks out.. never had this many at once i think.. well yes i did... it didn't end well.. first year... 25 chicks.. ameracaunas and SLW.. half of them died the first night...

 

[partsRheavy]

25 chicks is actually a small order for most of the hatcheries. I reared 30 + 26 more (3 weeks apart) with 100% survival until, um, it was time for some Ruthster Soup at around 8 weeks. (That's .....um...Ruth's chicken soup recipe! Just so happens there weren't any hens in the recipe....)

It got a little hectic for a few days when I had 56 chicks living with me! The older ones had to go to an outdoor cage with a brooder lamp at about 3 1/2 or 4 weeks of age.

Both orders were from Ideal.

My trick was keeping them in the same indoor room with me for their first couple of weeks. This isn't hard to do when they're cute. fuzzy and little. It did require a bit of time, several cardboard boxes, some heat tolerance, and some yogurt in addition to chick starter and water..

I'm still baffled a t how the cute fuzzies turned into stink-eye guys so quickly....

Also, you can see there are a couple barred rocks in with Black Jersey Giants. The breed mixup can probably happen at any hatchery. Doesn't really matter with me but if someone is looking for breeding stock it could be a problem with hatchery chicks.

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[CountryFriedChicken]

PartsRheavy - I bet those two barreds are the free chicks added (not the usual free rooster).

edited - the one that I can see is most likely a rooster. they throw in free roos if they have extras.

i know someone that ordered blue laceds from murray - got 2 hens i think and 3 or 4 roosters. i forgot. murray threw in the free extra roosters. plus she got a couple extras of other breeds.

 

[partsRheavy]

There weren't any extras in the order. Ordered 30 and received 30.

As mentioned doesn't matter too much to me..

 

[BlazeJester]

You could always go with Meyer, from which you can get as few as 3 chicks. Then it's not such an expense. Ideal also lets you order fewer, but you still have to pay >$25 for chicks (so ~10) plus "small shipment" fees. Or you could wait for spring and see what your local feed store/tractor supply has, buy ~10-12 and put the boys in the freezer or sell on craigslist.

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