Metzer Farms Review(s)

A year later update: had ordered and received 2 female runner ducks and 3 Sebastopol geese (1 male, 2 female).

One of the runners died about a month into laying eggs, egg binding I think. She never seemed to keep up with my other runners even at a very young age. Despite the availability of extra oyster shell and a great diet, I believe she was not right from the beginning.

My Sebastopols are a different problem...the bird that I thought was a male started being mated by my other buff and lavender males and showed an interest in making nests. Okay, not that unusual. But, when I started getting 3 eggs in the morning in their private barn enclosure that only the 3 Metzers had access to, I knew something was unusual.

My beautiful "boy," Basil, lays eggs. Metzer will be sending me a replacement male soon, so that is good, but it puts off breeding pure whites for an extra year. Oh well. Have several of his eggs in my incubator right now...should be beautiful goslings!
View attachment 3437830
Thanks for your update -- Basil is a beautiful girl!
 
I ordered ducklings one time from Metzer I’m in Nv so just one state over. All made it fine. I bought runners. All were healthy but in no way compared to the breeder runners I hatched out. I think for hatchery birds they are ok but the ducklings I got, they missed the mark for breed quality. I was going to take a chance this year and get muscovy but they only had the choice to buy white and I don’t care for white so I cancelled my order. No fault on their part.
 
May 19 Received 6 healthy Muscovy Ducklings on the date in the manner they stated. They were flexible in giving me a lesser number than minimum. The Muscovies ducklings are larger than I anticipated.
 

Attachments

  • 20230519_083235.jpg
    20230519_083235.jpg
    748.8 KB · Views: 8
I have ordered directly from Metzer and from Metzer through another hatchery. I have had them deliver to AZ and WA (we moved last year) and from CA and TN last year to WA. We did have one loss out of a total of 11 birds and three shipments, which was promptly replaced. Overall, I am pleased with the health and look of all my Metzer birds. The only complaint I have is that my Cayuga lays plain white eggs, not even grey. I may try a Cayuga from somewhere else in the future. But overall, solid breeder with great online info and helpful service. I still have a credit there and need to buy some more birds. 😉
 
Just got another shipment from Metzer last week. There was a dreadful USPS mixup where a truck with 30 boxes of baby birds arrived late at the regional distribution center and missed all connections. Fortunately for my ducklings I was able to drive the two hours each way and pick them up.
When I got the box, one duckling (my Welsh Harlequin, sigh) had passed - but she had clearly died before the shipment delay, so I can't blame USPS for it. The others perked up on the ride home thanks to a cup of water and a warm car, and all five are vigorous, cheerful, and untraumatized by their experience. In fact they are way more calm than my last two rounds of ducklings, which makes me wonder if shipping only three is too few for them to feel safe. Metzer always does a nice job packing them with gro-gel and a heat pack and I think this has helped with survival rate too.

Metzer Farm customer support was super great about offering me a refund and said that if I chose to replace the chick I would have to get a second to meet the two-chick minimum, but they would not charge the small order fee. I opted for the refund because frankly I am done with babies for the year and want my mudroom back :D
 
My two Mallard Hens came from Metzer. The only problem with mine was that I wanted them pinioned and they forgot to do it. I have to catch them to clip their wing so that they don't fly off. They are great Momma Hens though and have produced many eggs for me. Metzer is great about contacting you back when there is a problem. My Hens are very healthy and always have been. I would use them again if I ever wanted to order ducklings. I love my Muscovy Ducks. Yours are sooooo cute!!!
 
We got the mixed batch of ducklings from Metzer Farms. All 6 ducks arrived in good health, my sweet Pekin passed away at 8 weeks.

I feel obligated to point out that we live rural up in whats considered an alpine valley in the mountains. Fed Ex overnight takes 2 - 3 business days here. LOL If we ever do more ducklings we'll def order from Metzer Farms.
 
I've received three orders from Metzner and thought that their customer service was good.
My takeaway from ordering ducks through the mail is that if they're shipped during cool weather, they can huddle together on the heat pack, whereas if they get too warm in shipping, they're literally toast.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom