Meyer Hatchery - 4 of 15 chicks dead

[gibblets]

I ordered 16 chicks from Healthy Chicks and More, all arrived the day after shipping, all alive and doing well (plus they sent me 2 extras). I stopped at my local post office and told them that I would be having chicks come in and gave them 2 phone numbers for me. They called at 0645 hrs the day they arrived and I went right down and picked them up. Some post office's are better than others (my husband retired from the Postal Service in 2011) and tells me they were always getting in chicks but the telephone # of the recipient was always on the box and they called right away for them to be picked up!

 

[Melabella]

I'm a total newbie, and only ordered one flock from Meyer last July, and all 10 arrived healthy, perky and sound. All survived and flourished. I think with all the major hatcheries you will find people who have had success and people who have had horror stories. We all want to get our day olds from healthy facilities with excellent practices and histories of following safe guidelines to cleanliness, disease prevention and hopefully good examples of the breeds we so desire. Facts are, as we all know, day olds are fragile little things, and being bounced around in a box traveling great distances is just not what nature intended for these little peeps, I think it's a miracle that we all get any to arrive alive! I had a mis sexed roo out of my all female order from Meyer, and yes, when I called customer service to let them know of my dismay, I was a bit disillusioned with the $2.47 refund that is waiting for me in my account should I ever order from them again, (which I would gladly do), but at least they were courteous, and responded to my issue. I think you rate companies by their customer service response, and also I liked the videos of the facilities at Meyer, very clean and birds look healthy.

I know all this chicken stuff is very expensive, but when buying chicks to be sent via shipping, I think that one should highly consider saving their pennies a bit more for the overnight option. Especially in unconventional months of severe winter and summer. I did this with my order, and it made all the difference I believe in the condition of my chicks. Did I Iike forking over the extra $38 dollars for the option, but it was just a bit of piece of mind for me since I had my little 9 year old daughter right next to me when I opened that box... I wanted to increase my chances as much as possible with something that is so out of our control.

Sorry to everyone who had issues, and good luck to those in the future with shipments of these little cuties.

MB

 

[fishon]

got 4 coming from Meyer soon, hoping for the best!

 

[Debs55]

Well I have 10 left that look good and 2 in the hospital. I contacted Meyer and they are refunding me for any losses up till tomorrow. I'm very pleased with their customer service. I also went and got chicks from tractor supply. I intended to get 6 but saw a chick with extreme pasty butt and just had to take it home

 

[NotableNancy]

Well I have 10 left that look good and 2 in the hospital. I contacted Meyer and they are refunding me for any losses up till tomorrow. I'm very pleased with their customer service. I also went and got chicks from tractor supply. I intended to get 6 but saw a chick with extreme pasty butt and just had to take it home

So glad to hear you have the 10 looking well and hopefully the other 2 will start to come around! Hope to see pics of all soon

 

[Debs55]

The healthy chicks

The hospital chicks

And the tractor supply chicks

 

[gimmie birdies]

cuties!!
here's the hatch from last week-

this is them in the egg- this is them in the same order..
.
the little blue egg hatched but the chick didn't make it. Yellow chick was a suprise color, moms were all diff. dad was coco maran.


this is them just hatched...


this is them with the store chicks...


I like this pic because it shows them enjoying their quilts. they had been playing on this one for couple of hrs. and it is still clean!

 

[Debs55]

Aw how cute!

 

[NotableNancy]

The healthy chicks


The hospital chicks


And the tractor supply chicks

so cute!!!

 

[MsChickenMomma]

I'm a total newbie, and only ordered one flock from Meyer last July, and all 10 arrived healthy, perky and sound.  All survived and flourished.    I think with all the major hatcheries you will find people who have had success and people who have had horror stories.  We all want to get our day olds from healthy facilities with excellent practices and histories of following safe guidelines to cleanliness, disease prevention and hopefully good examples of the breeds we so desire.  Facts are, as we all know, day olds are fragile little things, and being bounced around in a box traveling great distances is just not what nature intended for these little peeps, I think it's a miracle that we all get any to arrive alive!  I had a mis sexed roo out of my all female order from Meyer, and yes, when I called customer service to let them know of my dismay, I was a bit disillusioned with the $2.47 refund that is waiting for me in my account should I ever order from them again, (which I would gladly  do), but at least they were courteous, and responded to my issue.  I think you rate companies by their customer service response, and also I liked the videos of the facilities at Meyer, very clean and birds look healthy. 

I know all this chicken stuff is very expensive, but when buying chicks to be sent via shipping, I think that one should highly consider saving their pennies a bit more for the overnight option.  Especially in unconventional months of severe winter and summer.  I did this with my order, and it made all the difference I believe in the condition of my chicks.  Did I Iike forking over the extra $38 dollars for the option, but it was just a bit  of piece of mind for me since I had my little 9 year old daughter right next to me when I opened that box... I wanted to increase my chances as much as possible with something that is so out of our control.

Sorry to everyone who had issues, and good luck to those in the future with shipments of these little cuties.

MB

That's exactly why we paid extra for the overnight shipping. That way we know that they will be here the next day, and they won't be sitting in a postal facility somewhere for hours at a time.

Overnight shipping was very pricy. It was more than the chicks themselves. But it will be worth it when our chicks arrive safely. (hopefully) It's nice to hear that your chicks arrived healthy and the day after they were shipped. Makes me slightly less anxious

I hate ordering chicks online. We had no choice this time, because we just moved here and had no idea what chickens or local TSC has, and we can't have straight run because we already have enough roosters. I just went to TSC today and they had chicks. All pullets, except for the bantams. If I need chicks next year, I will gladly get them from our TSC, now that I know they don't do straight run.