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
