? Meyer Hatchery in Ohio...

[1/2DozenWings]

Had I not picked mine up, I would have been short 3 (18%) and at least one would have been dead.

Those are the facts.

That doesn't take into account the vagaries of the postal service.....

I hope that your cornish Xs arrive ok. They are hybrids, so maybe they'll be tough. Did you get Gro Gel for them? It has probiotics in it. I think it's a good idea to populate their digestive tracts with beneficial bacteria from the start. I also read that it's more important that they drink water before eating for the first time, less pasty butts I think.

Good luck.

 

[blueskylen]

i did order the vitamin pack that they suggested - i have used progel in the past, but ordered the vita pack because they are cornish and thought it might boost them up from the start -says to use it for 5 days. Last time I had such a problem with pasty butt - didn't lose any to it tho. I'll make sure that they all get a good drink before putting the food out as it is a pain to sit down and wipe 60 little butts clean.


I bought a 5 lb bag of medicated feed, hate to feed it to them, but I have a sick hen ( Possible Mereks ) and altho they won't be in contact with her, thought I'd better be on the safe side - I didn't have the chicks vaccinated. Will feed them the 5 lb bag and then on to non-medicated.

we sure have been having a lot of trouble with the post offices here in WV - nobody seems to give a darn about whether you get your mail or not anymore. I don't blame the carriers, as they do the best jobs of anyone with the PO.

 

[1/2DozenWings]

I didn't even think about the medicated feed as an issue......only having egg layers. Hmm.
After all of my pontificating, I still have two with pasty butts that I'll have to take care of after work today. Hopefully they'll be ok.
Is warm water enough to clean them?

So much to learn, so little time.

Yeah, I'm not trying to bash the post office....I picked my chicks up because I live in a rural area and my driveway is 1/2 mile long and not usually in great shape. Especially after the massive snowmelt!

 

[IggiMom]

My Fairview PO is very good. They always call me when eggs or chicks arrive.

I am so afraid that they are going to be closed on Saturday, and also that the govt is not going to support Saturday deliveries any more.

It won't be their fault tho. They do a good job.

There may be problems with post offices, but I am afraid if the post office ever decides it cannot take eggs and/or chicks, we in chickens are all going to be in trouble.

I think, in general, given that we are dealing with live things, the post office does a good job. Someone on another thread pointed out that all of us, every once in a while, drops a day's eggs and breaks a whole bunch of them. I expect that happens to both hatcheries and post offices, too.

I ended up ordering my June chicks from Ideal. I have not been thrilled with their chicks in the past, to be sure, but others speak very highly of them, and they had something that I really wanted--the Modern Game Bird Banties. I am not familiar with another hatchery that has them, and I haven't seen anyone on the forum with them, either.

Catherine

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I have used Meyer's many times. They have never made a mistake on my orders and I never had one die on me. Their customer service people are great.

 

[Uzuri]

My 7 came from there last year and I love 'em -- the Wellie's egg quality was quite nice from what I hear about hatchery birds!

I've got 25 more coming from them in... oh my... 3 1/2 weeks.

 

[1/2DozenWings]

Do you remember what your Welsummer chicks looked like at a few days of age? I can't tell mine apart from the Ameraucana chicks, and there's a campine and Sussex that I can't id either. Meyer's were really busy when I picked them up.....so I didn't ask, thinking that I could figure it out.

 

[IggiMom]

EE's can look a lot like Welsummers. The Welsummer's should not have little earmuffs. Also the Wellies have a small 'diamond' shape on top of their heads, and eye shadow on the eyes. I can't describe it any better.

It makes a difference whether they are male or female, too. The eyeshadow and head markings are more obvious on the little girls.

Catherine

 

[Kim_NC]

I got my first order from Meyer last Wed. No DOAs, no mistakes on the order, and there were 2 extras (ordered 56 and got 58, 6 breeds). They've had a little bit of pastybutt, but not bad, and that's often typical with shipped chicks.

I had one little EE with a strange 'head twitch'. It's little head would twitch steadily to the right, then twitch back to the left almost non stop. It did eat & drank, but only made it 3 days. Everyone else is healthy and thriving, nice sized chicks. I'm pleased with the order and would order again.

 

[1/2DozenWings]

ok, I'll look for little earmuffs and maybe greenish legs. Now that I'm dealing with some pasty butt and handling them, it seems that I can possibly id by their temperaments .....after only 3 days! Amazing critters.

Fortunately there are not too many pasty butts, because I don't want to stress them by over-handling so soon. I blame my lack of knowledge/management lapses due to having a full time job on the few pasty butts, not Meyer hatchery......it's all on me now!