Meyer hatchery ordering question

[Chold05]

I’ve never ordered chicks but I’ve been searching around and plan to order from Meyer hatchery in the spring. It seems like a lot of places sell out of chicks so fast! I got notification from them today that a breed was back in stock and within a few hours it was sold out again. (I know the more rare breeds will probably go quicker.)

I guess my question is… am I going to have to be glued to their website come December? Curious if ordering chicks is like Walmart on Black Friday

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You may have to if there's a specific breed you want and there's limited availability.

You could also call and ask if there's a way to pre-order.

 

[debonatrix]

Hi there! I have ordered from them. They are fabulous to work with! This time of year there are less chicks and less options. Come spring, there will be many more. You'll be good to go.

 

[Chold05]

Hi there! I have ordered from them. They are fabulous to work with! This time of year there are less chicks and less options. Come spring, there will be many more. You'll be good to go.

Oh, great! Thank you!!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Oh, great! Thank you!!

I sometimes find that it's good to order not-so-far in advance. Sometimes. And you have the ability to choose breeds as substitutions if a particular breed doesn't have as good a hatch as anticipated.

 

[Chold05]

I just wanted to follow up to this in case someone reads it in the future!

I made my first purchase with Meyer Hatchery on 10/30/22. I signed up for all of the email notifications and newsletters before hand. So when the newsletter came out on 10/30 providing the 2023 chick inventory, I was about 20 minutes behind the ball to placing my order. The only "rare" breed I wanted was the Wheaten Olive Egger (only wanted 2) which was new for 2023. Because of that, all of the April and early May dates were already taken.

I settled for May 30th which was much later than I hoped. I kept checking the dates and realized I could downsize to 1 Wheaton and get them the first week of April, so I placed a new order and cancelled the other.

A few points I wanted to make:

• Meyer's customer service team was fantastic to work with throughout the process. I obviously haven't received the birds yet, but I will definitely be purchasing through them for all my future needs.
  
  
• It is a bit of a frenzy if you're trying to get any type of "rare/new" breed. If you're not familiar with the process- the availability date section of checkout can be a little chaotic. But now that I've done it, I understand how it works. If you're ordering more standard type breeds, you should have no problems.

Thank you to everyone who gave recommendations on this thread!

 

[Chold05]

Back again for a follow up question!

I order chicks months ago. Today is their hatch date and their website says they should send tracking today with delivery 1-3 days on average.

Well, I never got tracking?

I chatted with CS around 4pm and she said my order showed shipped but no tracking available. However, when I pull up my order it still says pending.

I’m planning on calling first thing in the morning….

But has this happened to anyone else?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Check again in a while.

From what I understand, they take ALL orders to the P.O. (probably distribution center). The boxes have shipping labels but won't actually start being "tracked" until the P.O. scans the labels and gets them into the "system".

You may finally see something like "checked in" or "recieved" at 5-6p.m. when it's midnight. It also really depends on how often the box is scanned during the shipping process as to when you get updates.

It's a nail biter I know. We're talking about Babies! so we want to get them as quickly as possible and there's worry!

Tracking updates is all on the P.O. once the boxes are dropped off, then Meyer has no control over folks getting more info on the tracking.
That said, I've ordered from Meyer several times over the years and have had not had any problems. Chicks arrived when they were supposed to, happy and healthy. I know there's always a possibility for things to go wrong but hope for the best!

 

[FunClucks]

I assume they ship them on the scheduled day, and show up bright and early at the post office two days later, which is the minimum time it could take for my chicks to arrive. If I waited for the post office to call me and tell me the chicks were there, the chicks would probably sit there a while.

It's a busy post office. They never answer their phone. I didn't want to chance having the chicks sit around. Figured if I was wrong, I'd just come by the next morning.

I ordered 25 cornish cross from Welp Hatchery, and picked them up the second day after shipment way before the post office even thought of calling me at the end of January. They were healthy and happy and more alert and less stressed than any chicks I saw in the feed store.

I have an order coming in May and July. I'm a bit worried about the heat. We'll see how it goes...

 

[Chold05]

Check again in a while.

From what I understand, they take ALL orders to the P.O. (probably distribution center). The boxes have shipping labels but won't actually start being "tracked" until the P.O. scans the labels and gets them into the "system".

You may finally see something like "checked in" or "recieved" at 5-6p.m. when it's midnight. It also really depends on how often the box is scanned during the shipping process as to when you get updates.

It's a nail biter I know. We're talking about Babies! so we want to get them as quickly as possible and there's worry!

Tracking updates is all on the P.O. once the boxes are dropped off, then Meyer has no control over folks getting more info on the tracking.
That said, I've ordered from Meyer several times over the years and have had not had any problems. Chicks arrived when they were supposed to, happy and healthy. I know there's always a possibility for things to go wrong but hope for the best!

Thank you!
It’s now 5am the day after their hatch date and still no tracking…. a nail biter is right!