Meyer Hatchery Problems

[srrichards6]

On June 17, 2011, we picked up 1100 pullets from Meyer Hatchery. The pullets were 16 weeks old on the pick up day. The pullets were hauled on a new trailer that had never had chickens in it. We sold 100 hens to other people when we returned to our farm. Those hens never entered our chicken house which was a new house in a location where chickens had never been kept. We thought the hens were beautiful and everyone who saw them loved them.

After about 3 weeks our hens were laying about 600 eggs per day. We were very happy with them. Then we started loosing hens, and the egg production dropped drastically. We dropped down to 200-250 eggs per day, and it has never recovered. After loosing about 100 hens, we took a sick hen to a poultry lab. The vet examined the hen and found that she was loaded with round worms. The vet said it was the worst case of round worms he had ever seen. He also stated that the hens had to have been infested with the worms for at least 3 months.

We checked with the two other people who purchased hens. They were getting almost no eggs and had been loosing hens also. At this point we realized that our hens had been infected before we ever picked them up from the Meyer Hatchery grower.

I called Meyer and they informed me that they accepted no responsibility for the worms. They also refused to provide medication for the hens. We are planning to add another 9,000 hens to our flock, but we will never buy another hen from Meyer Hatchery.

 

[chicmom]

Wow! That's a shock! I always get small orders of chicks there, and they've been wonderful.

 

[blitz1027]

Sorry to hear about that. I've placed several orders from there and never had any issue

 

[luvinmychickens]

Wow... I got 6 hens there. 2 GSLs, 2 Doms, 2 CWs.

The CWs were both roos.
1 of the Doms turned out to be a BR.

 

[Gresh]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your experience. Most of the people I've talked to have had great success with Meyer's small-order chicks. I guess they do well with hatching and shipping, but not with growing.

I wouldn't write them off when it comes to chicks, but when it comes to started pullets, I don't in the least blame you for your decision to never buy from them again.

 

[thekid]

Odd usually Meyer does better, the only thing I can think of is that since you ordered so many pullets that they had to get some from another hatchery OR that you said that you got them on June 17th and are having problems now is that your birds were infested at your house. It doesn't matter if you own the newest cleanest cage in the world, you could still get worms.

 

[lvchicken]

Oh my gosh, that is terrible! I can't believe they would treat you like crap after you bought so many from them!

 

[Josiah Woodfield]

You've got to take care of your customers. Rather disgusting I must say. Sorry for the losses, let us know who you get the next ones from and how they turn out.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Probably not the best customer service, and not very smart since they lost a huge customer, but I can understand how a hatchery won't guarantee birds after you've had them for weeks (months?). Guarantees are usually short lived with poultry.

For the next time, it's pretty much standard animal husbandry to de-worm new livestock that you bring onto your place. If you adopt that practice, it might save you some grief in the future.

If the only person you spoke to was the clerk manning the phones, you might try calling back to speak to a manager. Sometimes the people who man the phones don't have any authority to correct mistakes and don't know how to deal with unusual situations.

 

[jerseygirl1]

I will never buy from them again, too bad you lost all that time, money and heartache to have a company turn their back on you