Meyer hatchery reviews???

[MrsChickens]

Mine just arrived dead, or barely clinging to life. The ones that did survive had serious deformities. I sent photos of the dead birds, and they sent out new ones which came alive. I just accepted, and won't order from them again. they never disabled my account or treated me like that. They were very pleasant to deal with actually.

Difference is whether replacements are available. Marans replacements were not available and they were not about to refund $200+ to me. I did not want stock replacements like leghorns, orpingtons or other mixed breed birds. Folks don't realize that in the event the breed birds are not available as replacement they reserve the right to replace with ANY bird not the bird you ordered. I did not want other than the specific Marans I ordered. The only option was then to refund the money on the order. They refused and disabled my account. You've read my review, its not hateful or mean, it's truthful. They didn't like my posting negative reviews. By disabling my account I cannot leave reviews on their site. Simple. Meyer is not a reputable company to deal with. I guess if you're ordering $3 birds it's not a big deal.

 

[Kristen D]

Difference is whether replacements are available. Marans replacements were not available and they were not about to refund $200+ to me. I did not want stock replacements like leghorns, orpingtons or other mixed breed birds. Folks don't realize that in the event the breed birds are not available as replacement they reserve the right to replace with ANY bird not the bird you ordered. I did not want other than the specific Marans I ordered. The only option was then to refund the money on the order. They refused and disabled my account. You've read my review, its not hateful or mean, it's truthful. They didn't like my posting negative reviews. By disabling my account I cannot leave reviews on their site. Simple. Meyer is not a reputable company to deal with. I guess if you're ordering $3 birds it's not a big deal.

Right. I ordered blue amerecaunas and cream legbars. I was sent out two cream legbars for the two cream legbars that were DOA. More died the following day, one had wry neck, and one had scissor beak. my order was also very expensive. It was very sad to see the terrible quality and deformities. Your review isn't negative or hateful at all.....trust me I know I've had the same experience. It's good to write your review so people can make an educated decision.

 

[MrsChickens]

Right. I ordered blue amerecaunas and cream legbars. I was sent out two cream legbars for the two cream legbars that were DOA. More died the following day, one had wry neck, and one had scissor beak. my order was also very expensive. It was very sad to see the terrible quality and deformities. Your review isn't negative or hateful at all.....trust me I know I've had the same experience. It's good to write your review so people can make an educated decision.

I have ordered from other Hatcheries and have had good experiences over the years. I understand in the HUGE poultry population there are issues that emerge, especially when the focus is chick production. My thing is not the customer service, those people were great. My issue iw with the Meyer leadership that does not recognize they have problems and blow off customers who have spent a lot of money with them. When stock is no longer available, they need to refund $$$. Sorry about your Legbars, like you of the three Marans that survived, the BCM male at 6 weeks and feathered out shows poor quality. He'll not be breeding in my flock. The bantam meal maker that survived is a slow feather bird - at 6 weeks has feather development that I would expect end of 1st week maybe mid 2nd week w/only primaries growing, sparce coverlets starting and now showing pin feathers at his wings. His size is still tiny which is why I suspect bantam. That's not a meal maker - it's Meyers dumping unwanted cockerels. Overall from what I can observe from the overall experience, Meyer is not a quality hatchery. Crossbeak and other deformaties ought to be recognized and dealt with PRIOR to shipping. Whether yolk infection or coccidiosis that my day old chicks may have had is a sign of over production that they could not keep up with. There are better hatcheries to get your stock.And, don't forget the breeders. The breeder I ultimately went to for my Black Copper Marans was wonderful to deal with, birds were carefully packed, birds are fluffy and healthy. At 3 weeks the are feathering beautifully, no issues of any kind. All chicks are robust, active and outpacing the Meyer stock at 3 weeks. A world of difference.

 

[Rainbow Egg Lover]

... BTW in speaking with several vets in my area on the sequential death of the birds over five days, BOTH suggest either yolk infections or coccidiosis.

Did you get necropsies done to determine whether or not it was from the yolk or was indeed coccidiosis?

 

[MrsChickens]

Did you get necropsies done to determine whether or not it was from the yolk or was indeed coccidiosis?

After loosing nearly $300 on the order, I wasn't about to invest another $125. I believed the vet's conclusions. Coccidiosis is relatively easy to diagnose. The vet suggested if it wasn't coccidiosis, he indicated yolk infection which he said is unfortunately common in hatchery operations. Would you challenge your vet? What's your point? After notifying Meyer, wouldn't that be their next move? Instead they refused any refund for deaths after 48 hrs, disabled my account and do not allow me to post reviews on the birds.

 

[Rainbow Egg Lover]

If Meyer is sending out sick chicks, I don't want to buy from them.

 

[MrsChickens]

Well, buyer beware. This is why we post our experiences here on backyard chickens. read other posts...some have no problems, others have experienced similar to mine. Meyer is a large scale hatchery so issues can crop up. My problem with Meyer is that they only refund deaths to 48 hrs of receipt. Well if there's a disease that spreads from one chick to antoher, there will be serial/sequential deaths that proceed beyond the 48 hrs. Meyers IMHO acknowledged their responsibility by disabling my account after I notified them of every death w/photo and ultimately wrote a review that I posted. You make your own conclusions. I won't deal with a company that doesn't stand behind their product, especially if they are $23/chick @15 = $345. Only two survived after aggressive treatment.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I have my second order of Meyers chicks under my broody Meyers Ameracuana right now. Both times they shipped on Monday and I had them on Tuesday, no sick or dead birds and no males, although its too early to tell with this latest batch. I will be ordering from them again.

Gary

 

[MrsChickens]

Sounds like you have a good outcome. Unfortunately mine wasn't and I lost a lot of money. There's no excuse for Meyer to not recognize there is a problem and work it out with the customer. A hard line email stating policy is 48 hrs for refund on fatalities was calloused. It was evidence in my situation a refund was in order...the birds could not be replaced, they were rare/exotic and no further breedings for this year. So I was up creek with a bunch of dead birds, needed to completely sanitize my brooder and order from a legitimate breeder of the birds I was interested in. A lot of extra work not to mention the loss of money. So don't judge my experience by your good experience. You probably bought standard hatchery birds. In all the years I've been raising chickens this was the first diseased batch of day old birds I received. There's always potential of one or two chicks not making it but 13 birds dying several DOA and the rest over 4 days is clearly a hatchery issue. And each bird was $23. Do the math. How happy would you be if only 3 were refunded?

 

[Rainbow Egg Lover]

I have my second order of Meyers chicks under my broody Meyers Ameracuana right now. Both times they shipped on Monday and I had them on Tuesday, no sick or dead birds and no males, although its too early to tell with this latest batch. I will be ordering from them again.

Gary

Hello Gary!

Don't you just LOVE Ameracuana's? When I get chickens again this is the breed that I want!

I see that you live all the way in California. This pleases me because I, too live on the West Coast and the fact that your birds are healthy makes me not as concerned.

Still: After years and Years of Research (I never just jump into something.) I've learned that a person looking for Chickens should:

Go to local chicken Breeders, first. If possible.
Try local Hatchery's, second. If available.
And last the Closest National Hatchery, for the last resort.

Because of this, I'm going to have to wait until we move to see about chickens. But I've been learning all that I can about the National Hatchery's and the people who do buy from them. With or without success.