Meyer hatchery reviews???

[Gardenlady2]

Don't give up on your Delawares yet. I ordered 3 females from Meyer last fall. One died the first day, and another turned out to be male. They looked puny early on, but now at about 6 months old they are doing great! The girl started laying recently, and the rooster is one heck of a rooster! Big heavy bird, unquestionably the alpha male over my 2 Dominique roosters. He's not mean either...he won't let you pick him up, but likes to follow you around and stands at my feet pecking at my shoes while I pick the girls up.

 

[member 158781]

I've had two shipments.
In the first one of 6 chicks, I had 2 dead ones, two wrong breed and one severely genetically deficient. Beak so bad it couldn't eat.
Of the second shipment, all chicks died within the first 24 hours because they hadn't put enough heating pads in the box. They arrived with lung troubles, sneezing, slime in their beaks.
I don't like them and will never order from them again, EVER!!!!
Ellen

 

[JLfarm]

Lost 2 out of 10 RIRs

 

[JLfarm]

Make that 3 now they r dropping like flies that got shocked by those shocks thingys

 

[LindaB220]

Yeah, I lost 2 more Delawares. So that leaves 3 out of 7 ordered. And those three are so puny with ruffled feathers. No I will not reorder. Wretched.

On a positive note, the 16 remaining 6 Golden comets and 7 White rocks are rocking along. Fed them their first meat today and everybody starred at it for a while, and one finally came up and pecked. The little comet ran everybody else off if she could get to it. They would run up and take a peck and run like crazy. So funny. I love my babies. I'm not happy about Meyer but this has been a wretched year for everybody. Lots of hatches going bad so maybe I won't down them so much. Maybe the worst is over.

 

[fivebusygirls]

We had a very negative experience Wednesday April 9, 2014. We'd ordered 5 chicks in December. The morning of our pick up date we were notified by phone that they did not hatch out enough Welsummer or Sussex to complete our order - that they only had two for us, the brahma and barred rock. She said we could pick more chick hens from the leftovers from Monday's hatch, but couldn't tell me what they had, but someone could help us when we arrived. We drove over an hour to get there, and then we were told it is their STORE POLICY : they are not allowed to tell people the breeds of chickens in the "chick tub". Basically, if the customer doesn't know, you are supposed to guess, I suppose. I find this policy incomprehensible. They are hatching and selling chickens! We finally found someone who helped us identify 3 chicks that would do (maybe), and 1 which in fact looks exactly like the Welsummer we were supposed to get in our order, then found out they do not vaccinate the chicks in the leftover tub for Marek's and of course, now were too old to do so. They sell the leftovers for $2,00 each, but an unvaccinated mystery chick is no bargain. Lastly, while the 2 newly hatched chicks were fine when we arrived home, the 3 from Mondays hatch were touch and go. One promptly pasted up, and the 2 others had to be beak dipped and dropper watered for hours before they'd drink on their own. We thought we would fare better (and the chicks would too), going in person to pick up our chicks, and we were actually told by one employee that they box up the pick up orders before the ship out orders, but I strongly suspect that if you are getting a few chicks, that is not the case. I have not received a reply to an email I sent Meyer, detailing the entire experience, and don't really expect to. Such a shame! They are close enough and thus convenient to several large urban areas that are allowing backyard chickens, and their website, catalog and store are appealing to the chicken hobbyist, but they don't follow through where or when it matters.

 

[LindaB220]

We had a very negative experience Wednesday April 9, 2014. We'd ordered 5 chicks in December. The morning of our pick up date we were notified by phone that they did not hatch out enough Welsummer or Sussex to complete our order - that they only had two for us, the brahma and barred rock. She said we could pick more chick hens from the leftovers from Monday's hatch, but couldn't tell me what they had, but someone could help us when we arrived. We drove over an hour to get there, and then we were told it is their STORE POLICY : they are not allowed to tell people the breeds of chickens in the "chick tub". Basically, if the customer doesn't know, you are supposed to guess, I suppose. I find this policy incomprehensible. They are hatching and selling chickens! We finally found someone who helped us identify 3 chicks that would do (maybe), and 1 which in fact looks exactly like the Welsummer we were supposed to get in our order, then found out they do not vaccinate the chicks in the leftover tub for Marek's and of course, now were too old to do so. They sell the leftovers for $2,00 each, but an unvaccinated mystery chick is no bargain. Lastly, while the 2 newly hatched chicks were fine when we arrived home, the 3 from Mondays hatch were touch and go. One promptly pasted up, and the 2 others had to be beak dipped and dropper watered for hours before they'd drink on their own. We thought we would fare better (and the chicks would too), going in person to pick up our chicks, and we were actually told by one employee that they box up the pick up orders before the ship out orders, but I strongly suspect that if you are getting a few chicks, that is not the case. I have not received a reply to an email I sent Meyer, detailing the entire experience, and don't really expect to. Such a shame! They are close enough and thus convenient to several large urban areas that are allowing backyard chickens, and their website, catalog and store are appealing to the chicken hobbyist, but they don't follow through where or when it matters.

So sorry for your bad experience. Especially since you ordered so far in advance. Keep us informed of their progress. My babies are over 3 weeks old and running around like crazy. I lost 4 of the 7 Delawares but it looks like they will all make it now. Marek's is not really necessary for small flocks so don't overworry on that. By the way,

You have definitely come to the right place. One of my favorite sites is on fermenting feeds. Beekissed is the chicken lady to go to for any problem. I found her 8 mo ago when I first came on here. So much experience. Some of the threads are long so I just read some at the start and the last 30-49 pages and jump in and start talking. Let us hear from you.

 

[Melabella]

I guess that with every hatchery you will get good experiences and bad. If you think about it, it is pretty amazing they put these delicate little things in a box, and they suvive getting SHIPPED by the mail, in all kinds of weather sitting on a heat pad.

I ordered 10 female day olds 2 years ago, and except for getting a mis sexed roo I didn't want, they all were healthy and thrived. The experience taught me the lesson of how valuable a roo is to a flock of girls, and to this day, haven't lost one, and they free range most of the day. They all lay like crazy too, have molted, and they are on their second round. It will be interesting to see how they lay second season, since hatchery girls are supposed to fizzle out far faster than heritage girls. Next flock for eggs will be a nice heritage flock of Black Australorps and Barred Rocks. I got two of their Golden Comets, and they lay 6 days a week. Astounding.. One note...the missexed roo was a Columbian Wyandotte. Unlike breeders who breed for showing, confirmation, standard of perfection and temperament, I am sure hatcherys goals are for early maturity, egg proliferation, and health. No one is certainly ordering from Meyer to show, or use in extensive breeding populations, except for flocks that owners may reproduce for eggs. That is what we surely all want right? Well, the Columbian Roo that I ended up with from Meyer was downright vicious. I tried to hang on to him, mistakenly thinking that since he was so fierce he would be a good protector of his girls. Well.. NO BAD ROOSTER is worth hanging on to. Some great peeps here helped me to make that decision. The final straw was when he chased my daughter all over the property, and by the time I got to her, he flew up and flogged me. He was gone the next day.

I now have a wonderful Ameraucana roo from a breeder who is the perfect gentleman, and also protects his girls just as good as that devil roo.

I hatched some eggs and ordered 3 from Meyer just incase only 1 of my eggs hatched. So far 3 hatched, and I picked up the three today. A speckled Sussex, an Austra WHite and a White Maran all arrived in excellent shape.

Good Luck everyone.
MB

 

[cassbickford]

I think that Meyer's customer service is great, they ship quickly and on time and I had a great experience as far as that goes, but unfortunately a few of the chicks have not been doing so well. They were hatched just this past Monday (4/28) and arrived on Wednesday (4/30). One was dead on arrival, one had a severely deformed leg, one died a few hours after arrival. Meyer's credited my account without any hesitation. They have a 48 hour guarantee which was Friday morning for me. This morning (Saturday) there was another dead one and I have been fighting to keep another alive all day so far. I don't think it is going to make and I have done everything by the books. If this one dies, it will make 5 out 20 in less than a week that did not make it. That seems like a pretty high percentage to me.

 

[Basskids08]

I think that Meyer's customer service is great, they ship quickly and on time and I had a great experience as far as that goes, but unfortunately a few of the chicks have not been doing so well. They were hatched just this past Monday (4/28) and arrived on Wednesday (4/30). One was dead on arrival, one had a severely deformed leg, one died a few hours after arrival. Meyer's credited my account without any hesitation. They have a 48 hour guarantee which was Friday morning for me. This morning (Saturday) there was another dead one and I have been fighting to keep another alive all day so far. I don't think it is going to make  and I have done everything by the books. If this one dies, it will make 5 out 20 in less than a week that did not make it. That seems like a pretty high percentage to me.

I see you said your out of the 48 hour mark, but I had ordered an assortment of about 26 breeds and because babies usually look the same I had a problem identifying a couple of the ones that died. When they were about 4 weeks I emailed myers and told them that the one we thought was ..... Was actually my .... And they credited my account for the difference. Some of the ones I ordered were 20 to 30 a piece.