Murray McMurray Free Chick Question

[SeaPeaMcG]

Has anyone received a free chick with their order from Murray McMurray? We just received our order and free chick and were curious about the outcome of other's. If you have received a free chick with your order, and it's no trouble, could you please answer the following questions?

Did the chick turn out to be male or female?
What kind of chicken did it turn out to be (to the best of your knowledge).

Thanks Everyone!!

 

[AgnesGray]

Do you have a picture of your chick? They can be a variety of whatever they have available on the day the order goes out, I believe.

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

I've gotten it a number of times, mostly they turn out to be roosters for me, but others on here will assure you that you have a 50-50 shot at pullet vs rooster because the chicks come from an unsexed bin (I am still skeptical!). I have gotten 2 polish roosters in the past, and a salmon faverolle pullet in my latest batch. An Appenzeller spitzhauben rooster in my very first McMurray order. Those are the only ones I remember...

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
The first time it was a Fayoumi cockerel, adorable. Another time, a RIR cockerel, not so nice. Don't remember the others...
Mary

 

[One Lucky Momma]

I anticipated a cockerel - even if they come out of an unsexed bin there will be far more little Roos in there if the hatch is more or less 50/50. Even if folks do want a cockerel it’s usually only one whereas at the same time they might be getting anywhere from 6 to dozens of females. Where do all those left over roosters go at the end of the day?

Our little freebie was identified, sex and breed, right here by a member who seems to always get it right and, ironically, he’s the last bird I would have chosen. We anticipate trouble from aerial predators so ordered dark breeds. Our little guy is pure white. We have a grassy, outside run so thought best to stay away from feathered feet. Our little guy is a Cochin. We chose a specific rooster, a Dominique, due to past experience; obviously, our little guy is amother rooster. We chose the rooster we did, in part, out of consideration of his weight and that of the hens. Our little guy could get very, very big...

From a pragmatic perspective, early on, I questioned the wisdom of this whole free chick thing. It sure felt like a wrench thrown into what had been careful plans. But what were we going to do with him? Talk about cute...

I‘ll tell you what we did with him. We love him! I could just eat him up. Not literally, of course. What a personality. So handsome. Maybe I’m a sucker but that’s fine.

Littlejohn, the surprise, and Aegis, the planned rooster, seem to be mutually respectful and amicable comrades at this point. Unfortunately, two of the speckled Sussex hens purchased at the same time turned out to have been misread at the hatchery so for a while we had four roosters. Happily they were able to be rehomed with a flock where they’ll get to be roosters instead of Sunday dinner. My husband suggested maybe we should keep one of the Sussex and let Littlejohn go to the new home. Are you kidding? So much for pragmatism... macMurray’s reimbursed us for the two hens though of course could not replace them and I’m a little bummed, but I digress and I apologize.

So that’s been our free chick experience so far. Maybe more than you had time for!
Don’t you wonder how often the freebie is actually a female? And what about those poor roosters who end up in urban households where there’s no cock-a-doodle-doing allowed? But the surprise element is certainly exciting. In any case, good luck! You might end up with a treasure!

Littlejohn, our freebie

 

[Folly's place]

People who order only pullets need to consider that every pullet has a brother, and what happens to them. I like to order straight run, mostly, and our cockerels have nice lives, however long.
Your Cochin is so very handsome!!! And here white birds are lost no more often than birds of any other color.
Mary

 

[SeaPeaMcG]

My situation is this:
I ordered 15 chicks... 9 female black Jersey Giants and 1 male black Jersey Giant, 2 Speckled Sussex females, 2 Partridge Rock females and 1 Silver Penciled Rock male. That equals 15 chicks. So when my order arrived and I put them in my brooder and counted them I should have had 10 black and white chick's and 5 brownish chicks but I have 11 black and white chicks and 6 brownish chicks. That's 2 extra chicks!

I kind of figured that the "free surprise chick" is usually male because they do not get purchased as much, hence this posting to kind of prove my hypothesis.

The 2 roosters I ordered were going to be more than enough for us. More than enough!! So to think I got 4 roosters from that order is kind of overwhelming.. =)

Thanks for all your feedback guys, I really appreciate it!

 

[SeaPeaMcG]

Oh yeah, they all look the same! I can't tell the blacks apart from the browns.. yet. I'm going to have to wait until the feathers come in

 

[AgnesGray]

My situation is this:
I ordered 15 chicks... 9 female black Jersey Giants and 1 male black Jersey Giant, 2 Speckled Sussex females, 2 Partridge Rock females and 1 Silver Penciled Rock male. That equals 15 chicks. So when my order arrived and I put them in my brooder and counted them I should have had 10 black and white chick's and 5 brownish chicks but I have 11 black and white chicks and 6 brownish chicks. That's 2 extra chicks!

I kind of figured that the "free surprise chick" is usually male because they do not get purchased as much, hence this posting to kind of prove my hypothesis.

The 2 roosters I ordered were going to be more than enough for us. More than enough!! So to think I got 4 roosters from that order is kind of overwhelming.. =)

Thanks for all your feedback guys, I really appreciate it!

Want to hear something cool?

My spring hatchery order was 2 female black Jersey Giants and 1 male black Jersey Giant, 3 white Jersey Giants (ordered 1 male that turned out to be a female), 2 Speckled Sussex females, 2 Partridge Rock females. We must have similar chicken interests.

 

[Folly's place]

I've had female extra chicks from Cackle, and the same breeds we ordered too. Wonderful!
Mary