Murray McMurray Hatchery?

[Birdsonghill]

It is a common practice in the retail hatchery business to have other growers, supply some of their diverse offerings. The better hatcheries will carefully vet the supplier. Many do not hatch all of the Ducks, Peafowl,Guineas or exotics, themselves , nor all of the chicken breeds they offer, sometimes! Murray Mcmurray hatches a lot of chicken breeds, but do you really think they breed and hatch exotic cranes, call ducks, vulturine Guineas and all the other diverse offerings? Their staff would have to be huge and they would need to be experts and care for a lot of animals that are not compatible with chickens! I seldom see any Hatchery specifically point out, that they do not breed/hatch all of their offerings! Some of the suppliers of chicks and etc. do not hatch most of what they sell retail and are mostly just middlemen/brokers! Some that hatch many thousands of chicks of commercial breeds wholesale, do not hatch but a handful of breeds, themselves! I also point out that, by jet airplane, the difference on delivery time in route from places 2000 miles further away, only translates to about 4 hours more travel time! They don't go by train anymore! The reputable hatcheries strive to handle your baby birds with care and expedite shipment by USPS air delivery and use only responsible partners in their business. When problems arise, they back their stated warranty and you must not blame them for USPS mishandling! Buy your birds locally, when possible, from reputable and clean flocks! However, I never would of enjoyed so many different breeds without Mail Order birds, many from Murray Mcmurray! In the days before the internet, the retail mail order chick hatchery business, almost died off in the 1970's. You found only a very few, tiny, adds in the popular magazines of the days, offering mail order chicks/birds. Most of the people in their rush off the farms in the 1940s through the 60's, abandoned all aspects of farm life, including chickens! Thanks, to the, just a handful of hatcheries, surviving (like MM), we have kept some of the heirloom breeds going, through the dark ages of the post agricultural period of the "Jetson's" age of the 1960's and 1970's. I am thankful for them.

 

[Birdsonghill]

PS. I forgot to say, I am very interested in your Bielefelder chicks Clayton! I considered some but was worried about comments of them stressing bad in severe heat! I live in West Tennessee, closer the Mississippi River than you. Good Luck and let me know how they do for you!

 

[Birdsonghill]

Yep its al Metzer when it comes to waterfowl most of the haturys have metzer drop ship then they dropship there land birds for them. Kinda sad ordered birds from McMurray to get unrelated birds and here they are coming from California! McMurray commented that even though they were coming from the same farm they wouldn't be related.

Metzer is very big and professional enough and have a track record for excellence in the duck business! They are true professional breeders and maintain genetic diversity and quality in their stock. They use best practices and the probability of having too close of related stock from different orders, especially a couple years apart, is slim to none. Metzer does the breeding work of maintaining genetic diversity, better than most will and their size is a benefit in that. One has to maintain a lot of breeder ducks to be the best! Good luck with your ducks!

 

[Clayton 1974]

PS. I forgot to say, I am very interested in your Bielefelder chicks Clayton! I considered some but was worried about comments of them stressing bad in severe heat! I live in West Tennessee, closer the Mississippi River than you. Good Luck and let me know how they do for you!

Hi Birdsonghill, the heat stress problems that the Bielefelders have is concerning but my poultry house is in the shade so hopefully they will be ok.
My poultry house this morning looks like a ice house with all the snow & ice we have gotten this week. ❄❄❄

 

[Birdsonghill]

Hi Birdsonghill, the heat stress problems that the Bielefelders have is concerning but my poultry house is in the shade so hopefully they will be ok.
My poultry house this morning looks like a ice house with all the snow & ice we have gotten this week. ❄❄❄

I share your hope and am excited to have someone near this part of Tennessee, to observe. I almost ordered some and did order a couple Cochins, and I know it can be rough on them, but they can make it, with good shade. I will be watching for your post after the birds come! We got hammered too, with 12 inches of snow on the ground now. We had 8-10 inches after the ice storm that melted off some and then 8- 10 inches more! Good luck.

 

[Clayton 1974]

I share your hope and am excited to have someone near this part of Tennessee, to observe. I almost ordered some and did order a couple Cochins, and I know it can be rough on them, but they can make it, with good shade. I will be watching for your post after the birds come! We got hammered too, with 12 inches of snow on the ground now. We had 8-10 inches after the ice storm that melted off some and then 8- 10 inches more! Good luck.

When the Bielefelder chicks get here I will definitely post some pictures & will continue to post pictures as the grow and fill out.

 

[Birdsonghill]

When the Bielefelder chicks get here I will definitely post some pictures & will continue to post pictures as the grow and fill out.

Awesome! If my Grandson shows me how to download from this camera I have and put them up here, I will post some photos later, I hope.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have never ordered sucks from there, but have always been happy with the chickens I’ve gotten from them.

 

[FernbergFarms]

I am very much looking forward to receiving my 35 Bielefelder chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery that is due to be shipped out the first week of March.

So will your order by affected my the USPS embargo they set up? Maybe it’s just where I live but the postal service said they weren’t going to ship live animals for the next two week because they were backed up in packages! I’ve got several emails from different hatcheries telling me this and asking for me to like email the governor.. my order is in May so it won’t effect it. But did you hear about this? (Again I live in Mn and the hatcheries sending me this mostly out of IA so maybe it’s just where I live)

 

[feather13]

So will your order by affected my the USPS embargo they set up? Maybe it’s just where I live but the postal service said they weren’t going to ship live animals for the next two week because they were backed up in packages! I’ve got several emails from different hatcheries telling me this and asking for me to like email the governor.. my order is in May so it won’t effect it. But did you hear about this? (Again I live in Mn and the hatcheries sending me this mostly out of IA so maybe it’s just where I live)

I don't think I'd want to ship chicks right now with the cold weather happening in the Midwest. It's understandable that the USPS is backed up with icy, unsafe roads and conditions and live animals require special handling. Two weeks means that the hatcheries probably won't be able to ship day-old chicks (and I don't know what happens to unshipped day old chicks), but that's better than sending chicks to sub-freezing places where they might not make it. Just my two cents.