Murray McMurray Stock Info ( Domestic Goddes this might help)

[BarredBuff]

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Amen

 

[Katy]

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I don't have any issues at all with hatchery birds....that's all I had for many years as a laying flock. It is true that most people just care about having a hen that will lay them lots of nice eggs.

My issue is with hatcheries who show pictures of birds in show cages, that are not even their birds! Most people looking at their websites or catalogs are going to assume that is the caliber of bird they are going to be getting which 99 out of a 100 is not going to be the case. There was one hatchery I saw had pictures of birds from a UK or Dutch website......when I asked them about their pictures they told me the pictures were "representative of the breed". Can a good "show quality" bird that meets the APA standard be gotten from a hatchery? Yes, I'm sure it can happen, but the odds are not that good. On the other hand not every bird hatched from or gotten from a breeder is going to be "show quality" either.

 

[prov31gal]

Quote:
Amen

i only refer to this being a problem from 1 hatchery. when i mention it i specifically feel that mmm hatchery uses this to hide behind, because of super inferior stock. i dont know about any other hatchery who uses drawings, im sure there are great places who use drawings whose chickens are wonderful......i only bring up the overly stylized, not realistic pictures that 1 certain hatchery uses, who happens to have terrible birds but does nothing about it because they are so huge and so so many people just buy from them anyways, they dont care or try to offer a quality product, and i only mean 1 place, mmm. that is what i think...im sorry if people dont like it, this is my experience. if you had a different experience, thats fine. i do not condemn all places using drawings....i dont care about other places, i am stating my opinion that mmm uses unrealistic pics because their product will not look anything like what its supposed to if it actually lives and isnt deformed or sick.
ok, all done.

 

[Cara]

But McMurray don't routinely sell deformed and sick chicks. They do not have 'super inferior stock'. If they did they would not have been in business this long, they would have no repeat customers, no reputation, and be bankrupt from refunds. They do not have terrible birds. I received an order from them this morning, none of them are sick, deformed, or the kind of mutants you'd have us believe that they sell. I am quite pleased with what I received and they look just as good as any hatchery chicks I have bought, in fact actually better considering how many I ordered and the lack of any weak chicks.

I completely agree it is not acceptable to display photos on a website that any reasonable person would assume were their own birds. I could name one company that is far more guilty of this than even Cackle. We can all tell our birds apart even when they might look identical to a lay person, and I think there is a difficulty in that not every bird they sell will resemble that exact photo of any bird. I don't think they are trying to hide behind sketches, I think it is those that portray photos of show winning birds with no disclaimer that are actually trying to deceive their customers. I think in the case of McMurray they use portraits as they go with the old fashioned theme of their catalog.

 

[prov31gal]

thats fine......thats your opinion, based on your experience, im glad you had a good experience, i hope you continue to have good experiences. my experiences are not the same. i will keep my feelings about said hatchery to myself, it seems to upset the peopel who have had good experiences, i know that no hatchery is perfect, and no place has a 100 % customer satisfaction rate. but in my experience, when you have experienced more bad than good, and met many people along the way whi have also had the same experience, its hard to be so optimistic.
i am truly glad youve got good birds!
oh, and many companies sell flimsy poor quality crap and are the most prosperous busnisess around. i ngeneral, peopel will buy what is cheap, well advertised and easily accessable, regardless of quality. thats how they make money. but that is once again....just my own experience.

 

[CityChicker]

Okay, without reading all the new posts on this thread... I will say this- I do not think ill of hatcheries, not even in the slightest. I have bought birds at least once from every one of the even modest sized hatcheries. The quality, in my opinion, is fairly comparable regardless of who you order from. That has been my experience. No one has to agree. If you order from a major hatchery, you will probably not get "horrible" birds and you will probably not get "show quality" birds. What you will get is a production/utility quality bird that is generally somewhat representative of the breed (not always though!).

On the issue of drawings verses photos, there is no difference to me in "hiding behind" a drawing of a bird verses "hiding behind" a photo of someone else's birds. In actuality, if I had to pick one option that is worse than the other, I would say it is picturing someone else's birds to sell yours. That, to me, borders on unscrupulous even if the hatchery does indeed sell decent birds. In either situation, the seller's birds are not pictured so I really don't see how drawings are less ethical than pictures of someone else's birds.

 

[Mrs MIA]

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They look like Barred Rocks and Australorps.

What is your purpose for having birds? Eggs? Meat? Show birds?

And thank you, peeps, for keeping this civil. I hope you can agree that no one will ever agree on something like this.

 

[D Bar J Acres]

I ordered from McMurray last February and am absolutly thrilled with my buff brahma bantams. They are very nice looking, very healthy and no defects at all. They started laying at 18 weeks and I had three broodies by 21 weeks.

They did mess up my order a bit, but fixed that and gave me a refund with no problems.

The couple black stars are hardy girls, altho not the great layers they are proclaimed to be, the brahmas lay better. The dark brahma bantam that survived (2 of 3 perished during transit) was THE ugliest little cockeral and MEAN.

I have one pic of a buff brahma roo at 5 months of age on my homepage at www.dbarjacres.com and also one of the roo, hens and black stars on my pic page at the bottom.

 

[FortWorthChicks]

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a BYC member has a picture of her son and their bird on page 79 of the cackle hatchery catalog.

 

[CityChicker]

...yes, and? I am not sure what you mean. I presume that *some* of the birds are theirs or birds purchased through them. Are you saying the BYC'er is there with permission or without permission? It is really neither here nor there for me personally because Katy has already confirmed that they have said some of the pictures are not their birds (and I have heard this from others as well). I will refrain from saying more since this is not a thread about Cackle, but I never said it was not possible to get good birds from a hatchery. It is, especially if you order a large number. Chances are better though with a breeder that has selectively bred their stock. Anyway, I am not going to say any more as this is beating a dead horse and the OP asked about McMurray's, not Cackle. I will still disagree with the assertion that was made that Cackle's pictures represent their birds, that they are show quality, and are better than McMurrays. I don't buy that, nor do I think the OP should be swayed from McMurray's to Cackle for those reason.