Murray McMurray?

[wings]

We're going to get Barred Rocks and Wyandottes. (I posted a question in the Breed section about the difference between Golden Laced and Silver Laced. I need some help with that...)
They seem gentle, hardy, and pretty, so we're going with them. I was trying to get my parents to let me get more than six, but our coop is sort of small.....

 

[redoak]

My father-in-law ordered 7 barred rock hens last March, along with my chickens. They all arrived healthy and are now laying on average 4 eggs a day from the 5 hens that are still alive. (his dog has eaten 3 of his chickens so far, 2 hens 1 rooster).

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

There are lots of threads on this hatchery.... so, you can find lots of opinions.

I had a very positive experience, but I have since learned that there is a big difference betwen hatchery birds and breeder birds, IF you are concerned about body type, or show standards.

All the birds that we got from McMurrey were healthy, and ffriendly, and are still doing great! However, our Jersey Giant is smaller than our RIR, and our Cochins look like Brahmas in height and body shape. We have two breeder Cochins, and they look very different!

We love our birds, and were VERY pleased with McMurrey, but if you are looking to show, or breed, they may not be where you should start!

Good Luck!

 

[Fresh Eggs]

Right now I am trying to convince MY dad to help ME build our coup in an old dog run with ivy full of bugs and 12 inch grass, but no he wants to build it in an old horse stall thats rat infested and rotting!

 

[jossanne]

I've ordered rainbow layers from McMurray two times, and had excellent luck with them. They've traveled all the way to NM pretty safely. The first time I ordered, I got 25 rainbow layers, and DH got 12 buff orps, and we ended up with 47 chicks. One died en route, and two died within the first two days, but I think they were packing peanuts. We ended up with 8 packing peanut roos, and two other roos. So we ended up with 37 pullets when we ordered 37 pullets. I thought that was amazing!

The second time we ordered 25 rainbow layers plus the 1 free rare and exotic. We ended up with 25 pullets, and 1 cockerel, no packing peanuts. The free rare and exotic is a beautiful white polish pullet. The one cockerel is a silver-spangled hamburg, and he's gorgeous. All 26 chicks survived the trip and grew up to be happy and healthy. I didn't like the personalities of the 5 RIR that came with that order, so I sold them, and still have 20 girls, about half of whom are laying up a storm now at 6 months old.

I love my McMurray birds.

 

[jimnjay]

My advise is to consider your area and the temperatures during this time of year and it it get near freezing, Please do not order chicks at this time. They can make it but it is just terribly hard on them. If you check the threads from last winter you will see that many lost lots of chicks during winter shipments.

McMurrary has great customer service. The truth about the stock is that they order eggs from farmers all over the country and many of the other hatcheries may order from the same farmers. There are advantages from ordering from a hatchery over a breeder. It is best to order from one that is closest to you to cut down on travel time. JMHO

 

[Run-A-Muck Ranch]

Did everyone get there new MM catalog now. I got mine yesterday in the mail. YEAH!!!!!!
now the choices I have to make......

 

[HeadHen]

I got 26 birds from them and it was my first time with chickens. I'm in south texas and they came healthy and happy right on time. No fatalities. Started laying right on time and laying like crazy right now. I'm getting 14+ eggs a day, sometimes 24. My one problem was I ordered all pullets and of the 2 EE's one turned out to be a roo (I lost the other to an attack). I would like to order from them again (but not sure I want another 25 birds).

Edited to add: I got them in July though

 

[jossanne]

Quote:
Since you're in Texas, you ought to order from Ideal. They're in Cameron. They have a $25 minimum order, instead of a 25 chick minimum order. I ordered 10 bantam cochin pullets in October. They stuck in 15 BR packing peanuts, one of which died. The remaining 24 are doing great! I've heard their EE's are nice, but haven't had any. You can opt out of packing peanuts, too, by paying a couple extra dollars for shipping insurance. Their shipping prices seemed more reasonable than McMurray's, too.

I'm very happy with my birds from both McMurray and Ideal.

 

[CTChickenMom]

I just went in on an order with a local lady and my sister from McMurray for a total of 106 chicks. Customer service was great, I called a couple times before we even ordered. They'll be coming first week of April so it will be a bit warmer. We were each able to take advantage of their free chick offer! How cool is that! A mystery chick!

My sister has ordered 2 Dorking, a Salmon Faverolle, and a Silver Laced Wyandotte. I have 2 each of Hamburgs, Brahmas, Cochins, Wyandotte, Araucanas and Australorps in various feather colors. A neighbor ordered 90 mixed.

Thats a lot of chickens! I'm trying to figure out how big their pen should be in the house considering they will be in there for 6 weeks or so.