My experience ordering chicks with MPC (My pet chicken)

[dekel18042]

Hello BYC!

I wanted to come here and share my experience with MPC (My Pet Chicken) because it has honestly been wonderful and I don't see them talked about enough on the forum. My 4 babies arrived this week comfortable and healthy and I am so pleased with how helpful the folks at the company have been. I chose MPC because they allowed me to cherry pick my breeds for my small back yard flock. Other places required a minimum of 3 of each breed, and I really want to have 1 of each breed so I can have a colorful egg basket with a small flock. I also really wanted a Polish just for fun but didn't want to have to order 3 of that breed. I spent A LOT of time on the phone with multiple customer service reps asking questions about breeds, changing my mind on my order 3 times (I am indecisive haha) and getting fantastic advice and first hand experience from seasoned chicken keepers. Every single customer service rep I spoke with was kind, polite, helpful, and never rushed me off the phone. It felt like they truly loved talking chickens as much as I do.

My new babies are thriving and I plan to come back here as they grow and update their progress. Of course I will report if there are any incorrect breeds (there doesn't seem to be based off photos online) or sexing issues. I just wanted to put this post here since I couldn't find much when I searched MPC prior to ordering. View attachment 3680281

I have ordered chicks from My Pet Chicken several times and the experience was mostly positive. I often went in with several friends as more chicks seem to travel better, but I will not be buying from them again for several reasons. First of all I did get several boys when I ordered sexed pullets. but that to me is neither here nor there, but it did happen.
But their shipping rates are outrageous. Some hatcheries include shipping in the price of their birds and are much more reasonable. That with the higher price of their chicks is a turnoff.
Plus if you are getting several breeds you need to find a date when all are available or accept substitutions.
But the real heartbreaker is when I ordered 14 chicks, mostly one or two of each breed I wanted to try, many were fairly expensive and when we opened the box there were dead babies. I lost a cuckoo and French Wheaten Marans, an orpington and a few others.
And yes, they gave me credit, but they couldn't replace or resend babies as they were out so I took a loss and said never again.
Since then I have replaced the breeds I lost from either Hoovers hatchery and TSC with no problems and a fraction of the cross.