My Murray McMurray Hatchery Review.

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Hello,

I would like to write a review of my experience with McMurray hatchery. This is my first year raising chickens, my family has a farm which I didn't grow up on but visit as often as I can, my first cousin once removed decided to get back into chickens this year also so when I was over there last saw his, saw how relatively easy chickens are to take care of and that pushed me to buy chickens that day, we went to the local Rural King and I purchased medicated chick starter, 2 types of feeders, 2 one gal waterers, some bedding, a heat lamp and 10 Australorp chicks. I drove home resecured a horse stall that I decided to be my chicken coop, and let the chicks free. I didn't do a brooder because my stall/coop was secured, draft free ext. I lost one chick, it was acting funny from day one (I showed it where the food and water was ext) but it died less than 48 hours later. My second cousin like the australorps so well he bought the 5 chicks left rural king had the next day for his flock and out of those 5 one died. The Australorp chicks were 2.50 each at rural King. My cousin mainly had ameraucana chicks by this time were 2 months old purchased at rural king, I liked the idea of blue/green eggs so I was wanting to finish my flock with ameraucana chicks, August 1st is when I bought my Australorps, being late in the season I decided to order them from a hatchery and choose McMurray, I ordered 15 hens and one rooster, I did not decide to substitute chicks, I received 19 chicks, 4 of the 19 I did not think we're ameraucana chicks but 3 of those could be (all white), the fourth is a Turkin chick lol. About 36 hours in almost over night 5 chicks got sick and died suddenly, the only thing in there environment I changed was switched them from village/city water to rain water, than back after chicks started dieing, anyway contacted the hatchery and asked if they had gotten reports of chicks getting sick and explained that I had 5 get sick and died out of 28, they claim its 2-3 days to respond so I waited, within 8 hours I got a response, I was more fishing if the change in water was the reason and after the 3rd email of questions/answers they willingly refunded the cost of the birds, I didn't blame them for the deaths and I admitted it was out of the 48h timeframe on the chicks so either way they were cleared from fault. I was surprised by this and thought that's really good business on there end. So I ordered 22 more, 1 Australorp rooster and 20 ameraucana hens and 1 mystery chick. I didn't plan on such a large flock but planned to sell eggs. There isn't much of a blue egg market around where I live. Each chick cost 1.80 more per chick after shipping than buying at a local shop like rural King but when I finally decided to raise a flock all the local stores were done for the year or very limited on selection. I would recommend the McMurray hatchery to friends and family and is why I wrote this because of the pleasant experience I had with them.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

how old are they now??? Did they all turn out to be the sex/breed you wanted??

This year i tried mcmurray, and now that my chicks are 6 months old i am very disappointing. Its not like i was expecting breeder quality birds, but i still ended up with birds with obvious mixed heritage. Barred rocks, dark cornish, and cochins with wrong colors. Also i ordered nearly 20 sexed females, 5 unsexed, and 6 roosters. 8 of the sex females turned out to be roosters, and 1 of the roosters turned out to be a girl. I sure didn't pay extra for sexed females to get males!! Also, the entirely missed 2 breeds, some WLR cornish and silver laced cochins didn't come. Overall, i wasn't impressed, but from every one else ive heard good reviews. maybe i just got them on a bad day, lol.

 

[keesmom]

I ordered from them for the first time this year. Order was for 22 pullet chicks - various LF Cochins, speckled Sussex, Egyptian Fayoumis, Sicillian Buttercups, dark Brahmas - plus a free exotic. All chicks arrived alive and were thriving. Four months later all are still doing well. The free chick turned out to be a Phoenix cockerel. One of the buff Cochins is also a cockerel (and quite large) but the remaining 21 were all sexed correctly.

 

[Michael OShay]

I've ordered chicks from Murray McMurray on a number of occasions over the years and have been happy with their birds and service. I've never lost more than 1 or 2 chicks in shipping, and since they've always put 2 or 3 extra in the box, I always got what I paid for. )

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

...

how old are they now??? Did they all turn out to be the sex/breed you wanted??" Quote]

Mine are 3-4 weeks old with another batch on the was September 9th so not sure if there all sexed correctly, I ordered 16 Easter egger Araucanas/Ameraucanas and got 18 EE's plus the free chick which is a Turken

ugly bird

I will have to wait and find out if there sexed correctly, sexing a chick is not a positive thing, some breeds are much harder to sex than others so I expect a few will be wrong, I just hope not many lol if they are they will be cooked.

 

[Sassenach]

I know I just read another thread about McMurray, and it was the first hatchery I found online just before I found byc, here and joined. I learned a few things reading the other thread. What I see is mostly is they stand by what they sell. One could certainly run into a day where the employees might be new or other stuff happens to the chicks.It looks like most things happen during postal handling in the postal system. Finding out some breeds are harder to sex than others so likelihood of getting the other gender than you might prefer in a mix or straight run order is going to possibly disappoint.

I think the percentages of average DOA is predictable and often times the chicks had to wait more than 48 hours at some post office before the member here got them, and that is about the window estimated, plus , the environments are colder and that puts extra stress on them so more might die than typical if the shipping day of the week was earlier than a Friday ship date ......... it also looks like they credit or replace what is lost or send an extra chick in some orders? I don't think that is bad at all. There will be an attrition rate, but mostly there were good reviews from all I have seen so far. They sell for egg production and meat and such, they are not show quality animals, but I think you may get some at times that would be show worthy, but with no papers issued , that negates it , doesn't it? I am here to learn for production of eggs and meat and some bug control in the yard once I am in Nebraska.

I was wondering if one can drive to their farm and pick up orders if they call ahead with an order, if they live close enough to drive to get them?

I am new here to byc and trying to learn as much as I can in preparation to finally be going to a small homestead in a farming community in South Central NE in the spring 2016. I am to be in charge of chickens for eggs and meat and rabbits for meat and probably the milk goats, with two other adults. Oh, gardening and planting a small orchard and such things for a small group of us. Starting fairly small but maybe can barter rabbit meat later on once things are well under way. It is going to be a very busy time so preparing with good information is going to help me. I am taking notes!.

I have had horses and goats in the past, but it has been a long time and now I really need to learn whatever I can about chickens and some of the other small livestock so I can at least know something when they are in my care at first.

So, just trying to find a few things out as I go along over the next several months. I appreciate this thread here.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I

I know I just read another thread about McMurray, and it was the first hatchery I found online just before I found byc, here and joined.  I learned a few things reading the other thread. What I see is mostly is they stand by what they sell. One could certainly run into a day where the employees might be new or other stuff happens to the chicks.It looks like most things happen during postal handling in the postal system.   Finding out some breeds are harder to sex than others so likelihood of getting the other gender than you might prefer in a mix or straight run order is going to possibly disappoint.

I think the percentages of average DOA is predictable and often times the chicks had to wait more than 48 hours at some post office before the member here got them, and that is about the window estimated, plus , the environments are colder and that puts extra stress on them so more might die than typical if the shipping day of the week was earlier than a Friday ship date ......... it also looks like they credit or replace what is lost or send an extra chick in some orders?  I don't think that is bad at all. There will be an attrition rate, but mostly there were good reviews from all I have seen so far. They sell for egg production and meat and such, they are not show quality animals, but I think you may get some at times that would be show worthy, but with no papers issued , that negates it , doesn't it? I am here to learn for production of eggs and meat and some bug control in the yard once I am in Nebraska. 

I was wondering if one can drive to their farm and pick up orders if they call ahead with an order, if they live close enough to drive to get them?

I am new here to byc and trying to learn as much as I can in preparation to finally be going to a small homestead in a farming community in South Central NE in the spring 2016. I am to be in charge of chickens for eggs and meat and rabbits for meat and probably the milk goats, with two other adults. Oh, gardening and planting  a small orchard and such things for a small group of us. Starting fairly small but maybe can barter rabbit meat later on once things are well under way. It is going to be a very busy time so preparing with good information is going to help me. I am taking notes!. 

I have had horses and goats in the past, but it has been a long time and now I really need to learn whatever I can about chickens and some of the other small livestock so I can at least know something when they are in my care at first.  

So, just trying to find a few things out as I go along over the next several months.  I appreciate this thread here. 

I would suggest if your starting in the spring to buy locally, I think that is the best and cheapest option, the only reason I bought from McMurray was because simply all the local places here in ohio were done selling chicks for the year or atleast Easter egggers which is what I wanted. McMurray is a good outfit, they stand by there product and for me refunded me money even know tech it wasn't there fault. The first batch of chicks I got we're all healthy until about 36 hours in when I changed there water, the second batch are all running around just fine, one chick didn't make it already and was dead by the time I got home, I'm not gonna chase after them over 1 chick lol. I ordered 22 +1 rare free bird and lost one, the rest are active, happy and very social for such young birds. I would say you couldn't do wrong ordering from McMurray but a chicken for eggs is a chicken, I can care less about papers and showing birds, I just wanted blue eggs lol. The local rural king here sells Easter egggers at $3 a chick, my australorps were $2.50 a chick, after shipping the birds I got from McMurray was $4.80 a bird, that would be the only advantage to local shops like TSC and rural King is the price. I will see when they grow up and will know by spring how they compare, my flock is mainly from McMurray 45 birds and my cousins flock of 38 birds was from a local rural King from an unknown hatchery, he has 8 australorps and 20+ auracanas AKA Easter eggers, and I have 10 australorps and 30+ Easter eggers. So our flocks are comparable, I predict there won't be much of a diff, only diff there could be would be the amount of blue eggs vs green or brown ext out of the Easter eggers, but in the end it doesn't matter much lol an egg is an egg, only reason for blue is nolvety basically, I plan to sell eggs so blue eggs is a selling point which makes my eggs special vs others for sale in the area, my cousin wants to eat all his and left overs go to the dogs to lower his feed bills, if my eggs don't sell than I will get hogs and primarily feed them hard boiled chicken eggs that I can't eat or sell half my flock ext. so I have options.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I never cared to buy pullets, there expensive in my opinion, $15-$20 a bird but there ready to lay and are sexed correctly, australorps are rated at a excellent meat chicken and amerucanas are excellent so either way I'm good if I get too many roosters I will just fry the ones I don't want, the hens I would sell if there good layers, after 2 years they really slow down or stop laying altogether than they will be soup birds. Chickens are a pretty good investment overall. I thought at one time getting a emu or some bigger bird but idk lol

 

[Mtdrifter26]

Some things you should know about McMurray.

I ordered chicks from McMurray this spring for the first time. I purchased 100 Cornish Cross, 15 New Hampshire Reds, and 2 Polish Laced. The birds all arrived in good health. They all have done well with only a few losses that I would not attribute to the hatchery. This, in my opinion is no different than any hatchery you order from. I have purchased some chicks locally and from another hatchery with equal results in regard to quality. My point here is they are nothing special and you can get the same quality bird just about anywhere.

But that is not really what you should know. When you order from McMurray DO NOT select that you will allow substitutions.

Early on I suspected that the New Hampshire Reds were not and were Rhode Island Reds instead. Ok, note to self, McMurray doesn't know the difference between the two chickens, don't order from them again. This I did not considered to be too severe, Rhode Island's are not my preference, I have had both Rhode Island and New Hampshire's in the past, I prefer the New Hampshire's, but not a catastrophe.

As time has progressed, the "Cornish Cross's" have not developed as expected, they are now 12 weeks old and are literally months away from butchering size, barely larger than my "New Hampshire Reds". I was out of state for all but 4 day the month of July. My neighbor, my wife and kids have been taking care of the chickens. When I return home last weekend, 7/31/2016, I expected to find chickens ready to butcher. Instead I find a pasture full of small unready birds. The next day I emailed McMurray to tell them I was very unhappy with their birds and would not be ordering from them ever again. They responded the next day inquiring about the food I gave them. I feed all chick starter, they do just fine on it, plus my chickens range over 10 acres of pasture and consume all of the grass, clover, mulberries, insects and whatever else they desire. I told McMurray this and that I have experience raising these bird so I am not buying the food excuse. Then they reply in short: send us pictures so we can see what you actually received; you selected to allow substitutions when you ordered. I never imagined, by the way they word their substitution statement, that my entire order would be substituted. Big mistake on my part. So, not only will McMurray substitute every chicken in your order, they will: 1) Not tell you the substitution has taken place. 2) Have no idea what they substituted, hence the request for pictures to see what I actually received. 3) Substitute bases solely on color of the bird. White bird for white bird. Cornish X's are white, so are White Rocks, however, Cornish X's are meat birds White Rocks are not. White Rocks are combo birds, larger bodies than layer specific birds, but lay a fair amount of eggs compared to a meat chicken. Like all things designed for combo/multipurpose use they do both, but neither one well. 4) McMurray will substitute a chick of lesser value for what you order, despite what their substitution policy is.

I made the "allow substitutions" selection when ordering because I did not want my entire order held up because they were 10 chicks short, not because I wanted to allow a complete order substitution. All 115 birds I ordered were substituted, the Cornish's were substituted with a lower value non-meat bird and the part I find the most unacceptable is, you will not be told a substitution occurred and they do not record what they substituted with. I identified the birds myself.

Why did I order from McMurray you ask yourself? Last winter I went looking for a hatchery closer to me and McMurray was and their shipping was cheaper. I saved 30 dollars in shipping and cost myself $500 in additional feed costs.

McMurray has made no offer to make things right, it is 3 months after the chicks arrived and they have their money. I would never recommend this hatchery to anyone. You can get quality chicks from other hatcheries or local feed stores. I guess I should be happy that I got the 2 Golden Laced Polish I ordered, right? I will be using Cackle Hatchery next year as I have in the past. Shipping will be more, but I get what I order, even when selecting "Allow Substitutions".

I will be happy to share my entire email chain with McMurray to anyone who wishes to read it.

Craig

 

[TravelChicks22]

We just ordered 15 chicks from McMurray and they are now about 4 weeks old. They arrived alive and in good health and they are all still doing well. McM also added one free chick, which we would have liked to be a rooster but it looks like it will be a hen. However, one of the Whiting Blue chicks is looking to be a rooster so it actually worked out well for us, as we only wanted one rooster. Overall I've been very happy with their order and would not hesitate to order from them again.