Never Again! Meyer Hatchery

[ThatFarmerChick]

My order came this morning as well. I have not really tried to make sure that I have everything, but they did not put my Grow-gel in the order.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I have ordered from both MM and Meyer in the past, and although I will no longer be using any large hatcheries there are positive and negative points to both.
MM had healthy and lively chicks and the sexing was 99% accurate for my 100+ birds through them.

Meyer on the otherhand had less than 70% accruacy and I had 3 DOA, as well as one bird that was completely the wrong breed. Pretty sure that fellow was a mix breed (not a good thing for a hatchery to admit). I ended up with 3 to 4 more roos than expected out of each order through them (40+ birds).

One positive thing I can say about Meyer is the EE's. They are healthy vibrant and lovely birds as well as some of my best layers!

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

I have ordered from both MM and Meyer in the past, and although I will no longer be using any large hatcheries there are positive and negative points to both.
MM had healthy and lively chicks and the sexing was 99% accurate for my 100+ birds through them.

Meyer on the otherhand had less than 70% accruacy and I had 3 DOA, as well as one bird that was completely the wrong breed.  Pretty sure that fellow was a mix breed (not a good thing for a hatchery to admit).  I ended up with 3 to 4 more roos than expected out of each order through them (40+ birds).  

One positive thing I can say about Meyer is the EE's.  They are healthy vibrant and lovely birds as well as some of my best layers!

Thank you for sharing. My MMS from this year are 6 weeks. MY Meyer babies are 3 days old. MM sent me a lot of the wrong birds and we lost 6 chicks. I am praying that Meyer's has gotten better with sexing. I do not need any more males than I had ordered. At least I have what I ordered breed wise, and all are still breathing.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I've finally learned the positives of buying from local (or in some cases several hours away LOL) breeders! I just had to cull my favorite roo and head of my free range flock. Although the Brahmas are known for being a docile breed the 'all for one' approch of hatchery breeding leads to much higher aggression......and broken hearts. He was a Meyer bird.

 

[fiveidahoboys]

Hello,

We ordered our flock of 28 from Meyer and are happy with them all. We ordered the Rainbow Pack - cold hardy, plus 2 Buff Orph roosters. We lost one after shipping and ended up with two RIR roo's, which were later culled due to aggression issues, towards our Buff Orph roo's. With the exception of those RIR roo' ours are friendly, non agressive and very balanced as a flock. We hand raised them and spent a lot of time with them when young and I work with the roosters daily to keep them docile and approachable. We ordered chicks and our cost was less than $150, not sure why your cost so much, did you order pullets?

Here is a shot of our eggs all from Meyer. Like others have said hatchery birds are not always true to breed standards and it is a crap shoot as to what you get.

Wow! These eggs are amazing! I have been considering adding a wellsummer to my 13 chicks I already have simply for the egg color. That is if the feed store hasn't sold them which is very possible since it was a week ago Monday that I was there. Anyways, could you possibly show me a pic of a close up wellsummer egg so I can see the egg color? That would be great. I never knew chickens could be so much for or that j would want so many!

 

[ChickyNextDoor]

In June I ordered 7 hens from Meyer Hatchery, 4 breeds, all arrived healthy. My problem is that out of only 7 hens three turned out to be roosters. I can't have roosters in the city. I am very fustrated and not sure if I want to order from them again. Luckily I have found a new home for the three.

 

[ImNotYogi]

In June I ordered 7 hens from Meyer Hatchery, 4 breeds, all arrived healthy. My problem is that out of only 7 hens three turned out to be roosters. I can't have roosters in the city. I am very fustrated and not sure if I want to order from them again. Luckily I have found a new home for the three.

Have you contacted Meyer about the cockerels? They have the 90% guarantee of correct sexing so they should either refund or credit the amount for the males.

 

[ChickyNextDoor]

I am contacting them tomorrow. Thank you.

 

[Sweet Coastal]

I was holding off posting this hoping Meyers would make it right. My family and I have been anxiously awaiting our 17 chics from Meyers. I tracked them all the way here and even called he post office to make sure I could get them as soon as they got in. They were delivered last Thursday to the post office. 16 DOA and the last one died within 3 hours. I know when ordering shipped birds some loss is inevitable. We were devastated to say the least. We called Meyers as soon as they opend to inform them of what happened. I belive it was the post office who mishandled them but still thought Meyers would make it right. They informed us they would replace the chicks next week. I wasn't even sure I could go through this again but decided it was probably just a fluke and I would try again. We lied to our kids trying to save them from the pain and informed them the chicks would be arriving a week late. Meyers informed us to call Today to make sure they had all the correct chicks for the order. When we called they were out of almost all of our chicks and would not be sending replacement. We could have a credit and keep checking the site if we wanted. This was a appalling response to me. They had chicks that were the breeds we ordered but wound up selling them all before they replaced ours. You would think they would replace the damaged birds before filling new orders. Hey did refund my money but honestly this in no way made me feel any better. I had to come home and tell my kids that we were not going to get our chicks that we had been waiting months for. My daughter has been taking pictures of the chicks to show and tell for weeks and is now devistated. I will never order from them again and wanted to share my experience with all. I understand that accidents happen but Meyers should have made this right.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I was holding off posting this hoping Meyers would make it right. My family and I have been anxiously awaiting our 17 chics from Meyers. I tracked them all the way here and even called he post office to make sure I could get them as soon as they got in. They were delivered last Thursday to the post office. 16 DOA and the last one died within 3 hours. I know when ordering shipped birds some loss is inevitable. We were devastated to say the least. We called Meyers as soon as they opend to inform them of what happened. I belive it was the post office who mishandled them but still thought Meyers would make it right. They informed us they would replace the chicks next week. I wasn't even sure I could go through this again but decided it was probably just a fluke and I would try again. We lied to our kids trying to save them from the pain and informed them the chicks would be arriving a week late. Meyers informed us to call Today to make sure they had all the correct chicks for the order. When we called they were out of almost all of our chicks and would not be sending replacement. We could have a credit and keep checking the site if we wanted. This was a appalling response to me. They had chicks that were the breeds we ordered but wound up selling them all before they replaced ours. You would think they would replace the damaged birds before filling new orders. Hey did refund my money but honestly this in no way made me feel any better. I had to come home and tell my kids that we were not going to get our chicks that we had been waiting months for. My daughter has been taking pictures of the chicks to show and tell for weeks and is now devistated. I will never order from them again and wanted to share my experience with all. I understand that accidents happen but Meyers should have made this right.

That is rough.

I know how hard it is to have to break bad news like this to the little ones.
This late in the year chicks, even from the hatcheries, can be hard to get. So Spring might be your best bet.

Might I suggest finding some local breeders. It might be more fun for the kids, and certainly easier on you to get them right from the source.
In my experence breeder quaility birds are well worth a drive (I've traveled over 6 hours one way LOL)!