ordering from Murray McMurray. What are your experiences?

[MIchickens]

A little info on Murray McMurray. I received my chick a week ago (27 Jan 13). I ordered 47 total chicks of various breeds. I even went as far as to call my main post office hub and ask them to call me and I would pick them up whenever they got there. I received the call at 11:00pm on a Sunday. I drove the 2 hours round trip to get them faster to reduce the stress....if I had waited to get them from my local post office...who knows how many more would have died. 2 of the chicks were DOA in the box when I opened it. Later that day 3 more died. And the next day 3 more died. 1 day after that I only lost 1. Also, I ordered 4 Golden laced Wyandotte's...they didn't ship them to me. Their was a sticker on the inside of the box that said they said they ran out. Now keep in mind I ordered these chicks 3 months in advance. So there's no excuse for not sending them.

OK, now I have 3 chicks with crossed beaks and 1 with an eye problem. I will probably cull them tomorrow.

I would suggest trying to find a local hatchery around you and buy them from there. I am not happy at all with McMurray. Although their people were very nice on the phone each time I called...I believe their chicks are sub-standard. Be prepared to lose a 1/4 of them due to death or sub standard breeding.

I'm just sayin....lol

 

[BeccaBeeOly]

Ugh.... That's what I'm scared of. Sorry you had sub par chicks and bad luck. I've always done live chick pick-u for this reason.

 

[Runawaylobster]

A little info on Murray McMurray. I received my chick a week ago (27 Jan 13). I ordered 47 total chicks of various breeds. I even went as far as to call my main post office hub and ask them to call me and I would pick them up whenever they got there. I received the call at 11:00pm on a Sunday. I drove the 2 hours round trip to get them faster to reduce the stress....if I had waited to get them from my local post office...who knows how many more would have died. 2 of the chicks were DOA in the box when I opened it. Later that day 3 more died. And the next day 3 more died. 1 day after that I only lost 1. Also, I ordered 4 Golden laced Wyandotte's...they didn't ship them to me. Their was a sticker on the inside of the box that said they said they ran out. Now keep in mind I ordered these chicks 3 months in advance. So there's no excuse for not sending them.

OK, now I have 3 chicks with crossed beaks and 1 with an eye problem. I will probably cull them tomorrow.

I would suggest trying to find a local hatchery around you and buy them from there. I am not happy at all with McMurray. Although their people were very nice on the phone each time I called...I believe their chicks are sub-standard. Be prepared to lose a 1/4 of them due to death or sub standard breeding.

I'm just sayin....lol

I am wondering if the cold had something to do with it, after all arent we setting some record lows?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

A little info on Murray McMurray. I received my chick a week ago (27 Jan 13). I ordered 47 total chicks of various breeds. I even went as far as to call my main post office hub and ask them to call me and I would pick them up whenever they got there. I received the call at 11:00pm on a Sunday. I drove the 2 hours round trip to get them faster to reduce the stress....if I had waited to get them from my local post office...who knows how many more would have died. 2 of the chicks were DOA in the box when I opened it. Later that day 3 more died. And the next day 3 more died. 1 day after that I only lost 1. Also, I ordered 4 Golden laced Wyandotte's...they didn't ship them to me. Their was a sticker on the inside of the box that said they said they ran out. Now keep in mind I ordered these chicks 3 months in advance. So there's no excuse for not sending them.

OK, now I have 3 chicks with crossed beaks and 1 with an eye problem. I will probably cull them tomorrow.

I would suggest trying to find a local hatchery around you and buy them from there. I am not happy at all with McMurray. Although their people were very nice on the phone each time I called...I believe their chicks are sub-standard. Be prepared to lose a 1/4 of them due to death or sub standard breeding.

I'm just sayin....lol

That sounds like a horrible experience. I can't offer any explanation for the dead and cross-beaked chicks. It does seem like the babies had a rough shipping experience, which might be due to the cold weather. Personally I never order chicks any sooner than mid-March, and my temps don't get as cold as yours.

I do know what happend with your GLW. Most hatcheries, including MMM, will give you the choice of either accepting substitutions if they can't get a certain kind of chick or just not getting that chick. If you chose to not accept a substitute breed for your GLWs, then that's why you didn't get them. As for there being "no excuse" because you ordered in advance, surely you understand that when you're dealing with living things, things happen. Maybe there was a bad hatch for that hatch date. If you ordered pullets, maybe that hatch had a very large number of cockerels for some reason. Maybe there was disease. There are lots of reasons a hatchery might not have day-old chicks of a particular breed available on a specific date, which is why they ask your preference, to have a different breed substituted or not.

I have received a great many chicks over the years from MMM, and I do not believe that their breeding is "sub standard." They're not show birds, but they have all been healthy and lay well--better than the same variety that had been bred for show, so the production type works for me. Their EEs lay better than those from any other hatchery I've tried.

 

[swede-murphy]

"...I believe their chicks are sub-standard. Be prepared to lose a 1/4 of them due to death or sub standard breeding.

I'm just sayin....lol"

One datum point does not make a trend! Sorry it did not work for you on this occasion, but it is a stretch to blame it on sub-standard breeding. Did MMM make things right with a refund or credit?

 

[BeccaBeeOly]

just received my new cluckers from MMM! Everyone arrived happy and healthy. The mystery chick didn't appear to bee the breed stated, but it was big and healthy! Hooray!

 

[TravisE]

i got my today to. but i had 10 that were doa

. also had 2 that are weak. they refunded me for them. they was nice on the phone. i thank it was to cold for them.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

just received my new cluckers from MMM! Everyone arrived happy and healthy. The mystery chick didn't appear to bee the breed stated, but it was big and healthy! Hooray!

Did MMM start telling you what the Free Rare Chick is? As late as my last order in 2012 the Free Rare Chick was a puzzle to figure out until it got older. They never stated a breed before. That will cut down on a lot of threads asking what the Free Rare Chick is!

 

[Runawaylobster]

Did MMM start telling you what the Free Rare Chick is? As late as my last order in 2012 the Free Rare Chick was a puzzle to figure out until it got older. They never stated a breed before. That will cut down on a lot of threads asking what the Free Rare Chick is!

Haha... yes it wouldn't be a mystery chick if we knew .... I was pleased with mine.. One handsome Fayoumi Roo..

 

[BeccaBeeOly]

The box we got had the breed of the mystery chick listed along with the other breeds. It said it was a Dominique, but unless the males look totally different, I think it really was a mystery breed roo

We did loose two chicks during the night - a RIR and a Dominique.