I recently received my first chicks from McMurray, so I don't have any adult pictures. I wasn't looking for show chickens. Just pets. I started thinking about getting chickens about 1 1/2 years ago and McMurray was the first catalog that came in the mail. If I thought I could find the type of chicks I wanted locally, I would have done it. I was not crazy about having chicks sent through the USPS. Nothing against the postal service, it's just that they are live animals. But I wanted certain breeds and I wanted them inoculated. The chicks from the local feed stores and TSC were not inoculated. The folks at TSC all seem to care about the chicks but I was in there yesterday and the conditions in the chick bins were pretty sad. Anyway, I am getting off track. My McMurray chicks hatched 4/16. I received them early on 4/19. All were alive and healthy. I have not had any problems. No pasty butt. Just a box full of happy, friendly chicks. If they are half as cute as adults as they are as chicks, I will consider myself pretty lucky. So, I guess it all depends on what you are looking for.
The free chick looks like a Buff Cochin to me. A little fancy for my taste but he is very friendly.
they hatched the 16th and didnt arrive till the 19th!!? thats too long. youre very lucky.
see, mcxmurry takes too long to ship or something, they wait too long i think, also they will send over a weekend, which isnt a good business practice with live animals.
now, i have nothing against shipping live birds, i order from hatcheries, and will continue to, i love cackle hatchery, but mcmurry rubs me the wrong way.
I ordered turkey eggs from McMurray. They came in a regular egg carton with shredded paper in box, so most were smashed.
What was left was mostly infertile.
I am not impressed, a waste of a lot of money.
I am going to order some turkey eggs from the auction here.
Mine aren't fully grown yet (they're 3 months), but here are a couple pictures. My FRE was a white crested black polish female, not really "rare" but it was free and she's a super sweet bird so I'm not going to whine about it.
Buff orpington lady, sweet birds.
Black giant butts
I haven't had any health problems. So far they're healthy, friendly birds. The black giants are kind of spastic compared to the buff orpingtons, but still not bad birds. Sally the polish is a total sweetheart. She rides around in my 8 year olds bike basket
They did arrive on a Sunday, but we live rurally and our PO is used to handling live chicks, so they called me right away (after initially calling from the first town nearby they came to at SIX IN THE MORNING to tell me they were on their way, lol!)
We'll see how they do at the fair. MM gets a bad rap here but I haven't personally had any problems, so idk. I ordered from them because that's who our 4H leader who's had chickens for decades recommended.
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I'm sorry but "nice" I guess would just be personal taste. Those Polish are so far from "Laced" even that I wouldn't even guess them to be Buff Laced. . . Sorry.
they actually ended up lacing very well....they are just young in the pics. although i was very disappointed cause all but one died from AE. and that one walked on her shanks from it. i also had a belgian quail with a crossed beak that starved to death. I think it's a hit or miss kinda thing. i know people that love mcmurray and some that absolutely hate them.
I ordered from McMurray, like others, didn't want to show or anything, like getting chicks vaccinated, and love their grow gel. I only lost one chick out of 35, a little red leghorn that was just kind of runty, and failed to thrive. I got like, 12 Blue Andalusians, and I got one decent rooster, and 2 pretty nice hens out of it. Of course I don't have any pictures of them, lol, but I have some of the not so nice ones.
My freebie was a FUNNY story, now sad. We got the Andalusians, black and buff minorcas, and red and brown leghorns. So it was easy to tell that the little spotted chick was the freebie. His name started as peep, but when Micheal Jackson died, my daughter decided to rename some of the chickens after the Jacksons. We had the whole family, and Peep, was renamed Michael. Later, Latoya turned out to be a roo, so Latoya is now, Troy, after Cowboy Troy. Where this gets even funnier, is look at how Michael turned out:
(That's Latoya/Troy with him) They were late shipped birds, and were only a little less than a month when Michael Jackson died. How funny is the black and white fancy, flouncy with a silly comb?
Sadly, about a week ago, Michael disappeared. We later found out that he had probably got too close to my coondog, and died in a ditch behind my house. My child is devastated. I am sad, he was the best little rooster we have. Troy is a bully. My nice Blue roo is a bully. Tito is friendly, (pictured below) but he's awful, awful quality. If I could get rid of him I would. Roosters are going to the sale barn Saturday.
i have nothing but good things to say about them. over the last 20 yrs. i have bought over 150 chicks over that time. and. i have never had anything, but healhty chicks.they grow out very well. to be hatchery birds,ithink they are first class. you will not be disapointed with your birds