Pro's And Con's of CackleHatchery.com?

[SilkieChicken123]

Hi all!

What are the Pro's and Con's of CackleHatchery.com? I've heard all good about them, but I just thought I'd ask!
Also, would you personally recommend them?

Thanks in advance!

 

[theoldchick]

Yes, I would personally recommend them. I bought my Jersey Giants from them as day old chicks. 90 percent of them reached the age of 10. Though they were not standard of perfection by any means they were healthy, easy to get along with, and a joy to be around.

 

[Folly's place]

I have liked the quality of their birds, of course not all SQ, but nice birds. My avatar is one of them!
Do insist on the chicks having a heat pack when shipped, unless it's actually hot. We order in April, and last spring, post office mixup and no heat pack, some dead/ dying chicks after three days in transit. Who knows how this coming spring will be, post office wise?
Last spring the replacement chicks, including a heat pack, arrive in very good shape.
Mary

 

[ChickenLeg]

Ive always had great results with cackle. Order now to have your shipment in April, you wont be disappointed! The bantam crele oegb are pet quality but very sweet and docile, the bantam dominiques have been some of my best layers and favorite chickens ever, the bantam silver phoenix are amazing quality, but flighty and wild. The large fowl phoenix are beautiful too! I didnt care much for their bantam barred rocks. I highly recommend cackle. They give you extras too

 

[21hens-incharge]

I ordered ducklings from them. They arrived with a heat pack and were raring to go as soon as they were in the brooder.
They were beautiful silver Welsh harlequin ducks.

Unfortunately a bit to noisy for my neighborhood so I ended up selling them.

I would order from Cackle again without hesitation.

 

[NatJ]

Do insist on the chicks having a heat pack when shipped, unless it's actually hot.

For what size order?
I know they do orders as small as 3 chicks.

If you order 15 or more chicks, I would probably trust the hatchery's judgement about whether to use a heat pack, because that many chicks usually do fine keeping each other warm (which is why so many hatcheries set their minimum order at 15 or higher).

What are the Pro's and Con's of CackleHatchery.com? I've heard all good about them, but I just thought I'd ask!
Also, would you personally recommend them?

I've ordered from them once, and I was satisfied with my order.
I ordered 21 chicks, and received 22 alive (shipped to Virginia in late June, some years ago.)
I requested a particular ship date, and I said it was fine to substitute chicks if they didn't have quite the right ones for that date-- they refunded for 2 chicks they couldn't provide, substituted a few, and added an extra here and there.

The chicks did fine, although there were a few I certainly would not have wanted to use for breeding (like a Spitzhauben with a double toenail on one toe.)

None of the issues were things that caused trouble for the chickens themselves, and I've gotten about the same rate of not-quite-right when ordering rare breeds from other major hatcheries. The overall rate might be 1 or 2 in 10 that have something "wrong." (From other hatcheries, I've had wrong leg color, single combs in breeds that are supposed to have rose, feather stubs on legs that should be clean, muffs missing on a breed that's supposed to have them, etc.)

 

[5 Points Wingfeather]

I ordered from cackle last year.

1. All chicks were alive and healthy on arrival.
2. They even added 2 extras.
3. . All of them are still alive today.
4. Most of them turned out to be very good looking birds.

 

[SilkieChicken123]

Thank you all so much! I'm looking at buying 12 Khaki Campbell's and 3 Welsh Harlequin ducklings in March from them to add to my existing flock of ducks. So I am very glad to hear every one had great success with cackle!!

 

[3KillerBs]

I have not dealt with Cackle because of a single "con" -- when I add chick cost plus shipping costs plus small order fees they come out significantly more expensive than the other hatcheries that I have considered (consideration based on reputation as reported here on these forums and availability of desired breeds).

I keep eyeing their "blue egger female surplus" chicks and their mini-surprise box because I hear so much about people getting really nice birds from Cackle.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I didn't order last year just because I didn't need to from them.

I will say the last year I ordered, two of my 5 gold duckwing pheonixes had the wrong colors (silver hackles, not gold) and they closed the box on my sumatra's toe and the toe died during shipment. She got around just fine, but that really rubbed me the wrong way and they basically said that it didn't matter since she lived through shipping (I wasn't asking for a refund for obvious reasons, just wanted them to be aware)