Shame on McMurray

My friend called to tell me that they had ordered their new flock of red sex link girls for the spring, and she couldn't wait for them to arrive. I asked when they were coming, and she wasn't sure; the chicks were supposed to ship out the 25th or 26th of January. I expressed some doubt, as hatcheries don't usually ship on the weekend, since the mail doesn't get delivered on Sundays. I assumed that maybe my friend was mistaken.

The last time my friend ordered chicks was 3 years ago from McMurray. They placed their order months in advance. A few days before the chicks were supposed to arrive, there was a massive snow storm, and mail across the midwest was delayed. They received their 50 pullet chicks at 4 days old, half of the box dead, the other half cold and barely alive. They tried to revive the living, and ended up with around 20 babies that survived. I still call them the miracle chicks. The next spring, they added 10 started pullets to their flock, and were satisfied with their flock of 30.

Recently, their hens have slowed in production, since for most of them it will be their 2nd or 3rd year. My friends decided to order another batch of chicks so that, when the new girls started laying, they could cull most of the old girls. They run a farm. Choices must be made.

January 28th arrived, and no chicks. My friend didn't think much of it, assuming that the hatchery must have shipped them later than they had expected.

This morning, she got a call that the chicks were at the post office. She immediately drove into town and picked up the box. However, when the postman handed it to her, there was no peeping. She took it to her car and opened the lid. Inside, all 36 chicks were stone cold dead.

When she called McMurray to tell them about it, they offered a reship. They could not refund the cost of shipping, they said. On the phone, they confirmed that the chicks had been shipped on the 25th. The 25th of January was a Friday. The chicks did not arrive at the local PO until Wednesday.

Obviously, no one that we know will ever be ordering from McMurray again.

 

It's not really a question of how they manage their flock. They were looking to grow their flock to 50 by ordering 36 new birds and culling 15 hens and any extra roosters (they've only had a couple of hens go broody in those 3 years, and the hens have raised up about 12 babies total, but they've also had some hawk loses). A hatchery is a quick and easy way to up your numbers. Just terrifies me that a hatchery would let that many birds die during shipping. A complete and total waste. I can't even imagine how she felt opening that box.

 

Thank you