Show Me Your McMurray Birds

[mountainpridefarm]

Quote:
what is cross beak?

 

[holachicka]

I'm very interested in finding out about hatchery birds, I'm trying to decide from where I'll be ordering mine this spring, It will be my first time with chickens, and for meat and egg purposes, not showing or selling. Where do most people here recomend purchasing day old chicks from? Any more pics?

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I am sorry..I don't know how to download the pics off of my camera...However, I have gotten soooo many chicks from McMurray. I have gotten Salmon Faverolles,Partridge Cochins,Mille Fleur D'Uccles,Cuckoo Marans,Ameracaunas,and Light Brahmas. I have been VERY pleased with everything I have gotten over the years..infact I will be ordering from them again in about 2-3 weeks....also getting a new incubator also.

 

[matte]

Quote:
I've ordered from McMurray for many years. Look at the availability dates of breeds on their charts. The date in July after which many of the breeds are no longer offered, is the date that McMurray actually stops hatching in their own facility...and presumably from farm flocks that are used from January up to that date. In my experience, the quality of their birds goes way down after this date. You will notice that before this July date, the box is always shipped from their Iowa address. After this date, it is shipped from Texas. I googled the zip code and it is the same zip code of Ideal hatchery. I called McMurray and got different answers on this, but was told by one employee that any birds shipped from the July date thru the end of the season come from another hatchery. She stated that this is required due to the time it takes them to sanitize and prep for the following year's hatch. Accurate? I don't know. I do know the birds I've received before this date are shipped from Iowa, after this date are shipped from Texas....and the ones from Iowa have been much, much, closer to the standard.

 

[ultasol]

I picked up some day old meaties from the farmstore (preordered them) that were from McMurray last Spring. Since I preordered they were already separated and boxed and I couldn't 'handpick' my chicks. Of the 15 I ordered 5 had some form of deformity (crooked necks, curled toes).