Something in the hatcheries?

[fintuckyfarms]

I was suppose to pick up my bronze turkeys on the 26th. They are now delayed to mid April with only "some problem at the hatchery" for a reason. Anybody hearing anything?

 

[popsicle]

I haven't seen much, however I saw on Sand Hill's site a few weeks ago that they wouldn't be able to hatch as early as normal due to cold weather. Is it possible your birds were to come from someplace that had a similar issue?

ETA: here is the note from Sand Hill a few weeks ago:
NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO MARCH 4, 2014 HATCH DUE TO THE EXTREMELY COLD WEATHER WE ARE HAVING. CURRENTLY THE MARCH 18, 2014 HATCH DOES NOT LOOK VERY PROMISING AS WELL. WE WILL RETURN TO CONFIRMING ORDERS THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 17 ONCE WE HAVE A HANDLE ON THE WEATHER AND HOW QUICKLY THE BREEDERS CAN RECOVER FROM THE PAST TWO MONTHS OF EXTREME COLD. CHECK BACK HERE FOR FUTURE UPDATES AS WE SEE HOW THIS WILL IMPACT LATER HATCHES.

It wouldn't surprise me if other hatcheries had similar issues and that it's taking time to get caught up.

Oh, and there is also this on Sand Hill's site:
Our turkey breeder flocks were hit very hard by Buffalo Gnats at the end of May and all of June in 2013. In the end we lost more than 65% of our adults. The remainder had trouble recovering from massive blood loss and stress. Thousands upon millions of Buffalo Gnats descended upon the pens each day late in the afternoon when there was no breeze, driving the birds nuts as the gnats crawled in the turkey's ears and covered the exposed skin on the head, sucking blood. This seriously impacted our numbers and plans and, therefore, with all of the orders that came in prior to the catalog going to press, we are technically sold out for the entire 2014 season. You may check the website around mid-June to see if we are having any surplus over what we need to rebuild and restock our numbers. Otherwise, we hope to be back in full strenth by the 2015 hatching season.