Tell me about your 2021 mail order chick experiences so far

[Chicken Mom Peg]

I ordered 25 chicks (5 each silver, golden, and white capped black Polish, 5 Crevecouers, 5 mottled Houdans) from Murray McMurray. They sent an extra polish and 1 free chick. I got the text they shipped on a Tuesday night. The tracking didn't update. I made several calls to the post office no help. They finally arrived at the post office on Friday. When I picked them up 5 were already dead. Over the first weekend I lost 8 more. I cleaned pasty butts at least 1 a day for several days and gave honey/ water like murray mcmurray suggested. I have 7 left of 27 chicks from that order. I got a refund for most of the dead ones.

I placed a new order with Meyer hatchery (25 assorted rare breed layers) figuring they were closer and shipping wouldn't take as long. They sent 2 free chicks as well. The text came on Monday that they shipped. Again there were no updates to tracking. They arrived on Weds. They were all alive. These birds look 100% healthier than the other batch. I did lose 1 of this batch but the rest are healthy, happy and growing like weeds.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

I just got my Murray McMurray Hatchery order in of 6 Crevecouers. Was shipped late Monday, estimated arrival Thursday. They got here this morning at ~7:30 and once again the post office called me before they opened to come and pick up my birds. They were all alive and well, if a bit cold...it seems that McMurray doesn't include a heat pack or extra birds sometimes. In my case, there was just a piece of cardboard keeping the chicks clustered on one side. It worked though, as they're all fine at the moment. I'll update if that changes.

I have a shipment of bantams coming from Welp later this month. I'll also let y'all know how that works out.

 

[Sueleewebdesign]

Update on my chicks from Murray McMurray:
Well they actually shipped from Claborn Farms in Waco Texas instead of Murray’s. The post office called me this morning to come pick them up. I could hear them in the background chirping . When I brought them home, they all seemed to be in good health so I’m happy about that. I did notice a handwritten message on my box that said “Subbed 2 ARAK for 2 LIBK” which I had no clue what ARAK means. Lol I ordered the following 4 week old pullets: 1 Ameraucana, 1 whiting true blue, 2 Light Brahmas. LIBK stands for light brahmas so it seems they ran out of those and gave me something else. I called and the customer service rep was super friendly and let me know ARAK stands for Ameraucana so I have 3 Ameraucanas and 1 Whiting True Blue. I'm happy with that. I attached a picture of the little cuties right out of the box.

 

[RevlisRemmah]

Our four chicks hatched and shipped yesterday, and now I'm doing that fun anxious thing where I check the USPS tracking info obsessively every 15 minutes. We ordered from Meyer--we had a good experience with them in the past, and our two orders from them arrived quickly (less than 24 hours for one and ~36 hours for the other). At this point in the day I imagine we're not getting them until tomorrow morning at the earliest.

Who else has ordered mail-order chicks this year? How was the experience?

I pre-ordered chicks in November from Murray McMurray. Last year I got chicks from Townline Hatchery and a great experience but they have limited breed choices so this is my first experience with Murray McMurray.They were set to ship the first week of May.

The first batch shipped from IA to MI and took 3 days. I ordered 20 chicks. 1 was DOA and 8 more proceeded to die over the next two days. It was so sad and I felt awful. It was unusually cold for this time of year and they had no heat during shipping so I think that played a role. I called and requested replacements. They agreed to send 9 this week.

The replacement chicks shipped Monday of this week and I picked them up this morning (Thursday) so still 3 day shipping. All of them were alive - but I was surprised to find 16 chicks in the box instead of 9. I thought - that is a lot of extra chicks to give me! How generous. Then I noticed the breeds I ordered weren't there. Turns out I was shipped someone else's order! The order form is taped inside the box and it was for someone named Irma in Arizona! I am not named Irma and I live in Michigan!

So I called McMurray and they are sending the actual 9 replacement chicks next week. So I have 16 castaway chicks. A few of them dont look great - I'll see how they do over the weekend. This has been a journey and its not over yet! I dont think I will order from them again. I bet the post office is going to be sick of me by next week!!!!

 

[Farm Up North]

I ordered from Chickens For Backyards. They are in Lebanon, MO, so I would bet that they use similar chick suppliers to Cackle. When I had ordered from them 5 years ago, the birds shipped on a Monday and got to me (NY) on Wednesday morning. All were alive and well that time. This year, my order shipped on a Monday and didn't get to me until Thursday morning. I had ZERO tracking updates this year as well ,so I had to just keep being anxious. I had one DOA who I am positive would have made it had I gotten them one day sooner, and the rest were very chilly and lethargic, but all of them survived. Chickens For Backyards sent me doubles of some that I ordered singles of, and they had a heat pack. I would bet they were anticipating shipping delays.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

I ordered 2 batches of chicks from McMurray Hatchery and I had one DOA which was a silver polish. This was my first shipment so they said they would send a free polish pullet the next week with my next shipment. This was my first time ordering from a hatchery and if I had to rate McMurray I would give them 5 stars because they are so nice.
I also ordered 10 bantams from Ideal, but they weren’t shipped.
One thing I will say about shipping chicks is don’t trust the usps tracking. It’s not accurate. On the day I got my chicks it said my chicks were in Michigan but I got a call from the post office saying my chicks had arrived and the tracking wasn’t updated until 2-3 hours later.

I also ordered 2 goslings from Metzer farms and they both arrived happy and healthy. I was skeptical about it because they had so many bad reviews, but it was actually a good experience.
All of my chicks and goslings that I ordered are all still alive and well (except for the polish that was DOA)
I would love to share any pictures of my chicks or goslings if anyone want to see them!

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

I got my Welp order in the first week of June. My bantam order is actually coming from Meyer in July, I got it mixed up! Anyway, this was Russian Orloffs, Salmon Faverolles, and Crele Penedesencas. All arrived alive (it was an order of 25), no extras. I lost one to pasting (a Faverolle) and an RO to some kind of navel defect that made it a target to the other chicks, and I didn't catch it fast enough. I lost four other SFs to one of the broodies...I left too much room in the nest box and they were able to get out from under her and tragedy happened...obviously I retired her immediately and removed the other 6 she was sitting on. So far, the rest are doing splendidly, though one of the SFs appears to have odd feather colors coming in (I just see white thus far), but they have they have all the other characteristics so maybe they'll just be kinda light.

 

[sillygolucky]

We ordered 8 chicks (2 RI Red, 2 Buff Orps, 2 Ameraucanas, 2 Barred Rocks) from McMurray back in February for last week's hatch. They didn't have our 2 Buff Orpingtons, so they gave us 3 female New Hampshire Reds instead (which is fine, we okayed a substitution when we ordered). BUT...they also included an extra RI Red and Ameraucana (so now we have 3 each of those), but we don't know what sex the extras are. lol. (So we ordered 8 and got 11!!) This is our first flock, and a few friends have told me that's how the hatcheries get rid of their roos. LOL. I hope we didn't get two!!

Anyway, they shipped last Wednesday from IA and got here to IN first thing Friday morning. I stopped in at the post office on Thursday to let them know we were expecting chicks and they took all my personal info; and then they were super nice and called us as soon as they opened on Friday. All 11 were alive and well. One of the RI Reds was pretty small, and I think she may have been under the chick pile a lot and just more stressed from the trip...she didn't want to open her eyes. But after plenty of fluids and electrolytes and some good food, she has perked right up! The chicks are 7 days old now and all doing well--strong and active.

I think the only thing that was a little frustrating was the lack of tracking notifications. I signed up for texts for any notification, and anything that came through was two hours after the fact. I know in the past with Priority Mail there would always be a projected delivery day on the tracking page as well and they don't seem to do that anymore. Don't get me started...hehe

 

[sillygolucky]

I pre-ordered chicks in November from Murray McMurray. Last year I got chicks from Townline Hatchery and a great experience but they have limited breed choices so this is my first experience with Murray McMurray.They were set to ship the first week of May.

The first batch shipped from IA to MI and took 3 days. I ordered 20 chicks. 1 was DOA and 8 more proceeded to die over the next two days. It was so sad and I felt awful. It was unusually cold for this time of year and they had no heat during shipping so I think that played a role. I called and requested replacements. They agreed to send 9 this week.

The replacement chicks shipped Monday of this week and I picked them up this morning (Thursday) so still 3 day shipping. All of them were alive - but I was surprised to find 16 chicks in the box instead of 9. I thought - that is a lot of extra chicks to give me! How generous. Then I noticed the breeds I ordered weren't there. Turns out I was shipped someone else's order! The order form is taped inside the box and it was for someone named Irma in Arizona! I am not named Irma and I live in Michigan!

So I called McMurray and they are sending the actual 9 replacement chicks next week. So I have 16 castaway chicks. A few of them dont look great - I'll see how they do over the weekend. This has been a journey and its not over yet! I dont think I will order from them again. I bet the post office is going to be sick of me by next week!!!!

Wow! So how did everything turn out now that it's been a few months?? Did you have space for all the castaways?

 

[RevlisRemmah]

Wow! So how did everything turn out now that it's been a few months?? Did you have space for all the castaways?

Hello!! So 15 of the 16 castaways lived and 8/9 new replacement batch lived. So I have 11 birds that are 6 weeks old (the OG bunch), 15 birds that are 4 weeks old (the castaways) and 8 that are 3 weeks old (the replacements)!

Also the 16 I have in my coop and the 7 chicks that have hatched from my broody hens.


I actually think I found someone to take 12 of the castaways! She is supposed to come get them tomorrow! I am keeping 3 of them, they are just the cutest ones I can’t help it! I hope she actually comes. Chicken math hit me HARD this year. I went from 16 to almost 60 within a month. That will give you whiplash!

Overall I don’t think I would order from McMurray again. It was too much. I think I’ll either order locally from Townline or stick to broody hens from now on. The experience this year was less than stellar.