WARNING: Hoovers hatchery

[NatJ]

I read enough stories on this forum to know that I didn’t want to order chicks from a hatchery.

“One study of long airplane flights revealed that when chicks were delivered to their final destination at 72 hours old (which includes the time spent at the hatchery and all transport times), 11% were dead-on-arrival, and almost 50% died within 7 days. This same study showed that even chicks who were delivered within 48 hours of hatch could have a high mortality rate of 2% dead-on-arrival and 18% dead within 7 days.”


https://fortune.com/2020/08/20/baby-chicks-are-dying-in-the-mail/amp/

Where can I read about this study? Following the link takes me to an article that does not seem to mention the study at all.

 

[TexasBlues]

https://www.thefeatherbrain.com/blog/shipping-mail-order-chicks?format=amp

 

[Molpet]

Eggs

Do people not ship eggs for your novelty breeds?

I ordered eggs 3 different times. Reputable breeder and well packaged.
1st shipment none hatched, my own eggs in the incubator hatched.
2 nd one hatched and mine hatched
3 rd several were broken and none hatched.

USPS by me is very bad, at the distribution center... carriers care

 

[TexasBlues]

I knew I was taking a gamble ordering shipped hatching eggs. I got 9 out of 16 to hatch.

I’d be pretty bummed if I received 7 out 16 chicks dead on arrival. The package was delayed 2 or 3 days by usps.

I should be able to maintain a flock from those 9 and hatch my own homegrown eggs from them. And yes there’s males. I have no problem eating the mature roosters or selling them.

I find it funny that I make a thread full of content documenting my chickens and hardly anybody bothers to comment, but me saying that shipping chicks across the country in a box is cruel and then everybody comes out of the woodwork to debate statistics. Not one has given their opinion on why shipping chicks in a box across the country is not cruel.

 

[Cheems]

I knew I was taking a gamble ordering shipped hatching eggs. I got 9 out of 16 to hatch.

I’d be pretty bummed if I received 7 out 16 chicks dead on arrival. The package was delayed 2 or 3 days by usps.

I should be able to maintain a flock from those 9 and hatch my own homegrown eggs from them. And yes there’s males. I have no problem eating the mature roosters or selling them.

I find it funny that I make a thread full of content documenting my chickens and hardly anybody bothers to comment, but me saying that shipping chicks across the country in a box is cruel and then everybody comes out of the woodwork to debate statistics. Not one has given their opinion on why shipping chicks in a box across the country is not cruel.

I dont think its a matter of whether its cruel or if the chicks like it or if its healthy, of course it isnt. But its a matter of if its a big enough deal to completely scrap the whole idea of shipping altogether

sure it has its downsides but I think the debate is if its bad enough to a point where it shouldnt be supported at all, and in my opinion it isnt bad enough to where it shouldnt happen but it definetely needs more restrictions so birds are shipped safely. For example including a heating pack during certain temperatures.

and its unfortunate that no one bothered to comment on you documenting your chicks however this is more of a discussion about ethics, and that type of stuff tends to have a bit more discussing and attention involved. Some posts blow up, others dont.

And I hope to keep the conversation friendly but I dont know that I think the first article you sited earlier on is a good source for this arguement. It is old and it is only about a few large batches rather than shipping chicks as a whole

also in this article, it states "Over six years of farming, he can’t remember losing more than 25 in a shipment before." referring to a farmer who lost a large amount in 1 batch of chicks through covid, this source you stated kind of goes against what you are saying as hes never had significant losses before. Not all chicks are going to make it in standard conditions as well so when you add that, it isnt really that surprising.

Now to get onto the other article you just sited a few messages ago, I agree with some of what it says, but if you get down further even this article admits "You should also know that most deaths tend to be concentrated, not randomly distributed."

This really shows its about the hatchery and not neccisarily that all shipping garentees chicks are going to die. Its about bad hatcheries sending chicks into bad conditions with ill prepared chicks.

its all about buying from the right hatchery, ive always had happy and healthy birds through the other better/smaller hatcheries ive bought from, 0 deaths, until this bad one

 

[TexasBlues]

I don’t think I need to argue that shipping chicks in a box to the point of death is cruel. If you want to financially help support them, go right ahead.
Check the better business bureau for Hoovers if you want to negate my sources.
I just watched a promotional video of mcmurrays and they were throwing live chicks into the trash. The sexers toss them around like pieces of shit. They said they have 23,000 chicks on hatch days. They’re making a lot of money off you guys.

 

[Cheems]

I don’t think I need to argue that shipping chicks in a box to the point of death is cruel. If you want to financially help support them, go right ahead.
Check the better business bureau for Hoovers if you want to negate my sources.
I just watched a promotional video of mcmurrays and they were throwing live chicks into the trash. The sexers toss them around like pieces of shit. They said they have 23,000 chicks on hatch days. They’re making a lot of money off you guys.

well I cant please everyone, conversation is getting a little hostile and nothing good comes from that. im gathering you arent really getting my point here... not all hatcheries. (does that get my point across clearly?)

 

[TexasBlues]

I get the point that you ordered chicks and got dead birds in the mail. I don’t think it’s a good idea to ship live chicks. But keep trying if you want.

 

[TexasBlues]

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  Review from LEJUANA K​

  
  1 star
  05/16/2023
  Bought 20 guinea keets and 8 goslings. 4 guineas were dead in the box on arrival, and the remaining 16 died within 24 hours. I received a full refund for the guineas. The goslings all died also. 1 died within 24 hours so I received a refund. The remaining 7 suddenly died a few days later, so no refund and a loss of $147. I have never had birds just up and die like this. I am seeing lots of complaints locally (on Facebook forums and Google Reviews) that people are losing all their birds when purchased from Hoover's. I think Hoover's Hatchery is no longer a reliable source for live poultry.
  
  
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  Review from Zack B​

  
  1 star
  04/30/2023
  My family has gotten Hoover’s chicks for years at local farm stores and mail order. This year was our largest, over 425 birds in almost every category they offer. I love the variety and their prices are some of the best. Customer service helped get my order in after issues with the website, and birds started arriving in early April. The rest are later because of availability. But beyond pricing and variety, experience hasn’t been good, especially this year. For the trouble. First, the website was not up to date with actual availability, making ordering online nearly impossible (at the time of review, over a month after trying, it still isn’t up to date). After going back and forth with customer service, most times waiting days or even a week for a response, they finally got my order put in since only they could see the accurate ship dates. My first order was good, not great - some shipped a day later than expected, but got to NW MT in two days and most were healthy. Ten geese, all thriving, and 20 ducks. We had one duck die a few hours after arriving, and one with an injury. They were nice and credited for the injured duck (which I did not expect) but seemed to ignore the dead one. Next order came the next week. We got 20 turkeys and more ducks. The duck order was short entire breeds and had incorrect counts, many died, and an obviously deformed one was included. I sent an email immediately, but it took calling and emailing to get a response which took weeks (and so far no refund/replacement). The assorted turkeys were fine, and the heritage turkeys okay. We had a few that died quickly. It seems in the rush to fill orders they are careless with quality, and sometimes quantity. I don’t look forward to the rest of my orders with how these have gone, with the questionable quality and lack of responsive and available customer service.
  
  
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  Review from S.B .​

  
  1 star
  04/23/2023
  Our local farm store sold Hoover's birds this spring. I was hesitant to buy, because another farm store in the area stated that all of their birds arrived dead with no heat packs from Hoover, but it was convenient. I've lost half of the guinea's that I bought (the farm store exchanged for live birds and said that the guinea's arrived "fragile"). I bought 5 salmon favorelle "pullets", and 3 are roosters.
  
  
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  Review from Colleen F​

  
  1 star
  04/08/2023
  Ordered 10 rare breed pullets from them through TSC website. I paid a premium. Received 10 straight run brown leghorns. After over a week of calling, voice mails, and emails… I was told they were Easter Eggers. Not true. Even if they were, that is NOT a rare beed. They didn’t even try to make things right. Never again!
  
  
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  Review from Wanda J​

  
  1 star
  04/08/2023
  Horrible! In Feb, they sent me 10 chicks,. One dead & others were in terrible shape. 5 died within 4 hours & I had their environment strictly controlled. They were scheduled to send me 5 replacements on June 5, 2023. On April 6, my mail lady shows up with 10 chicks they shipped me AND DID NOT NOTIFY ME. My chicken coops had recently been destroyed by 90 mph winds & I had grown chickens & baby chicks stashed everywhere. I was in an emergency situation & had NOWHERE to put my own chickens! I had nowhere to quarantine them. Tractor Supply would not take them. They were cold & some dead before I found a neighbor who could take them. That was animal abuse & animal cruelty! Who ships live animals without making sure there is someone expecting them? And sending them to a place where the coops & well were torn up by Straight Line Winds. Cruel beyond belief!
  
  
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  Review from Sharon S​

  
  1 star
  03/29/2023
  If I could give the a zero I would. Ordered 10 IGA females. 2 were dead upon arrival and 7 more within 20 hours. They were ordered through Tractor Supply website. Just don’t do it. TSC doesn’t have direct contact with Hoover and no one answered emails. TSC answered the phone but was no help. Hoover Hatchery mail order chicks a a disaster and heartbreaking to watch chicks just keep dying.
  
  
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  Review from KIMBERLY L​

  
  1 star
  03/10/2023
  We order 15 chicken from them all of them dead on delivery and the rest with in 24 hrs after Rhoade Island reds. So then we ended up getting amberlink chickens from tractor supply as they get from Hoovers and with 24hrs all of them dead they have to have to have something going on as never had this issue with them but dam bad yr. Hope they find out if bug is going on or what!
  
  
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  Review from Kayla W​

  
  1 star
  03/07/2023
  We ordered the minimum order of 15 chicks (Polish mix and Orpingtons) and had them delivered to central NY in February. Delivery was quick, and all survived the trip through the mail. We noticed one seemed to not be doing as well as the others, but with some electrolytes and antibiotics, she was doing much better. Within 2 days, one chick suddenly died. In the 3 weeks we've had them, a total of 3 chicks out of 15 have died from what we can only assume as Brooder Pneumonia. These chicks went to different homes almost immediately after being received, so it is a safe assumption they were sick when shipped. I tried multiple times to reach out to customer service, and only received a pregenerated message stating they would refund me for the dead chicks. That information should be relayed to the breeders to prevent further infection and more sick chicks being shipped out to other people's homes. This is no longer a company my friends, family, and myself will be using.
  
  
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  Review from Rebecca H​

  
  1 star
  03/03/2023
  9 years of ordering online without any issues until I ordered from Hoovers Hatchery this year, never again. I was sent a shipment email, I waited and waited. Post Office said my order never arrived in Illinois, no order here in Nevada either. No cancelation so what is going on. I had the USPS investigate, and I can't get Hoovers to answer the phone, answer my emails, or answer my messages. No chicks and no refund!
  
  
  
  

  Hoover's Hatchery Company Response​

  10/24/2023
  Hello *******,
  I apologize for the delay in responding to your review. We were experiencing extremely high call and email volume between February - July, and we are very sorry that you had a hard time reaching us by phone. I see that you were able to speak over the phone with a Customer Experience Specialist on 3/6/2023.
  It also looks like you emailed us four different times between 3/3/2023 - 3/5/2023 and we did respond to each email.
  Your received your order the day after leaving the review, 3/4/2023, based on tracking information and the emails you sent stating you received your birds.
  Again, we do apologize it was harder than normal to reach us quickly due to the volume of calls and emails.
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  Review from Dennis s​

  
  1 star
  02/25/2023
  ordered 50 chicks and 31 died within the 48 hour guarantee. so they gave a refund . now a week later i have 2 living out of the 50. not worth buying from this place. i lost over $150 and the misery of seeing all the babies just die.
  
  
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  Review from Rose H​

  
  1 star
  02/18/2023
  Not happy at all ordered polish three were dead on arrival never got reimbursed then ordered 15 polish took three days to get them over half dead other not well I have tried to email them sent pictures called for two days no answer won’t call you back won’t order again or refer them took my money but their qarentee policy is a lie

 

[Cheems]

I get the point that you ordered chicks and got dead birds in the mail. I don’t think it’s a good idea to ship live chicks. But keep trying if you want.

omg... why are you trying to cause an arguement here. Go argue with someone else, its been a long past few days. I have tried to keep it peaceful

also what is with you leaving the bad Hoovers hatchery reviews, yeah, hoovers is terrible, I am not saying hoovers isnt. thats the whole point of me creating this thread

ive tried saying it in the simplest terms I can so I am not sure how to explain that not all hatcheries are bad