WARNING: Hoovers hatchery

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

isn't hoovers the hatchery that supplies Rural King? this is why I hatch my own birds

Yes; least the ones in Tn that I have seen.
Pretty sure Hoover’s supplies most places. Lol TSC, my COOP’s, RK…
Was informed Hoover now owns 6 hatcheries across the states. They bought out Privetts, in New Mexico.

Don’t have an issue with Hoover’s. Most of our birds have come from that hatchery. lol but…it def matters in how they’re handled once the arrive also. Sometimes RK employees aren’t the best.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have kept silent till now but now I will speak. I ordered chicks from Hoover's in November. Through no fault of Hoover's but because of Veteran's Day, there was a delay in shipping, and the chicks that should have arrived on a Friday did not arrive at my local post office until the following Monday. None survived. Hoover's replaced the entire shipment at their own expense.

I now have six healthy and beautiful Sapphire Gems and five lively Bluebell Eggers (one died), nearly 16 weeks old. They are all absolutely delightful. In addition, we raised nine Cornish X Rock Cross pullets (out of 11) to the age of four to nearly six weeks and had them processed as planned, three at a time, 4 days apart. They weighed from nearly four to over five pounds and are causing a bit of a stir over on the Meat Birds threads.

I have found Hoover's to be friendly, professional and competent, and I will do business with them again.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Yes; least the ones in Tn that I have seen.
Pretty sure Hoover’s supplies most places. Lol TSC, my COOP’s, RK…
Was informed Hoover now owns 6 hatcheries across the states. They bought out Privetts, in New Mexico.

Don’t have an issue with Hoover’s. Most of our birds have come from that hatchery. lol but…it def matters in how they’re handled once the arrive also. Sometimes RK employees aren’t the best.

I was wondering because about 1.5 months ago, I got six chicks from rural king. Four of the chicks died on the same day, probably a combination of stress and bad genetics/ vitamin deficiency. The other two are fine, but it sucks because they didn’t give me a refund, and the birds died literally one day after the warranty expired. The chicks were only 5 days old.

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

I was wondering because about 1.5 months ago, I got six chicks from rural king. Four of the chicks died on the same day, probably a combination of stress and bad genetics/ vitamin deficiency. The other two are fine, but it sucks because they didn’t give me a refund, and the birds died literally one day after the warranty expired. The chicks were only 5 days old.

Hmm wait I thought their policy was 7 days…or is it 48hrs & 7 days to come back in unless you call them?

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Hmm wait I thought their policy was 7 days…or is it 48hrs & 7 days to come back in unless you call them?

My local branch has some kind of 24- 48 hours thing, I am in Ohio

 

[realsis]

Hello, I know this has been said a million times before, but I just want to tell my story of this because I have never worked with a hatchery so frustrating

They first delayed my order twice, which was a big problem for me because I was hatching chicks out to raise with the hatchery chicks, they never notified me my hatch date was moved, not until the day they were supposed to ship them, and no email about any of this, only when I randomly checked the website did I realize

Then when they finally do ship the chicks out, they shipped them without a heater pack, it’s the winter and I don’t know what they were expecting, 9/15 chicks arrived dead and the rest dying, maybe 1-2 chicks were acting normally?

The customer service was really long and I tried calling so many times, the only way I could ever get ahold of them is by email, and they took forever to respond

Really upsetting scene when I had to open that box, I just want to warn others because I’ve never had any of the other hatcheries I’ve bought from be so careless about what they are doing

Iams so sorry you had such a awful and heartbreaking experience. I have used Meyer Hatchery for years now. They are in Ohio I live in California. The ship is express and usually over night. You might pay a little more in shipping but it's very worth it. The chick's are healthy and happy on arrival. At times the stress of shipping you might loose one but I've never lost more than one, thank God. I HIGHLY recommend them as a hatchery.. you pick when your orders hatched I've never had them change a hatch date. They care about what they do and their chicks..they only hatch on Mondays so chick's are not held over or left on a weekend. Also they guarantee your chick's. Lives .Give them a try. Not all Hatcheries are awful. Meyers has always done a great job.

 

[realsis]

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/

Mine faired way better than that and they always have to fly. I get mine from Ohio and live in California. Most I've ever lost was one and that's rare. When it's time for a new flock I Always order from Meyer Hatchery now. I don't have issues even with the plane flight. They pack nicely and arrive well.

 

[AnimalsRGodsSmiles4us]

Hello, I know this has been said a million times before, but I just want to tell my story of this because I have never worked with a hatchery so frustrating

They first delayed my order twice, which was a big problem for me because I was hatching chicks out to raise with the hatchery chicks, they never notified me my hatch date was moved, not until the day they were supposed to ship them, and no email about any of this, only when I randomly checked the website did I realize

Then when they finally do ship the chicks out, they shipped them without a heater pack, it’s the winter and I don’t know what they were expecting, 9/15 chicks arrived dead and the rest dying, maybe 1-2 chicks were acting normally?

The customer service was really long and I tried calling so many times, the only way I could ever get ahold of them is by email, and they took forever to respond

Really upsetting scene when I had to open that box, I just want to warn others because I’ve never had any of the other hatcheries I’ve bought from be so careless about what they are doing

Thank you for sharing, this upsets me for you and as well that place should be shut down

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

Thats terrible! I'm sorry.
But, its not really their fault. It's too cold to be ordering chicks right now. Every year there's scores of posts complaining about every hatchery. It's not the hatchery, is the shipping through cold fronts and negative temperatures. They don't bounce back.
Imo, Hatcheries shouldn't be offering chicks until the beginning of March for non retail orders over a certain distance.

It's not to cold,it depends on the part of the country.i have had far more chick deaths ordering April through october... they overheat


I ordered the last three years in nov,december,january,february and march successfully.. but I've lost several chicks from every order in the late spring,summer and early fall, they get overheated..so I will never,ever do that to chicks again..ive always gotten healthy, bouncy chicks when ordered from responsible hatcheries. My chicks from Meyers,Ideal and Cackle all dec through march chicks... all came with anywhere from 1 to three heating packs and 1 to 4 holes on each side for ventilation

It depends on the part of the country you live in. Hoovers does not ship with heating packs unless you specigicallybadd them to your order and the issue is when an order is placed ..whereas meyers,ideal and cackle actually modify ,add heating packs,add packing peanuts,add or remove holes in the boxes AFTER CHECKING THE WEATHER BETWEEN THE HATCHERY AND DESTINATION
I got two orders on wednesday the 27th, we had 80-85 weather through sunday, by monday mid day it was in the 40s.. we are having 40-45 from 3am through 9 am 65 by 11 and 78-80 by 4.. so each box had 1 heating pack limited box openings and both arrived with no dead chicks..I lost 2 Egyptian fayoumi within 48, hours out of 25 and zero out of 8 on the cackle order..so I've lost that many under hens at home...

 

[RememberTheWay]

It really isnt.i have dead and dying during summer, we were hitting 100 or over by the end of May..I have zero issue with Nov- March orders. I only order from hatcheries that use heat packs and allow the use of heat packs..

Also all my hens go broody from december through may not goes broody from june through September, why, if they sit on a clutch they cook them..

Meyers always includes ample heat packs same for cackle

I just ordered from Meyers and they didn't put a heat pack in mine. I lost 16 chicks of 47 I ordered within 5 days. It was terrible. I ordered in late March. To TN