What's your experience been with McMurray?

[Quail_Antwerp]

new_at_chickens, I do not see where McMurray lied to you. They always hatch on Saturdays for Monday arrivals. Even if they sent your chicks out on Sunday, once the post office has them McMurray has NO control over when they will or will not arrive.

You said you expressed concern with them shipping over the holiday. You simply could have asked them to ship your chicks later if the holiday was that much of a concern for you.

I've been ordering from McMurray for the last 3 years, and I've never had a problem with them. Their staff has always been friendly, they've refunded me for DOA chicks (and I've not yet had more than 2 DOA) and I even received chicks from them in February 2008 (2-25-08 to be exact.)

I am getting chicks again from them this year, but not until the end of March. I hope the weather is better then.

My chicks have always arrived from McMurray on a Monday morning, unless I had ordered something other than chicks like a barnyard combination, homesteaders pack, ducks/geese, turkeys, etc.

I also ALWAYS contact my local post master and let them know I have chicks coming and when I expect them.

McMurray is a good hatchery for the most part.

 

[new_at_chickens]

Wow, a lot of die hard McMurray fans in here. Is it so hard to believe that a company can make some mistakes now and then?

And halo, please read my entire posts before attempting to post nothing more than something meant to antagonize. If you've had good experiences with them then I can appreciate that, but the attitude doesn't help anyone.

Quail_Antwerp - When I did express concern about the holiday and asked about shipping the following week, McMurray said that that was not a good idea, since the chicks would then be two weeks apart and the older ones would pick on the younger ones.

I really didn't have a problem with them until the second order of chicks. They assured me (as well as many others) that the birds would ship on Sunday. They shipped Saturday.

They assured me that the chicks would be shipped with "filler" chicks (marked with a dye so we could tell them apart). They were not and that is why they all died.

They attempted to convince me that they were "experimenting" with shipping out less than the 25 bird minimum. Then they finally admitted that it was a mistake - that their policy is to never ship out less than 25 birds.

I wouldn't have been near as upset had they come clean with me at the beginning - mistakes happen.

If I sounded "ranty" at the first post, it is because I feel bad for these precious little beings. Why can't McMurray offer next day shipping? I'm sure a lot of us would be willing to pay the extra money.

And if February is such a problematic month, why does McMurray continue to offer the birds? I'm sure they have a lot of research showing that February shipments are fine. Otherwise offering the birds for sale would be quite irresponsible.

Can we not all agree on that?

Anyway, can we please get back to the topic - which is to share your experiences (GOOD OR BAD) with McMurray.

Thanks,

Melissa

 

[Bullwinkle]

Quote:
I received 86 chicks form MM Monday morning. So far all are alive and doing pretty well (Some had pasty butt last night so I have to keep an eye on them). I was concerned about them being shipped over the holiday though (when I placed the order It never dawned on me about the holiday). After contacting my local postman he explained to me how to pick them up at the distribution center (other wise they would have set at the Post Office distribution center for an extra 24 hours).

On a side note... unrelated to MM, I received 6 geese and 7 ducks from IDEAL this morning.... all of them were healthy and in good shape.

 

[Faverolle]

I might be wrong but I thought the date on the label was just from when the hatchery printed it which could be the day before? I received several orders from McMurray since I have been keeping chickens and have never had any serious problem with them. I prefer dealing with private breeders or Ideal but again McMurray has been alright with me and I still puchase my meat birds from them. I am usually much more hesitant to order very early in the year due to the possibility of bad weather.

 

[DoubleG]

I just had a simular experience. I too forgot that Monday was a holiday until I called the PO on Friday to let them know that my chicks were coming. They informed me that even though it was a holiday that the mail would still be moving and that they could still call me to pick up the chicks on Monday. Well...my chicks ended up sitting somewhere cold for a day (or 2) and when I picked them up on Tuesday 11 of the 30 I ordered were dead and many more looked like they would be dead in a short time. I called the hatchery right away and they gave me some pointers to help me try and save as many chicks as possible. We ended up loosing 17 in total. The rest look pretty good now.

When I spoke with the hatchery on Tuesday they told me to call back on Thursday and let them know how I made out and that they would either refund my money for the dead ones or replace them. I just called and they were great. They are sending out my replacements for Monday delivery. She even asked if I had any that still looked sick. I told her 2 or 3 looked shakey but I thought they would make it but she insisted on replaceing them too.

I don't think the hatchery did anything wrong, in fact they were great throughout this whole ordeal. In my opinion the problem was with the postal service. Like someone above mentioned, it might be a good idea to offer overnight shipping in the cold and hotter months. I would pay the difference!

 

[jvls1942]

I have had excellent results with mmm. I once had 33 of a 100 arrive dead. one phone call and I had replacements.. no questions asked..

If it were me, in mmm's place, I would just flat not send chicks out until the warm months.. Many years ago this is how it was done..

but customer demand forced the hatcheries to bend to their demands..

It is up to the customer to determine when they want their chicks.. if the customer orders early, they are just as guilty as mmm, usps...

One thing more.. mmm offered to replace the chicks one more time and YOU refused. You could have requested a later shipping date..

That B>S> about the older chicks picking on the younger ones doesn't fly with me.. I constantly have hundreds of birds of varying species and ages co-existing..

 

[mamabird]

got my chick order from MM on tuesday also - had several DOA's. When I called, they credited with no trouble. I asked about the ship/arival dates, and they said that the boxes were dated one day off because of pres. day. They actually shipped a day later than what was shown.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

new_at_chickens, if my post seemed rude or offended you, I am sorry. I was not trying to be rude. I re-read it and it did sound very stuff shirt of me!

I was trying to be helpful, but having re-read it, I am sorry if it wasn't.

I have had good experiences with McMurray. I am sorry for anyone who hasn't.

Since you've had such a rough time with them, ask for your money back if you don't want replacement chicks again. They should refund it.

What gets me is, they didn't want you to wait for a non holiday weekend because of the age difference, but if you took the replacement chicks this time, you'd have that age difference!

 

[grullablue]

First time chick orderers here, and we got our MM order last week. 26 ordered, 2 packing peanuts, 2 DOA. I kinda figured given the stress of shipping and the time of year (although we were having a heat wave at the time) we may have a couple casualties when the box was opened. Another died later that morning (not mine, I went in on an order with others), and one of my RIRs died the next day. The rest are all doing well. So...we lost 4 out of 28, 2 during shipping. I think I am maybe 6 hours away from MM, we got the order when we were told we would, and the rest of the chicks are doing very well. We had some pasty butt issues...but that's all cleared up now.

I don't plan on getting any more chicks, but if I were, I'd order from them again.

Angie

 

[new_at_chickens]

No problem Quail_Antwerp, written words can be difficult to interpret sometimes.

If others have had a similar experience to mine, I would like to see if McMurray would be willing to offer next day shipping. I'm sure many of us would be willing to pay the extra money, right?

If I had bad luck than why bother them - it happens. But if not, express shipping would save them money because they would have to replace less birds. It would also save countless little chicks - which is really the point.