Meyer Hatchery: TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!

[LaidWithLove]

I hesitated to make a post for so long because I felt.. I don't know, rude? I've decided to now because frankly people need to understand that there are flaws in their systems. Or there was with our experience, anyway.
We don't order from hatcheries. Ever. We pride ourselves on live picking our chicks and have had great results with that from our local feed store. I wish we'd never gone to Meyer.
But, we did. Jan. 7, 2019, we drove four hours to get there. We were so excited to pick pullets out of their store bin.. until we got there. There were no customers in the store. Three staff members, all of whom ignored us completely on arrival. Two were gossiping about some makeup products and the other was on her smartphone. We went over to the chick bin and were kind of shocked to see that there was no food available to them. I mean, we know chicks make messes, but they were digging through the bedding looking for something to eat. We asked to confirm price and gender.
"These chicks in the bin, they are $2 apiece yes? And they are girls?"
"Yeah, sure, sure." Flippant reply and one staff member left.
No phone calls, no one appeared to be 'working' or busy. Still, we tried to be positive. Yes, there was a poster that said pullets but you never know. We wanted to be sure as we couldn't have a bunch more boys.
Picked out 21 chicks. We are always very gentle with our animals, so were shocked when the lady at the counter yanked the box away from us and slammed it down. There were loud squeals of agitation from the chicks.
We wanted to confirm one last thing.
"If these are not pullets, you have a policy that they will be replaced, right?"
"I guess?" She said, not even looking away from her phone. The other gal working smirked and left also.
Feeling very strange, we notified them that the chicks didn't have anything to eat, which was ignored entirely, and we left.
Fast forward to now. How many pullets do you suppose we have from those 21 birds?
three.
I know that no one is perfect, nor do I hold them to such standard. I understand sexed pullets can turn out to be males. No problem. But this was blatantly clear that something was awry. We wouldn't have minded, except.. we reached out to customer service, and were met with more flippancy and indifference.
Via the online chat, we were told that there was no such policy. Even as we were staring at it while speaking to them. Okay?
Then they seemed annoyed but offered to replace one thing: our money, or the birds. We asked what replacements would be like.
"Well, we can't replace them for another four months." wait, what?
We understand needing to double check that yes, they're males, but this seemed excessive. We couldn't house 18 roosters that long!!
We explained this, and were told: "Then we can only give you half your money back."
What?! This was getting really weird. Plus, now we were certain that if they even sent us more birds, what was to say they wouldn't be mostly male as well? And how long would we be in this cycle?
So we told them we would get photos and consider.
A couple days later I called to get the receipt to show online customer service.
"We don't give receipts." The lady said in a way that suggested to me that there was no working with her. Defeated, I thanked her anyway.
I knew this wasn't true. I thought maybe I could find it online under my account. So I tried to log in- Failed. Wrong password. Huh, I thought, this was even weirder. I use one password for things so there was no way. I tried to reset it, only to be told that my account was blocked/suspended.
Okay, now I was mad. There was no sense to this. So I decided to cut my losses and just give feedback on their FB page. Only it got deleted. Twice. Third time, I posted it, calling out Meyer for deleting my earlier reviews which were a LOT nicer than they could have been. It wasn't the 3/21 problem, it was the response from their side. Meyer said I didn't have an account at all, which I knew was false as the lady at the store had used it to log my order, and was further told that it was my responsibility to keep the birds until they were 22 weeks old to make sure they were males.
Even though anyone could tell they were by the comb/wattle development, and feathering.

Come to find out, others have had issues with their store staff also. I don't understand it- we were there early in the day, tried to be polite, and were respectful. Everyone has bad days, but Meyer showed me that this was their consistent nature over the month long correspondence we had.

Suffice to say, they will never have a recommendation from me again, let alone any of my money.

(Which, after I told them the business of my account problems, they ignored my messages and never reached out again.)

Not trying to be 'that' person who complains a lot, I'm just baffled. I was so hopeful- and this was our new layer flock! Five months later we are so behind because we had to go through our feed store, who gave us the same wonderful experience as always. I simply wanted some new breeds.

 

[AlleysChicks]

I'm sorry this happened to you.

After all that I'd have kept them the 22 weeks then made the 4hr drive. Released the boys in the store and left.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Wow! That's awful! I'm sorry about the horrible experience... Thank you for letting us know. I know that I'll skip that hatchery if I come across it. I get my birds from Murrey McMurrey or Cackle. I've had problems but they've taken care of them, nicely and kindly.

 

[RazorDuck]

Well, I've just gotta ask- what'd you expect when you went rummaging through a bin of chicks without access to food? I got my chicks from Cackle hatchery, and they made all their policies and guarantees very clear, and all my chicks arrived safely (even the extra chick, which is still alive). I am sorry for your experience though, but, when you find quality poultry, just stick with it. You could also do what I do, and just breed your own poultry.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I am sorry you had issues with them. They were my first and right now only mail order chick company. I only ordered 7 chicks and of course got 8 with their free one. Customer service has been outstanding throughout my experience, the chicks arrived on time and healthy. I was going to order more, but has since found a breeder I'm working with. I know and understand everyone's experiences are different.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I have had issues 2 years in a row. Ordered goslings in January, then was told that they couldn't fill my May order. Its too late by then to order from anyone else! So I won't even try with them anymore. Both times wanted me to accept substitutions. Nope!

 

[Acre4Me]

I've ordered online 1x with Meyer (2018), but all arrived DOA - likely due to USPS mishandling. They refunded chick cost, but not shipping (as per policy).

Then we happened to be driving through Cleveland and had a broody hen at home. We stopped in on a Friday (so 5 days after hatch, I think) to pick up a few chicks for broody. Prior to arriving at store, I had chatted back and forth on my phone with CS and they indicated they still had random chicks that week and none were bantam (I indicated I did not want bantam) and that they are all sexed female in the extras bin. We arrived. The one staff person I recall in the store was helpful if asked a question. We picked seven chicks. Luckily I mentioned to the staff member (cashier) that I was glad they still had chicks left and that I did not want bantams. She nicely pointed out that most of what we had was, in fact, bantams! She helped us pick out some non bantams out of the bin. Broody momma was happy with her adopted chicks and did a great job! However, 2 out of the 7 were males. So, that was disappointing and a bit unexpected as I would have thought maybe a chance of 1 mis-sexed bird, but not 2 out of 7. Still better than 18 males out of 21 chicks.

So, overall, I was disappointed in getting a 29% error rate for sexed birds (Still better than your 86% error rate). But, I was happy with getting the chicks for $2 a piece. The chicks were bought with the initial purpose of satisfying a broody hen - and that was accomplished. We do not sell eggs or otherwise make money off our flock, so it did not impact us other than the inconvenience of having to re-home the unwanted ones. I was disappointed that the information I was given was wrong (supposedly there were no bantams in the extra bin).

Now the two chicks we kept (from the 7 we bought) are producing well and are fully integrated in our flock. Would I buy from Meyer again? Yes, probably because we are happy with the two we kept and they have a good breed selection. However, if I were to get such a load of cockerels from a sexed female bin - it would be a lot less likely, even at $2 a piece.

It makes me wonder if they have changed an internal policy or procedure that allowed so many cockerels to be in that random chick bin. Or maybe it was one of those things where the wrong bin got wheeled out to the store (because if you have errors sexing females, then you also probably have errors sexing males, and some females may end up in the male bin). Irregardless, you spent weeks feeding and maintaining a flock that was never going to produce much for you.

From a business perspective, I would be surprised if they would honor the sexing guarantee on their random chick bin ($2 a chick). Online their cheapest price, besides the all-male fry pan bargain, is $2.43 for "Leann's Adopt-Me" straight run (no sexing guarantee). Then, $3.44/chick is the cheapest female sexed chick purchased as either a "brown egg layer assortment" or white egg layers - so no breed guarantees. So, $2 a chick is quite a discount (better if you had gotten the females their sign indicated you were purchasing).

Good Luck with moving forward with your flock and with getting females!

 

[LaidWithLove]

Well, I've just gotta ask- what'd you expect when you went rummaging through a bin of chicks without access to food? I got my chicks from Cackle hatchery, and they made all their policies and guarantees very clear, and all my chicks arrived safely (even the extra chick, which is still alive). I am sorry for your experience though, but, when you find quality poultry, just stick with it. You could also do what I do, and just breed your own poultry.

Honestly, I thought I'd get lucky with a few unusual breeds. My local place only does one batch of exotic breeds and honestly, it's a madhouse to get them. I was fortunate to be able to be the first one there upon opening and I got three cochins and two Salmon Faverolles. Out of the Cochins, straight run, I had one blue roo which went to a friend, and one blue, one black pullet. Both Salmons were pullets.

From the bin we got an OE pullet, a Buff Brahma pullet, and a Cream Legbar pullet. Not bad, but not 40 dollars worth either if you catch my drift. The Brahma is probably show quality but I don't show for biosecurity reasons.

 

[LaidWithLove]

I've ordered online 1x with Meyer (2018), but all arrived DOA - likely due to USPS mishandling. They refunded chick cost, but not shipping (as per policy).

Then we happened to be driving through Cleveland and had a broody hen at home. We stopped in on a Friday (so 5 days after hatch, I think) to pick up a few chicks for broody. Prior to arriving at store, I had chatted back and forth on my phone with CS and they indicated they still had random chicks that week and none were bantam (I indicated I did not want bantam) and that they are all sexed female in the extras bin. We arrived. The one staff person I recall in the store was helpful if asked a question. We picked seven chicks. Luckily I mentioned to the staff member (cashier) that I was glad they still had chicks left and that I did not want bantams. She nicely pointed out that most of what we had was, in fact, bantams! She helped us pick out some non bantams out of the bin. Broody momma was happy with her adopted chicks and did a great job! However, 2 out of the 7 were males. So, that was disappointing and a bit unexpected as I would have thought maybe a chance of 1 mis-sexed bird, but not 2 out of 7. Still better than 18 males out of 21 chicks.

So, overall, I was disappointed in getting a 29% error rate for sexed birds (Still better than your 86% error rate). But, I was happy with getting the chicks for $2 a piece. The chicks were bought with the initial purpose of satisfying a broody hen - and that was accomplished. We do not sell eggs or otherwise make money off our flock, so it did not impact us other than the inconvenience of having to re-home the unwanted ones. I was disappointed that the information I was given was wrong (supposedly there were no bantams in the extra bin).

Now the two chicks we kept (from the 7 we bought) are producing well and are fully integrated in our flock. Would I buy from Meyer again? Yes, probably because we are happy with the two we kept and they have a good breed selection. However, if I were to get such a load of cockerels from a sexed female bin - it would be a lot less likely, even at $2 a piece.

It makes me wonder if they have changed an internal policy or procedure that allowed so many cockerels to be in that random chick bin. Or maybe it was one of those things where the wrong bin got wheeled out to the store (because if you have errors sexing females, then you also probably have errors sexing males, and some females may end up in the male bin). Irregardless, you spent weeks feeding and maintaining a flock that was never going to produce much for you.

From a business perspective, I would be surprised if they would honor the sexing guarantee on their random chick bin ($2 a chick). Online their cheapest price, besides the all-male fry pan bargain, is $2.43 for "Leann's Adopt-Me" straight run (no sexing guarantee). Then, $3.44/chick is the cheapest female sexed chick purchased as either a "brown egg layer assortment" or white egg layers - so no breed guarantees. So, $2 a chick is quite a discount (better if you had gotten the females their sign indicated you were purchasing).

Good Luck with moving forward with your flock and with getting females!

What we were told that was consistent between online CS and the store staff was that the bin was SEXED PULLETS. I wondered if they weren't the extras from the straight runs myself, but at that ratio it seemed MORE likely that they were the extras from the MALES. Also, we were told online that there were bantams in that bin, that they were marked with leg bands, and that store staff weren't allowed to help identify breed. Online CS told us that the bin chicks are included under the policy, as every Meyer bird is. Just what WE were told, but I don't know now how accurate any of it was.

 

[newchicksnducks]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. As someone who works in customer service, I realize how much your contacts attitudes can totally change your experience. I've been ordering and picking up from Meyer's for 10 years- around 75 chicks over the years. So far, I've never had one wrongly sexed (altho my present brood of 16 has one that is very suspicious at 7 weeks). I do order and then pick up my chicks. Have never had one die as a chick either. I am too soft hearted to have them shipped, lol. I always take the "bins" with a grain of salt - whether it is at TSC or a hatchery. Too many hands handling them, putting them in wrong bins, etc. Good luck on your next group of (hopefully!) hens!