Meyer Hatchery vs. McMurray Hatchery

[JFreeman]

I went with both hatcheries this year. I ordered ducks and geese from McMurray and a bunch of chicks. So far, we have been going well with both. I lost a duckling a couple days after I got them. She had some kind of growth on her neck. We first thought she was just eating a lot, but it never got better and she never grew. All others are doing well though.

Meyer chicks did okay. We lost a couple of Buttercups, and we're not sure what happened. The hatchery was understanding and offered replacements so long as the order consisted of three chicks. I had to buy a third, but hey, free shipping. Chicken math win.

 

[BilzFamilyFarm]

Received my Meyer order today. Everyone was happy and healthy, unfortunately they didn't send three of the chicks I had ordered. They aren't even listed on the packing slip. They have 14 listed on the sheet but the total count at the bottom is 17. Haha guess their math skills were lacking on hatch day! Meyer assured me they will replace the missing chicks after the 48 hour window. I'm hoping when I call back Thursday it all gets squared away. So far their customer service has been excellent.

 

[Joshbaker8452]

This will be my first purchase from a hatchery ONLINE so whichever does good will be my go to, it will be the one that determines which I choose next time. What are their shipping rates? And quality of each hatchery varies, but which outweighs the other with consistency? And consistency in customer service?

 

[unicornmomma]

Meyer has lower prices and lower shipping rates, especially when you order more than 15 chicks. So far I've had a good experience with my chicks from them-- I ordered 4 speckled sussex, 3 rare marans assortment (ended up being a golden cuckoo marans and 2 cuckoo marans), 1 silver laced wyandotte, 4 black copper marans, and 4 rare breed assortment (ended up being a barnevelder, delaware, buff brahma, and a buckeye), a free Meyer meal maker chick (unknown breed so far). Didn't have a single fatality. The first group is a month old now, but they called me the day of the hatch to let me know they'd had less BCMs hatch than they expected, and gave me the option to either be refunded, or to have them sent with the next hatch. I opted to have them sent from the next hatch, and added 2 more on for 6 total. There was an issue with my card (the one I used to purchase initially had expired, and I'd moved so I was waiting for the replacement to be mailed to me at my new address), and they were very patient and understanding while waiting for the new number.
I ordered all pullets, and so far, it looks like only the silver laced wyandotte is a roo (fingers crossed and knock on wood, everyone else looks pullety so far). All of them have been hardy and healthy, with the exception of the unknown breed chick, but I don't believe that's reflective of Meyer, as it developed at 3 weeks old-- it seems like it's just "one of those things" that happens with chicks sometimes.
Overall I have had a good experience with Meyer so far. I'll update as they get older if any more of my shes become hes, and if so, how Meyer takes care of me. I plan on ordering from them again in the future, provided things stay as pleasant as they've gone so far.

 

[rSpriggs]

This is the initial set of correspondence between myself & Meyer, back in May of '15.
It took quite a bit more writing to come to an agreeable (although less than satisfactory) solution:

Dear Meyer Hatchery-
I thank you for including 2 extra in my order of 50, but the loss has gone way beyond that.
I ordered 50 Delawares from you and 50 from Cackle, as I wanted a varied bloodline. Each came with 2 extra. Both orders arrived the same day, and I picked them up from the P.O. on the morning of May 8th (1 week ago).
I opened both at the same time, and introduced them to their separate areas, with identical heat, water & (organic) chick starter.
The Cackle order had 1 dead out of 52. The chicks were lively, alert, and ready for food and water. Two more died since then, and I consider that to be an acceptable loss.
Your Meyer order had 4 dead out of 52, and I was OK with that. However, the chicks were smaller / stunted-looking, lethargic, and visibly weak. They were introduced to feed and water, but pretty much stood around, stupefied, for lack of a better word. Thirty-three MORE have died, and I do NOT consider that to be an acceptable loss (38 out of 52).
While there is always a possibility of "operator error" (me), I have kept and raised chickens for quite a few years, and the identical Cackle order acts as a "double blind" in this case. I do not know if others have experienced severe loss from that particular hatch, or if there was some problem in their shipment. In either case, I ask that you make this right, in a prompt manner.
Thank you!
Russ


HI Russell,
I am so very sorry to hear that you lost x38 of your baby chicks from your order with Meyer Hatchery.
We do have a 48 hour LIVE guarantee, which covers the first 48 hours AFTER you pick up your chicks from the Post Office. Since you picked up your chicks on 5/8, your guarantee went through 5/10.
Unfortuantely, we are only able to guarantee any losses through the first 48 hours. This is to help with any "stress" during shipping. Since we have no control over how you handle, the brooder, etc, that is why we cannot guarantee after the first 48 hours.
I totally can understand your disappointment in losing so many - this number is way out of the ordinary! I don't know if the handling by the Post Office had something to do with it. Did you chicks have "pasty butt"? This is very common due to stress and getting chilled during shipping. It is imperative to keep that cleaned off. Be sure your temperature at chick level is correct and there are NO drafts. Have an area for the chicks to also get away from the heat lamp. You can try adding 1 Tablespoon sugar to 1 Quart room temperature water for a "boost".
Just for any future orders, we do ask that you contact us at the end of your 48 hours to report any losses.
If you could let me know how many you lost through 5/10, you then have 3 options: we can issue a credit on your account with us for any future order, OR we can refund your credit card (if over $5.00), OR we can reship at no charge if/when available (must meet minimum).
Any losses AFTER 5/10, we cannot guarantee. I can understand that this seems unfair as you received chicks from another hatchery and you did not experience the same number of losses from them.
I will offer a "compromise" for you. As I mentioned earlier, ANY losses through 5/10 we can either credit or reship - your choice.
Other losses after 5/10, I can issue you a credit on your account with us for 1/2 of the price of the chicks. I am unable to reship or issue full credit, since our guarantee ONLY covers the first 48 hours. But I do feel bad for you and want to try to help you out.
We certainly thank you for choosing Meyer hatchery and I look forward to hearing from you.
Laura

 

[Wyatt0224]

Hello everyone! Within the next couple of months I'm planning on ordering a few pullets to make my flock have different breeds and more colorful. I went on Meyers website and their pullets are a lot cheaper. Does anyone know if there's a difference of quality between Meyer and Mcmurray pullets and why there is such a drastic price difference? As an example on Meyers website a buff Orpington pullet is only $12.88 where Mcmurray has them at 23.29.

 

[big bouncer]

Hello everyone! Within the next couple of months I'm planning on ordering a few pullets to make my flock have different breeds and more colorful. I went on Meyers website and their pullets are a lot cheaper. Does anyone know if there's a difference of quality between Meyer and Mcmurray pullets and why there is such a drastic price difference? As an example on Meyers website a buff Orpington pullet is only $12.88 where Mcmurray has them at 23.29.

I got 2 buff Orpington chicks. Both were true and healthy despite a mailing fail by whoever shipped the "two day shipping" and took 5 killing one of 25 chicks. I do recommend them though. But one warning. They have a 90% correct sexing of the CHICKS. Pullets are probably 100%. We got one extra rooster out of 25. I think we got 25 maybe 24 or 26. Cannot remember now for some reason. We recently ordered more and they arrived on time.

 

[djaousfarm]

I have been ordering from Meyer Hatchery for a couple years now, and sometimes the chicks are good and sometimes they are not, I have had one order of lavender orpingtons that were 2 less then what I had ordered, and all of them died except for 2. Also, another thing I noticed is that their chicks are not high quality. The Lavender Orpingtons have buff leakage on them, and not a lot of those beautiful Orpington plumage you like to see in quality Orpingtons. With Meyer you can expect it to SOMETIMES BE GOOD, AND SOMETIMES BE NOT SO GOOD, but that is life I guess, and you should not expect to get high quality birds from there, even if some to the prices are pretty high for the quality they are giving out.

Customer Service was O.K.

I also had one batch of chicks that gotten mites. Also, I guess something that can happen, but I spent 62.00 dollars a chick-- and I expect QUALITY when I spend that much and good care, would anyone else? Also one of those chicks died later, but thats normal, things happen...





I am preferring smaller breeders of hatcheries now.. or very very small hatcheries/breeders... none of these large scale make money hatcheries.

 

[djaousfarm]

I would probably go with quality over quantity.

 

[ThatFarmerChick]

I agree with you dj. And at $62 a chick I want the best.