Comments regarding Cackle Hatchery

Cackle was once my go to hatchery. Now they have the most restrictive policies on guaranteeing viability and adding to orders. They also have the most expensive vaccination charge. I'll explore alternative sources before ordering again.

I have ordered chicks from cackle hatchery on two previous occasions with no complaints. I have had no complaints until this last order. I ordered 300$ worth of chicks, around 40 chicks total. I picked the chicks up one day earlier than expected since the main post office called me instead of my local post office. There were 2 dead chicks when I picked them up. No biggie it happens. I have been raising chickens now for 10 years so I always order with the expectations that a few will pass from natural causes. The next 24 hours they were dropping like flies. I had everything ready for them previous to there arrival and I always order the chick care package that includes electrolytes and all that. By the second day I had lost 9 chicks. It did seem to be breed specific. I lost a lot of Easter eggers and 2 of the three olive eggers and the salmon favorelles. I emailed after I lost the first four so quickly and they responded pretty quickly. They just asked for my order number and I never heard from them again. I continued to email with no response and waited to call until closer to the 48 hour period to see how many chicks would pass. Long story short I never heard back via email and when I finally reached customer service the representative seemed to have one job and that was to prove that I had done something wrong. Like I was calling to go over the rules of raising chickens. Then after a lengthy conversation that was accusational at best she said that I would receive a call on the following day to get a final death tally. I carried the phone around with me the next day and never received a phone call. I emailed but no one got back to me. Shocker. At that point I did not want anymore chicks from them anyway. I had been through a lot trying to help these poor babies but I just had to watch them all die one by one. By the first week I had lost 11. I lost another 2 the second week and I lost another one today. The rest of the chicks seem to be flourishing but my flock will have to be a lot less colored egg layers which sucks because my customers love the blue eggs. I will be ordering elsewhere from now on and hoping for the best. I never write reviews but I sent a lot people to cackle to order chicks and so I want to warn everyone that this could happen.

This company has little concern with packaging, weather or if your order of LIVE birds will arrive dead or alive. We ordered our small order for our local 4H fair, hoping to get a bird to show. They first take the initial step of collecting your astronomical fee ($82 for 6 chicks) and only guarantee the chicks pricing which is marginal compared to their $20 small order fee, $20 shipping fee ect. Then they ship them with little or no concern to weather. Our small chicks were placed in a 11x9 inch box, 1/4 straw bedding, 1/4 inch cardboard depth or standard box thickness with enough room for them NOT TO HUDDLE. They state that each box has a heater in it, but what they do not tell you is that these heaters only last an hour or two at most. Shipping from neighboring states in the method of only offering Priority Mail not Priority Mail Express it took a total of 16 hours from shipment to receiving. The big hint on how this company operates is that this SMALL ORDER left their facility at 4:30 PM traveling through the coldest temperatures...at night. Our shipment was received in Kansas City MO at 12:58 AM (temperatures now at 47 degrees) reaching Illinois temperatures at night at 38 degrees). Mind you that they daytime temperatures in MO. that day reached a high of 78 degrees and Chicago 66 degrees. Shipping a small order at this time and KNOWING that these small birds HAVE TO MAINTAIN a 98 degree body temperature otherwise HYPOTHERMIA and PNEUMONIA will occur. The box size and construction did not offer any protection from these elements as our complete order arrived DEAD on ARRIVAL. Their bodies sprawled all over the place. During night hours there is also no light for them to detect each other than by sound. The struggle portion of a chick would have been loud but as they freeze I am certain not much sound is produced. I only wish I could show these readers the body positions as not one was next to another and their small collapsed bodies showing they just gave up. One chick peeped when we picked up the box but I opened it to give water and heat as our car was at the highest temperature, blankets brought and to find this one's body contoured to know it was trampled, wing broken and could not raise it's head. It did not even survive the ride home. It's feet were beyond cold as I rubbed my hands to give as much heat to it placing it on my hand still within the box. This place should take better effort to have staff monitor weather conditions and only ship during the daytime hours for periods of low temperatures. It is fun going to the stores to pick up your chicks but Blain"s purchases their chicks from this company as well and I can tell you on several occasions I have seen mass amounts of dead ducks, chickens and turkeys. If they do not take them out prior to showing off their inventory. Remember one sick chick CAN INFECT them ALL! Big R and Tractor Supply Plus order from Townline Hatchery which shipping is free and they WILL NOT ship in COLD weather without the support of a 15 minimum order. Also, MY PET CHICKEN, Meyer Hatchery and Murry McMurry have special designed boxes to reinsure huddling which is the only way these birds can MAINTAIN their REQUIRED 98 degree body temperature without experiencing HYPOTHERMIA. Cackle Hatchery still states that their box design is adequate and does not see a problem shipping at night.

I have ordered everything from meatbirds to exotics over the last 3 years from Cackle Hatchery. Always it was an excellent and positive experience. My chicks always arrived on time exactly when they told me they would. Chicks were always in excellent condition upon arrival, and were provided with gro gel and heat packs. All of my chicks were robust, healthy, bright eyed, and grew into lovely birds. My last order was an expensive order of Splash and Lavender Ameraucana's, very beautiful and friendly birds as always. Staff and customer service have ALWAYS been accomodating and helpful. I will be the first to criticize a business, but I have to give Cackle the best recommendation I can because they earned it. I will only buy from Cackle.

Don't trust this place. I typically only provide online reviews for exceptionally good customer service experiences, preferring to give the benefit of the doubt when I have a bad experience. However, in this case, I want to be sure others don't fall into the same trap I did. I paid $600 for ten birds that were marked online as "available now." After one week, I receive my ship date, three weeks out. The day after the scheduled ship date, I called to confirm shipment and they promised me the birds had been mailed, but were unable to provide a tracking number. Two more days went by and the birds still hadn't arrived. I didn't sleep that night, fearing the worst had happened to the birds. When I called Cackle Hatchery as soon as they opened the next morning, they were forced to admit that they lied about the shipment and that they had completely lost my order. That being said, they had already been holding onto my $600 for a month. As you might imagine, I demanded a refund. They complied, and two more weeks later I received a portion of the refund. Even though they misplaced my order, lied about it, and neglected to provide anything for the money paid (which they held onto for six weeks), they still saw fit to keep a 10% order cancellation fee. Not only did no one apologize even once through this entire debacle, but the representative on the phone told me that it doesn't matter why the order was refunded; their policy is their policy. My advice is to stay away from this place. My husband and i were ultimately able to get ten chickens from a local farm for less than the $60 these people took to give me nothing but lies and hassles.

I ordered 30 Cochin Bantams, 10 each of 3 different varieties. The day the order came one there was only 20 birds plus 2 dead ones that I guess were extras in the box. Looking at the order someone wrote on sorry no white ones hatched, you can reorder. Well first thing the minimum order is 25, something they did not adhere to shipping me 20 birds so to reorder I would have to order 25 birds, 15 more then I wanted. Reordering was also not a possibility in a bunch of chicks I wanted to raise together. Most hatcheries I have dealt with would have held the order for the next hatching.

As the birds grow I was very disconcerted to realize that my straight run order was apparently behind someone that wanted hens, out of 20 birds there were only 3 hens. The next blow was the poor genetics displayed in the birds. The Birchen Cochins had some that were missing the silver laced breast feathers, they were just black, many had poor neck feathers with poor lacing, the birds that had plenty of feed and water areas, were all different sizes, particularly noted in the Splash Cochins. I have never seen such poor genetics in one group in my over 50 years of raising all kinds of birds. The final blow was the poor livability displayed in the hens, at about 8 months the first one died. The two remaining nested together and started to raise 6 chicks. Within a week of them hatching another hen was dead and the final one just 3 weeks later. I have had Cochin bantams for years, they live for years and rarely die. No more orders from this company for me, it was a totally bad experience with an order over $100 that resulted in no hens a year later. I sold the excess roosters and only have 2 left with no hens.

I purchased 30+ chicks - mostly bantams and a few standards from cackle hatchery. Of these 10 were Buff Orpington Bantams. One week after delivery, only 4 of the 10 Buff Orpington bantams remain alive. Of the remaining 4, 2 seem "questionable" in terms of vigor and I doubt they will survive. I phoned Cackle to discuss why only this breed of chick in my order is not thriving. I have been raising chickens and hatching and brooding chicks for over 40 years and have never experienced such deaths with a batch of chicks - it is very odd to me that only the Buff Orpington bantams were/are struggling to survive. The responses to my phone call were the typical textbook responses - heat lamp set properly? what is bedding used? etc., etc. I was told to give them vinegar water to help with the stress. But, this does not address why only the Buff Orpington bantams are dying and not the other breeds. I use newspaper (have for 40 years with no problem) for the floor of the brooder and change it TWICE daily. I was told the newspaper may cause splay legs, which I have never had a problem with, but was not the purpose of my phone call. I have ordered from Cackle a few times, but with this recent order and the lack of vigor I seem to be witnessing in my Buff Orpington chicks, I doubt I will return as a customer and will find chicks from a closer source to my home. I am not convinced that small bantams from certain breeds take the stress shipping well. This may be the case for my situation.

Very happy with this order! I had ordered in the past and due to a bad snowstorm lost all those chicks so I was hesitant to order again but I'm glad I did. I ordered 5 bantam cochins, they are super tiny and they sent 2 extra (they are the most active of the bunch), ordered 5 blue silkies and got 2 extra, ordered 5 black silkies, received 5. I ordered 10 Easter eggers and received 1 extra. They are all different colors, from white, lavender, chipmunk, black, dark brown, all have fuzzy cheeks and the variety of colors was a nice surprise.

I bought 23 chicks and had them shipped. We received 24 chicks. Two were dead within minutes after arrival one of which was one of my 2 males. I called the hatchery and spoke with Jessie who was great and told me to call them again in 24 hours because he pointed out that there had been no heat pack included when the chicks were shipped and it’s been 7degrees out. I called after 24 hours and gave Jessie a live count. He said they would be able to ship me replacements but to call after 48 hours with total. He said usually they only do the live count after 24 hours but since they knew why these chicks were dying that they would do 48 hours. I called after 48 hours and spoke with Kathryn and told her I only had 12 left out of the 24 they shipped us. She said they would only replace 11 of them because there had been an extra one. She then told me that their policy was that they can’t ship less than 15 so I would need to purchase 4 more chicks to get my replacements. I refused to purchase more when this had been their fault. I told her she could ship 15 if they needed to but that I shouldn’t have to buy more due to their negligence. I asked to speak to a supervisor and spoke with Chelsea who said she was the office manager. Horrible example of customer service skills!!! She refused to ship us our chicks and said she would only do a refund. I told her I just wanted our chicks alive and she told us they ship over 100,000 chicks and they would take a huge loss to ship us less than 15 chicks. I will never buy from this hatchery again! It would not surprise me if I lose the rest of the chicks too after being shipped in 7 degree weather for over 24 hours with no heat. Buyer Beware!!!

A friend and I placed an order with Cackle this spring. It included included both meat birds and heritage breeds. Prices were reasonable; service was concise; chicks arrived healthy and strong. Every chick survived and grew well. The quality of the birds as they are now maturing is very good, reflecting breed standards. The cornish rock meat types are the best I have ever raised. I have worked with these meat types from other hatcheries with varying success--the usual leg problems. With this strain, however, I have had only one encounter this problem. Am saving a half dozen of these for later fall butchering in place of turkey; they are over 10 pounds and no leg problems. The Buff Orpingtons and the Light Brahmas are very uniform and correct. I will definitely be ordering again.

I placed a combined order with three other Chicken moms with Cackle Hatchery and was So happy with the quality of the chicks when they arrived ... They shipped out on the Monday that I was told they were going to ship and they made it to my PO in Southern Utah in only 2 days! All the chicks were bright eyed and active and very healthy! We ordered Silver Spangled Spitzhaubens, French Black Copper Maran Pullets, Austra White Pullets, Welsummer Pullets, Red Shouldered Yokohamas, and an assortment of standard Cochins, they all started eating and drinking right away and are still thriving and happy little peepers. I was so happy when I did a head count and say that they had thrown in an extra Welsummer Pullet, 2 extra Austra White Pullets and an extra Spitzhauben!
I am absolutely overjoyed with Cackle Hatchery and will most definitely be ordering from them again in the future!

My first experience with Cackle was in June 2015 when I ordered 25 guinea keets from them. It was the hatchery choice batch, and I received nearly equal numbers of pearl, purple, white, and lavender, so I was very pleased. However, the white guineas started dying after the first day and I lost all but two. I did email them to let them know, in case there was either something wrong with that flock or the incubator that was used or something, but I did not request replacements since they had already included extras and I was planning to sell all but ten anyway.
After buying chicks through a few other hatcheries over the next year I decided to return to them for my chick order in Feb 17. Once again, I had a great experience. They got to me in Maryland overnight and all were healthy and well. The only losses I had were with the Egyptian Fayoumis. I ordered three and received four and three ended up dying. Hopefully the one I have left is a girl!
The downside to this company is their communication. I did not get the tracking number until the morning after they shipped.
I do like that they use pictures of their actual birds and you can see pictures that customers sent in of the birds. They also have a great assortment of youtube videos of their breeder flocks and the chicks.

I placed an order though Crackle Hatchery and when I pickup my chicks from the post office all but one chicks was either dead or dying, and what were still half alive I have been trying to nurse along to no avail over the last 24 hours. I called and they told me they would refund me for all the dead chicks after 72 hours, less of course shipping cost. I am very disappointed and in the quality of service from the hatchery and also the handling of fragile cargo by the post office. I will not order any more chicks from Crackle Hatchery, and after talking to several of the local feed stores that sell chicks I understand why they do not order from Crackle Hatchery.

Have been ordering from Cackle Hatchery for 2 years now and all rare breeds and regular breed chicks + 2 rouen and cayuga ducks I ordered survived with no problems. Their colors are exactly as advertised and they are oh so beautiful! I must say that the line of breeds they carry are pure with no defects. I have done my research and they are the only hatchery with the best breed lineup and the best service. Will highly recommend.

Have ordered chicks ducks geese and turkeys from cackle. Have never had a problem at all.

I ordered 15 chicks and two Rouen ducklings from them last February and all arrived at my doorstep in Palmer AK in great condition. They sent me a extra chick as well which covered the one I lost the day after..Shipping was great except for the post office on my end..All birds are in great condition and had no problems hatching out 22 chicks 3 days ago from their stock. As a matter of fact I am awaiting 20 chicks from Cackle that are due to arrive next week..I will continue to do business with Cackle.

Ordered 15 Welsumers to be delivered Feb 6 and received 16 birds. 5 were dead or dying due to piling in the shipping container. I managed to save the 2 who were still breathing but the other three were dead and cold. I DONT blame CH for this, as it was 9 degrees the day of delivery. I called CH two hours after delivery and told them of the situation, I didn't want reimbursed for the two weak chicks but they said to call the next day to make sure they made it. Very professional. There is NO way this was their fault something I think people forget, you can put healthy birds in a box but they have to travel hundreds of miles being treated God knows how before they make it to your door, NONE of which is under the hatcheries control. Will use them again

I've ordered a range of 15 - 30 chicks from Cackle annually for the last 3 - 4 years, mostly pullets, but also dual purpose meat birds. Only once did a majority of the chicks arrive dead, and Cackle made good ASAP. Oddly, it was the one time that the chicks arrived in 24 hours, from MO to ME. Customer service is EXCELLENT and the birds have been beautiful, productive and ... yummie! Sexing has been mostly spot on too. Unfortunately, this year I need to find another hatchery as they are not hatching Dark Cornish, my go to meat bird; otherwise I'd reorder from them -- ALWAYS!

This spring I ordered 30 of the Ancona ducklings, straight run, to raise for meat purposes. They arrived in 2 days but out of the 30 only 9 were alive. This was very disheartening as I've never had more than 1 or 2 casualties from shipping.
They were piled on top of each other like they were cold (even though temps in both places were well above 60).
I called cackle and they offered to refund me or send a new batch. I opted for the second shipment as I have never had this issue before.
The second batch arrived the following week. They had sent 21 as replacements. All arrived in perfect condition. They even sent them in 2 smaller boxes taped together with some of the holes taped rather than 1 large 2 compartment box like the previous batch.
I was very saddened that this happened but glad they have excellent customer service and corrected the problem as quickly as i was hoping for!

My first time experience ordering from Cackle has gone great. I ordered 15 golden duckwing phoenix chicks from them, and they sent one extra. I didn't lose a single one and they are all very healthy, active chicks. I did have to order these weeks in advance, but I had no problems communicating via email or phone calls when I had a question about the order. I would recommend them- they have a good selection, fair pricing, and fair shipping charges on orders of 15 chicks or more. I would recommend them and would order from them again.

As far as some of the negative comments go- wow. ALWAYS keep new chicks/chickens isolated for the first few weeks no matter where they come from. Give the new chicks plain warm water when they arrive but NEVER microwave the water to warm it up. As soon as we think we know everything there is to know about raising chicks, karma will always throw us a curve ball- so take the same amount of care with each brood as you did your very first time. Lastly, make sure to plan ahead if you're looking for a specific breed- good things are worth waiting for :-)

We just ordered 33 chicks of several different breeds and were very pleased with our order. All of the chicks arrived healthy and there were extras. We live in NV so that is more than a two thousand mile trip. The chicks are true to type and color. I can't rate them highly enough. They are the only online hatchery that shows actual videos of their breeding stock--every chicken breed they carry. Further, their breeding stock is beautiful and true to breed type. They are all healthy and kept in very clean pens. The chicks have good dispositions and are very gentle and calm. The hatchery communicated with us throughout the process. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Great company! I ordered a mix of ducks and chickens, all arrived happy and healthy, and are doing great! I LOVE Cackles 15 chick minimum (you can even mix different species of birds like ducks, turkeys and chickens all together in the same box!) I also love the fact that they are family owned and operated, and i love that you get emails from Nancy herself (thank you Nancy!) They also answered all of my stupid, annoying questions with patients and kindness! A+ Will order again!

I ordered 15 Heritage Rhode Island red pullets from them in early August. I called first a few weeks before to verify that there were indeed Heritage and not "Production" Reds. They all arrived on time and spunky. However after a short time it was obvious they were not Heritage. I decided to wait a bit to see if they would darken up. In the meantime I could see that one was defiantly a rooster. No worries. They sent an extra and hey..it was just one. Then a few more started looking like roos. Pretty soon it was clear I had many more roos than should ever be in a all pullet order. I called and was told to email the pics. So I did. It was only september 17th so I know I could be wrong but they only give you a certain number of weeks to report a problem. I wanted to get the report in on time. I waited for a call or email but never got one. I called after a few days and not hearing back and was told to email again. I sent another email on September 27. I explained in the email as I did on the phone that I needed to know what they were going to do. I was sent a straight run. I needed pullets. That is why I paid extra. If they were not going to fix it I needed to know. That way I could get some ordered before shipping stopped for the year. Never heard back. I called one last time and sent one last email. NOTHING!! I ended up with 7 roosters that several judges have told me were "Glorified production reds" Sure..they are in great health. But I had to get rid of 6 of the roosters because they became very aggressive toward each other. So now im stuck with 10 chickens that are not the right kind. And no one bothered to even call me back. Not even to say I was wrong or to wait a little longer and send new pics. NOTHING. They are all nice and courteous when you order but God forbid they get something wrong and you want them to fix it. Now I have to wait till spring order the correct type from someone and feed them all summer when I should be getting eggs. I will never order from them again. And I belong to many Chicken forums and will continue to warn anyone considering purchasing from them not to do so. I live in the same state in the hatchery and tell anyone I can any chance I get what they did and will continue to do so until (like it will ever happen) they make it right. The feed store I go to all the time buys from them but I have convinced them to use another hatchery. If you want mutt poultry with no customer service than by all means order from them. I also went back and looked at their web page. I looked at their production red pic and the Heritage pic. Im not 100 percent sure but I think its the same rooster but different sides. And after reading more I don't think the pics are from their birds but rather a "Representative of the breed"

Placed 2 ordered with cackle this year. Both mixed orders of 60+ sexed chicks of various breeds. Love the variety in easter egger colors, they send both dark and light variants which is great. Haven't had an too many turn out to be roosters which is a nice change from the other hatchery I ordered from this year. I don't know what people are saying about sick chicks, all the ones I received looked very healthy and very few died. Yes if it's very cold (Nov-Feb) you risk them getting chilled in the mail but I've had no disease problems or apparent genetic defects like some people are saying. I will definitely be ordering from them next year.

We received our order from Cackle they were great, we will order agin, and thanks Zack he was very helpful. Allen

I ordered 22 chicks. After waiting several months i was so happy to get them but when i opened them there they are just laying there dead all 22 of them. And it said they ship extra chicks in case one dies and they didnt .However i did get my money back .I will neverrrrrr order from there again and neither will anybody I know.

Ordered 25 straight run chicks (5 Buff Orpington, 5 Black Australorp, 5 Barred Plymouth Rock, 5 Easter Eggers, 5 Delaware) online back in January, asking for delivery on 4/18/13.

Received my email confirmation and invoice same day I ordered. Received email that my chicks were on their way 4/17/13 along with a link for tracking them. Received them morning of 4/18/13. Impressive, seeing as I live in Alaska!

Received all 25 (plus 2 extra) chicks alive, all looked healthy. 1 died the following day with no obvious symptoms, just flopped on his back and expired. But the others are all still completely healthy!

So far a completely awesome and easy experience ordering from Cackle, will do so again :)

I ordered 25 Golden Comet chicks, to be delivered in mid-April. In late March the hatchery called and said they had some ready to go and they coud send them early if I was able to take them. A few days later I received 26 GC chicks. They arrived in great shape and after a week and a half in the brooder I've had no problems. I have subsequently placed another order.

Ordered New Hampshires from Cackle twenty years ago..The absolute best looking and laying Hamps seen since 40's and 50's...Also got several other chicks from them at different times over the years...This hatchery and these people are FIRST CLASS...Seems that most of the negative comments are from people who may not really know how to raise baby chickens or are whiners,PERIOD.

I ordered the Frypan special from Cackle Hatchery back in February. I recieved 26 chicks all alive and well. I got Barred Rocks, RIRs, Buff Orpingtons, and White Leghorns. They are now about 6 weeks old and all 26 are happy and thriving. I will definatly order from them again.

Posted on March 20, 2013, updated March 20, 2013
Well I was so pleased with the order of chicks I recieved today!!! For one I want to say that I live in New York and it was definitely with a wind chill close to 0 degrees today and they all made it to me safe and sound no injeries I ordered 25 silkies they gave me 28 (3 extra) which I am so thankful and like I said they are all doing great this was my first time ordering from cackle and let me tell you I will never order from anywhere again! I previously have tried a few hatcheries and never again will I! I will admit that I really didnt care for cackles website or being on the phone with them great people but I was shuffled on the phone for awhile but it was so worth it in the end and on top of it I got 28 silkies and they ALL have beards come on now I cant even believe it still but either way great place to try would recomend to EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!

All chicks arrived happy, healthy, and vigorous! Will order again. I ordered 23 Marans chicks and they all did great.

I ordered 30 Pekin Ducklings and 30 Khaki Campbell's all were strait run and they sent 2 extras. All arrived healthy and alert. I have ordered from them several times due to there very reasonable prices and each time was a pleasent experience and all chicks and ducklings arrived healthy. I am currently awaiting the arrival of my 3rd order this year of Welsh Harlequin ducklings. I will continue to order from Cackle Hatchery anytime i am in need of poultry or supplies. I usually recieve my orders within 2 business days with the exception of my last order in which i received my ducklings only 26 hours after they shipped them.

I ordered 5 speckled sussex, 5 buff orpingtons, 5 silver laced wyandottes, and 5 gold laced wyandottes, from Cackle Hatchery, totaling twenty. They sent me 22 chicks, the extras were 1 buff orpington and 1 silver laced wyandotte. Four were very lethargic on arrival, and despite my efforts, 3 of the four died, leaving me 19 chicks. I have absolutely no complaints, the hatchery contacted me to let me know that the chicks were on their way, they sent the tracking information, i contacted the post office to let them know and have them call me when the chicks arrived, arrival day, USPS called at 6am to tell me they were in. I went to the post office, and checked them, and brought them home. The hatcheries send extras with the shipments, because they know there is a potential for some loss in shipping. The three chicks, just didn't make it. I emailed Cackle, and they were very kind. They asked how I felt about the shipment process, and wanted to make sure that the post office had followed through on their end, and they offered to credit me for the loss. They were very friendly and professional. I will buy from them again, and I would recommend them to others.

feb 28 2012 i order 14 barred rock hens 1 rooster i got 15 and 0ne. great . cackle hatchery they where so nice to deal with it now jan 27 2013 i still have them all with eggs acomeimg and good hatching at 100 percent i have been in this all my life. seen all things from hatching too growing them to lost dont blame them for all bad they do a job.thanks allen laurel de give them a 10

I put in an order of 30 ducklings this past spring. When I had problems with my order they were quik to correct the problems. I was very impressed with thier service and thier obvious concern for the ducklings welfare. Before I ordered from them I had been in contact with another hatchery that when I asked about the long trip up here (Alaska) and the welfare of the ducklings I was told just to order extras as thats just how it goes. Cackle wanted to do what they could to ensure the ducklings had the best success. That speaks volumes in my mind. I believe every animal is just as valuable of a life as the next.

As far as the reviews where others state that they could not get through on th phone or through e-mail, I must say that they even called me back on thier own accord and I can not imagine that they would ovoid the phone all together as they would have no idea who was on the line trying to reach them. As a business woman this just doesn't make sense to me.

Posted on August 8, 2010
Oh how I wish I had found this site sooner! We will never order from Cackle Hatchery again. Ordered 100 Blue Slate turkeys from them a few years back. They sent 102 and some were dead on arrival with several sick. The post office even made a written statement of this. I made numerous phone calls to the hatchery and over a few days, all but one of the 102 turkeys died. After several phone calls (many resulting in a busy signal) and e mails they would do nothing about the problem. With cost of birds, shipping, medication and long distance phone calls I ended up with close to $500 in one turkey. Buyers beware, Cackle Hatchery took advantage of me! They were very rude but maybe that is just how they act in that part of the world. I told Nancy that I would be satisfied if they would split the loss with me and send 50 turkeys replacements for the dead ones. I even sent them pictures of the dead ones. I tried to be decent and she said there was nothing that she was going to do. The last words I spoke to her was that I was going to do everything in my power to make sure I cost her more business revenue in the future than what Cackle Hatchery had ripped me off. By the comments I have just read, they are still at it. Years later, I am still bitter about the way I was treated. I have kept my word to Nancy and still seize the opportunity to tell anybody I can, just as I have done here. Murray McMurray hatchery is a little more expensive to purchase birds but their quality and customer service is miles ahead of Cackle Hatchery.
Chad Sale

last year I ordered 6 americanas one rooster and 5 hens, along with 10 wellsummers(SP) for their dark brown spotted eggs. chicks grew up good no complaints their, once they got to be about 6 months old I am loosing them one at a time first it was my americana rooster, I also noticed that all but one of my americana hens had deformed beaks from an arch that is to high to criss crossed beaks which in return makes it hard for them to eat/ cant eat, which in return they die. Yes I did email them and got a story about how they will have to look into their breeding program and that this only happens 10 percent of the time,,,ok so I had 5 hens and all but one was deformed that is by no mean 10 percent more like 80. I am now down to 2 americanna hens one black one with a crissed cross beak and a white normal looking hen. Now on to my welsummers... I am down to 4, 6 have just died , slowly over the last year,( always nice to go to the coop in the morning with my 2 year old daughter to find dead hens!) out of the 4, three of them are blind in one eye. It's a shame that their breeding stock is so weak. cackle can not say that its something that I am doing because I still have hens from my first batch of hens(NOT orderd through them) and 2 americana hens that I hatched myself over 2 years ago, they are doing great. I agree with the people with a negative feed back...their is something wrong with the breeding/ housing program at cackle hatchery...I chalk it up to BAD breeding/inbreeding in my case. This is my first time and last time using Cackle hatchery.BE AWARE !

A++++ My family ordered from McMurray before & got who knows what breeds and they just kept sending replacements for the numerous deaths-it was a bad experience. However, we tried again w/ Cackle & have been extremely pleased. The lose was min. & they were very quick & nice about any problems which were few. Highly recommend....healthy chicks, few deaths and not so domestcated they can't forage. I did my research and it paid off, thanks Cackle.