Comments regarding Meyer Hatchery

Hmm where to start, I used Meyer this go around because my usual hatchery dropped my desired breed.
I may have been living in a bubble since the other hatchery is about 4 hours away, but I was not expecting the issues that have presented themselves.

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself, lets start off with the order:
4 Silver Dorking Female
2 Silver Dorking St Run
9 New Hampshire St Run
15 Total.

Well they ship March 13th 2017 and arrive on 15th, one DOA, a first for me but nothing alarming.... but after looking the dead one over, seems as though it has feather legs. Check the rest that are by now in the brooder, yep, sure enough 8 more feather legged chicks. Placed a call to the hatchery, which was already closed, so called back the next day (16th) customer service guy seems genuinely confused, says send an email with pictures. Still no word back from them as of the 19th, so will call them back monday to see if this can be resolved.

Meanwhile, 5 more of these UFO chicks have died, the 3 remaining ones seem in good health and have not lost any in 2 days. Also lost 2 of the 6 dorkings, this is a rather foreign sensation to me as I have always had high survival rates (95% or greater).

Will attempt to update this when more information comes to light, but I did want to pen my experience before the minutia fades. This is ongoing, and as such I will reserve drawing any conclusions.

Posted on January 31, 2016, updated January 31, 2016
Posted on April 29, 2014, updated January 31, 2016
I am an experienced chicken owner on a small farm and I sell a lot of eggs direct to customers. Mt. Healthy is usually my preferred hatchery for replacement chicks but last time I put in an order I tried Meyer because of the larger variety they offer. I thought I'd give some insight about my experience.

Biggest Pros:
- Great variety. Offers many different birds all across the spectrum, certainly many more than Mt. Healthy does.
- Allows you to mix these birds in any number, even as few as 1 of each kind, as long as you meet the minimum to be shipped to you.
- Sexing seems to be very accurate. Of the entire batch I ordered I see no signs of any being roos.
- Probably the biggest pro... Excellent communication and service. I received emails of each step along the process. When I had to file a claim, the claim was promptly responded to and promptly taken care of to my satisfaction (and even above and beyond that).

Cons:
- Shipping cost me twice what it did for Mt. Healthy. They did have a heat pad in the box, though, which Mt. Healthy did not have. However, that didn't seem to make a difference because...
- I had casualties... The most I've ever had at once. One chick was DOA (a Marans, of course one of the most expensive), one was visibly weak and soon died despite being given electrolyte mix, a third died randomly overnight with no signs of having been sick, and then a 4th had leg/toe issues and soon couldn't walk. After trying to help it and seeing it fail to thrive and continue to decline, I had to put it down. Meyer did refund me in full for all 3 birds that died, though, and even though the 4th was outside of their 48 hour guarantee window, they refunded me for that one as well (see point in 'Pros' for communication/service). I accept that deaths are a possibility but this is the most I've lost at once before. If deaths bother you a lot... a caution (and a caution against even keeping chickens at all, honestly).

Birds seem a bit closer to breed standards than the ones I've ordered from Mt. Healthy. It's a bit too early to tell for certain, though, as they have a lot of growing left to do. So far, the colors and combs seem right, though.

I was satisfied with my experience and the resolution of my issues with it. I would order from them again.

While the customer service was very good and the chicks are healthy, DO NOT order from them if you expect accurate SEXING. I understand that they will most likely credit me the minimal amount difference I lost by getting several roosters instead of the females I had ordered. It is not really worth bothering to contact the company. A small credit will not fix the fact that I am out three females I was counting on and possibly more as I can't tell about the 6 marans (I ordered 2male?/4female?) and the 2 Sussex(I ordered 2females?)-These breeds are difficult to visually sex early. I can only hope for the best. Time will tell. I still must feed and rehome several males. I have ordered from Mcmurray many times over the years and they are extremely accurate in sexing. Never missed in fact! I will most likely order from Mcmurray next time. They do a better job of counting your chicken before they hatch.

Just a response to ambertx90:
You asked what makes shipping day-old chicks different from shipping newborn puppies or kittens, and here's the answer: As mammals, newborn puppies and kittens rely on their mother's milk from the time they're born, so shipping them before they're older and more independent would be a pretty bad idea. Chicks are different, though: for up to 72 hours after hatching, they are still ingesting their yolk sac, which means they really don't need food or water during that time. Those first couple days are actually the single BEST time you could ship a chick. They need to be sent in a group, though, so they can stay warm from each others' body heat.

And why day-old chicks instead of eggs? The embryo inside a fertilized egg is actually quite a bit more fragile than a day-old chick. When you ship fertile eggs, the success rate is 75-80%, and it's not unusual to lose more than half of them because of rough handling during shipping (you may not know it until later, when they don't hatch). Meanwhile, when you ship day old chicks, the standard rate of survival is about 99%. Which one of those sounds more humane?

I'm surprised this is still legal. Honestly, the people who are paying to have these defenseless LIVE animals shipped within a day of birth in a cardboard box to be days without care are just as greedy as the people who run this company. This is a sickening practice and no one would think to do it to a newborn dog or cat, but somehow think it's ok to do to birds?! What makes it different? Just buy fertile eggs and an incubator, atleast there is not developed, feeling, breathing life that you're gambling with.

Got my 28 chicks alittle over a week ago and I have mix feelings about Meyer's, (first time ordering from them). I love the fact that you can have small orders, not that I care cause I usally buy 20+ chicks per order, but it's nice if you want a random breed that your not sure about and try it out. Anyways, my 28 chicks arrived pretty healthy when I opened the box. After around 2 days old many had pasty butt, I used high protein chick stater for them, the pasty butt wasnt really an issue. After day 3, I see one of my chicks was smaller then others and was weak, 2 days later she dies. Then a day later I see another chick weak/sick then she dies 2 days later. So far the rest look strong and healthy and hoping no more will die... I expected Meyer's to be the best hatchery but I'm 2nd guessing that.. Not saying there bad, but it just seems after the 48 hour guarantee from Meyers, that's when the chicks start to die and you can't do anything about it....

Ordered 25 pullets for week of 6/28/10. I called Saturday 6/26 wanting to switch my order, but the breeds I was wanting were not available. They told me to call back Monday morning, 6/28, to see if there any extra chicks that hatched that day of the breeds I wanted and I could switch. I called at 10am, 1 hr after they opened, to see if I could change my order. They told me it would be impossible to find my order since it was already sent out to be filled. I recieved a call on tuesday 6/29 saying that the 6 australorps I ordered did not hatch and they were replacing them with columbian wyndottes, which I already orderd 3. The australorps were for a young family not far from my house. They raise chickens to cut grocery costs and their flock is getting old and production was way down this year. For me, it would have been more acceptable to give me sex links or R.I Reds that have a higher production than a Wyndotte.

The chicks did arrive all alive. 1 died of crusty butt at 72 hrs, which I do not blame Meyer. I think Meyer needs to ask the customer what type chickens they would want to replace if they could not fulfill the order or ask the customer if they are willing to wait the next week to properly fill the order. I would have been willing to wait a couple of weeks.

I'm wanting to order several different chicken breeds and Meyer Hatchery appears to be the only source for small batches of the breeds I want. I was concerned after reading feedback here so I considered giving them a call anyway but looked them up with the Better Business Bureau first and I'm glad I did. Better Business Bureau says they're aka "Falling Star Farms" and ranks them as an F. I'd rather do without than be frustrated and regretful.
//www.akron.bbb.org/newsearch2.asp?ComID=027200131819700

I have ordered for many years from Murray McMurray and been very pleased with their birds and their service. This year I decided to place a second poultry order and McM was sold out so I decide to try Meyer. I live in Canada and require health papers. I also have to pick up in the US, which requires a 4 am wake up , a long drive, a ferry ride to Pt. Angeles, WA and then another ferry back and another drive home: all told about 15-18 hours. So it's a coordinated event to get birds. On the last day the Meyer order was supposed to arrive [they give you a 3 day window] (and the last day I had arranged to have someone work my shift for me at my job if necessary), someone called me from Meyer to say they had pushed my order to the next week because they didn't have all the birds I wanted. I had of course already paid for the birds and the health papers. But Meyer had forgotten to actually get the health papers so if the birds HAD been shipped, I wouldn't have been able to bring them into Canada. We went back and forth trying to find dates when I could get both the health papers and the birds I ordered and finally found one a month or so later. When the birds arrived they seemed quite lively except for a couple croakers in the box. There were another 3 dead by the time we were on the ferry. And another 6 or so by the time I got home. I have never had that many lost with McM. And I lost a fair amount more. I also had guinea fowl and they kept dying. And dying . And dying. Of the 72 guineas I ordered I have ended up with 42. I finally got someone at Meyer who admitted that they had a lot of trouble with the guineas this year- but , like the person above noted, they only guarantee for 48 hours and since I kept losing them for two weeks, I only got credit for a few of them. Of the other birds, some others have just died at 6-8 weeks for no apparent reason. Some of these I had already sold to other experienced chicken people and some were mine.

There also was another episode where they charged a friend's birds on my credit card on her say so, without ever checking with me. She paid me, but I don't think they should be charging on my credit card without my okay.
My comment is neutral because I will probably try Meyer once more next year. I know McM is very expensive, but for me , their service and birds have been great. With Meyer, I have lost a lot and the entire ordering was a mess.

I ordered 15 Buff Orpington(females), 4 Buff Orpington(Males) and 6 straight run silkies on March 17, 2008. I called the next day to add to the order but they process your order the day you place it(process your payment that day) so I couldn't add to this order. I received my chicks on the date they stated they would arrive(April 2) and all but one silkie was very lively. Unfortunately it passed. I called the hatchery and was told they packed an extra chick so we are even. My problem is there is a price difference between buff orp males/females and silkies; also when you order 19 of one type of chick and 6 of another, it makes a big difference when you lose one of the 6.
I give pos marks on friendliness of the customer service, ship as promised and for the most part healthy lively chicks.
I would like to see customers have the ability to change an order(add to it) before the chicks are shipped. And if a small order of one type of chick is placed and one of the chicks looks much smaller than the rest perhaps add another of that breed.