We have had 7 batches of meat chicks delivered. 3from a place in Texas, and this was our 4th from this place, in the Midwest. The most "losses" we've ever had in the first 5 days was 5 chicks, which was from 'the other place,' and we were, of course, reimbursed for them. Otherwise, we only lost one or two, from pen accidents, drowning, or trampling. Chicks are very delicate, and the world, even a little box, can be dangerous!
As a matter of fact, our last batch was the best yet. 25 chicks plus one rare breed chick; all 25 grew to maturity (4-6 lbs, fully dressed), and the lovely cuckoo Moran is still in the pen!
However, this new batch, received last week, well, first of all, they somehow mis-counted and only put in 39 plus the rare one (unless one escaped en route). Then, when they arrived, there were already 6 dead in the box. Before the day was out, 7 more toppled over. The next day, 10 more died, despite our best efforts to keep them warm, feed them mash, give them water, hand feed them vitamins, etc. we ended up with 12 survivors plus the rare one. Heartbreaking. Needless to say, we are getting a replacement shipment in a few weeks. I hope they arrive in better shape. I guess that sometimes something happens during the trip that stresses them out and they cannot recover. Bad fall, too hot, too cold, whatever. Anyway, I hope we don't have to go through that again!
At the same time as all that chick-death, the incubator chicks were popping out daily! Out of 21 eggs, 14 hatched, but one died after a day or so. Only two are light yellow-brown; one is grey; and the rest are black or black with white chests. Our friend gave us 4 fertile eggs to hatch. They all hatched little black chicks with yellow marks on head and butt! Unfortunately, one looks lame and will probably have to go tomorrow.
And, finally, when I was at the market, another friend said, "I have to get rid of these chickens." In her carrier was a normal-looking hen with 5 chicks that looked just like the Rhode Island reds that I got as my starter chicks 3yrs ago. They couldn't have been more than 2 days old. Before I knew what I was doing, I said, "I'll take them." I guess we'd better build another pen soon.
I've had pretty good luck with McMurray. Not uncommon to have one or two dead chicks, but then again, I've also had plenty of shipments with zero dead chicks. So far I've only had one bad shipment from them ..... 50% dead on arrival. They replaced all the chicks with no problem.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried ordering from Ideal, but I've thought about it. They have some breeds that McMurray doesn't carry. Might be fun to check out new breeds.
My next shipment will be assorted banties. Bob gets a kick out of them as farm pets. We're down to our last three banties now, so it's time to add some more. Frizzles will definitely be on the order list, and maybe a couple of silkies too.
McMurray is the one that had the bad shipment. And the really good one. They don't ship in the winter, which is the only reason we get from Ideal in winter months. We got a silkie as a rare one the first time - rooster of course! Did you see I posted the recipe for the pie?
ReplyDelete