Comments regarding Murray McMurray Hatchery

I used McMurray hatchery back in the 90s, so when I decided to keep chickens again in 2011 this is where I ordered from. At that time I ordered 25, 2 died within the first 24hrs, and I was refunded the amount for the chicks I lost. They were great birds and only 1 turned out to be a rooster. 4 showed and ribboned, but definitely not all of them the same show quality. Fast forward to today July 2020 and I'm back to keeping chickens again after moving out of state in 2015. This time I ordered 15 chicks Nov2019 for delivery July 2020 and again I lost one chick the first day. They shipped on a Tuesday I picked them up from the post office Thursday morning. The rest have been super hardy, they have been in an outdoor brooder in the dog run and free to range in there since they were 2 weeks old. Only heat at night, it's been in the 90s during the day. Would definitely order from them again.

Back in November 2018, I had order 10 Cayuga ducklings from Murry McMurry Hatchery. I was told I wouldn't get my order until around January. When the time came, I never received a update about when to expect my ducklings so I contacted the company. That's when I was told that I would have to wait another month for shipment due to not having as many ducklings in that breed like they had planned. This time I wouldn't get the ducklings until mid February 2019. I received the email stating that my ducks had finally shipped and that it would take 2 days for them to arrive to my local post office where I would need to pick them up at 8:00 a.m. When the day arrived to pick them up, I never received the call from my post office about the ducklings arrival so I called them, but they had no order in. I didn't get my shipment in for another 5 DAYS! When I finally did get the ducks, they sent me a extra duck, making it 11, where I found 3 of the ducks dead upon arrival. This leaves me with 8 ducks, now. The next day, 2 more ducklings died. I then contacted the hatchery and told them about the ducklings that arrived dead, and the other two that had died that day. They explained they had a 24 hour time frame for replacements. When I told them I would like a replacement, but asked if I could get replacements of another breed of duck, which would have been cheaper just a fyi, I was told I could, but I would have to pay for them. So, instead they replaced only 2 ducks of the same breed which I'm suppose to get at the end of April. Now, at this point, I have a total of 6 ducks. As the week goes on they randomly just keep dying to the point that I now have 2 left. 2 ducks out of 11!!!!! Cayuga ducks aren't cheap and I'm really mad bc I paid that much money for a rare breed, that I thought was health tested and all and here I am, left with only two ducks! I spent around $110 on ducks after shipment and all! I should have just went to my local tractor supply, I would have saved a lot of money and my ducks would still be alive. I have better luck with them than this company! My husband told me not to be too harsh, tho he was upset about the money as well, but he wanted to give them another try. Maybe it was a bad batch of ducks, plus the stress of the travel, so he orders 30 chicks (I'm not sure the exact breeds). His arrive on time, unlike mine, but when we get home and open the box, we find 10 of the chicks dead!! Just like my ducks, they stated dropping like flies. He now has 20 after the 10 die on arrival, 6 more die that evening, leaving 14 chicks, another 3 die the following day, and 1 more dies a few days after that. Leaving him now with a total of 10 chicks. They appeared sickly with no energy at that. He didn't even bother with getting replacements. I do NOT recommend ordering from this hatchery, especially in big orders as its a waste of money! You have been warned!

There are a lot of negative reviews here but I'd like to point out a few things.

First, I think people who order from ANY commercial hatchery and expect show quality birds are going to be disappointed.

If you want true blue ribbon show quality birds that represent the breed published standard, you will absolutely have to spend a LOT more per chick. (Significantly more!) And you need to seek out accomplished backyard hobby breeders who love and cherish their breed. They work hard through generations to improve the genetics of their breed. And they deserve to paid a far higher price.

Because live poultry are so fragile, you have to expect some possible casualties or problems. It is so unrealistic to expect a flawless order 100% of the time.

Fortunately, I have not had to use their customer service for issues, so I can't comment on that.

My 2017 June chicks arrived a day late but in fine shape. ONE out of 23 chicks was sickly and soon died. (It was the freebie that was included.)

I ordered sexed females of about eight large breed brown egg layers. I was amazed to find them grow up with only ONE cockerel out of 22 chicks! (I was very blessed.) All have grown into healthy fine layers. My 6 Black & Red Stars lay Jumbo 80 ml.+ dark brown eggs every single day. My 2 Easter Eggers (Ameraucanas) are excellent layers with a true blue and a blue-green Xtra large egg. Most of the girls started laying early and continued throughout our extended bitter cold 5 degree temps this year. (No artificial lights.)

None of these chickens are "show quality." But none had any sort of physical defect and all appear sound, hearty, and vigorous.

Overall, my experience with Murray McMurray was A+ wonderful. They have such a huge assortment it was truly difficult to narrow it down. Highly recommend them.

In 2010 and 2013 I ordered from Murry Mcmurry. I ordered Brown Egg layers. I did not loose a single chick from these orders. I ordered 25 Brown egg layers and 15 Bantams, straight run, clean legs this spring. Of the Brown egg layers I lost 2. I called for advise, the people who answered were very helpful. I did not ask for a refund, I was upset because I lost the peeps. The week of May 1 I received the bantam order. They sent 21. 2 were dead. Within 24 hours I had lost 7 more. It has been 3 days since I received the peeps, I have 4 left alive, but hold no hope that they will survive. I am very disappointed to say the least. When I called them on day 2 they gave me a full... refund, but charged me for shipping me sick peeps! This will be the last order I will ever place with them. And it is not really the money, but watching these babies die one by one... They are in the living room, with a heat lamp... monitored constantly... On a side note, I ordered the 'starter kit', lol, the lamp housing came smashed, and the bulb lasted less than a week. And No... I did not report that to them, but... beware.. not sure what has changed, but .. it has...

Pre-ordered from Murray McMurray back in February and just received my order yesterday morning. Ten of the 24 died. They did add six extra chicks (not sure what breed), which is a plus. I ordered mostly bantams, rare breeds. I will say that their customer service is awesome as far as refunding, but I am so disappointed and really wanted those breeds. They will not reship since it does not meet their minimum shipping requirements. This was my first time ordering from this company and definitely my last.

I have ordered waterfowl (geese/ducks) from mcmurray the last two years. The orders have went smoothly both times. The fowl of course come from somewhere else. I guess they use metzer for their waterfowl, which is fine with me. Interestingly most of the time they have cheaper prices than metzer.

I know there are many risks to ordering hatching eggs over the Internet, but I am very suspicious of McMurray.
I ordered ten chicken eggs and received twelve. They were poorly packaged and three were broken. Not only were they broken, but they were completely smashed. Curiously, there was absolutely no damage to the box. Of the nine eggs that weren't destroyed, two were cracked, and all had detached or broken air cells. I also noticed that they were all extremely porous, which draws my attention because it is said that they examine all of their eggs at the hatchery.
Though I figured they might be savable and put clear nail polish on the cracked ones. I then let them sit at sixty degrees with the fat ends up for seventeen hours. I never touched them without washing my hands in hot water. After they were done sitting, I boiled a foam egg carton to kill any germs, let it cool, and set the eggs inside it within the incubator, which was already set to to 99.4 degrees with 45 percent humidity. Using hospital gloves, I turned them once on the first day, then proceeded to turn them five times per day. It is now day eight, none of the eggs have developed at all, and I've found that two had been scrambled. I always give them until day ten, but I can already tell that no babies are coming out of these eggs.
Frankly, I've had much better results from duck eggs that I ordered off of eBay.

I was a first-time chick orderer this spring after wanting to have my own flock forever and pretty much ordered off the first site listed in Google. I realized later that there were many choices.

I have worked on farms for years, but never had enough property to keep my own flock until this year. I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing, but also picked up Storeys Guide to raising chickens just to be sure. I followed the instructions exactly when they arrived.

I picked nine different breeds (heritage except for the barred rocks) and did a ton of research about them on their site to choose them. The site is very informative.

I took the day off of work on the date they were supposed to show up and they were ready for me a 5am on Monday. Everyone was healthy and it was May so it was fairly warm here in Michigan. The Salmon Favorelle roo was a bit weak, but perked up with sugar water and extra dippings of electrolyes and a couple of forced feedings of chick feed. The shipping over the weekend really worried me, but they did fine. I have to say that that was really the only thing I really wish they would change. From my research it appears they are the only hatchery that does that. It seems to worry other people two.

I orderered 25 chicks and got 27. I am down to 22 as of August. I lost 3 as chicks, one failure to thrive 72 hours after hatching, one to me accidently setting the feed tray on her, and one to some sort of deformity/failure to thrive six weeks later. 2 have been picked off by predators as pullets and cockerels.

The only thing I would want to make aware for other people is that something may be off with their Sicilian Buttercup stock. My two chicks that died (outside of my error) were Buttercups. I have heard in the US flock of Buttercups of general problems with chicks and low production as adults, so that may be a nationwide issue with breed. My remaining Buttercup pullet is one of the friendliest and most beautiful of all the birds. I will probably order Buttercups from another hatchery during the next two years to see what my experience is with another hatchery as it could have just been bad luck. The chicks are pretty fragile creatures.

The breeds are mostly correct. They are going through their first molt right now, so I can't tell if anybody is show quality or not, but some may be promising. The Anconas and Silver Laced Wyandottes look very correct to me so far. You can't expect breeder quality from a hatchery, so I am pretty pleased with that.

I may or may not be ordering from Murrary and McMurray next year, but it isn't due to any fault of theirs. Overall I had a great experience.

I placed an order for an assorted variety of hens in the summer of 2013. All arrived healthy and exactly as we ordered. My chickens are doing great. They all started laying around 5 months of age. Was very pleased with my experience.

The last three years we have ordered birds, McMurray shipped them on Friday. The Post Office is not open until Monday. On each shipment, we have had stress losses. Last Monday, we ordered 50 Cornish and six Polish layers. Three of the Poles died within 36 hours. The other three - and mind you, these birds are $4 each - are not as strong as they could be. I ASKED about this shipping program the first time it happened. I COMPLAINED about it the second time. This time, I am angry. Worse, these people are not interested in "making it right". We're done with McMurray.

To date I have received 5 orders from McMurray Hatchery - chickens, guineas and ducks - and plan to be ordering more from them next spring. I have been well pleased with orders received (they generally over fill the order - in other words, if I order 30 chickens they will send 35). The loss ratio has always been with in acceptable range.

Their service as well as communication as been excellent., always responding within a reasonable time to any e-mails I sent.

Over all I am well pleased with McMurray Hatchery and, as mentioned, will be ordering more from them next spring.

I ordered from here in February of 2012. This was my first chick order. I ordered 30 chicks of various breeds. That week was cold and I had many breeds that weren't very cold hardy such as polish and leghorns. I lost 8 chicks in the first 3 days, (most being the non-cold hardy breeds). I got the money refunded. One chick had a bad leg and growing problem and died a few weeks later. I know all these problems were due to my inexperience, but the neutral is for the birds who did survive. My wyandottes layed very small eggs, my remaining leghorn has never layed a single egg in her life, and many of the birds were VERY far off from the standard. One buff orpington (still alive today) is half the size she should be, has a flopped comb and a wry tail. That may of been from the cold too so I cant blame the hatchery for the deformities. Not sure if I would ever order from them again especially with the high prices, but maybe I will one day.

This is the first time that I have ordered from this company, though I have purchased other farm animals online, and had them shipped from various other organizations.

I ordered 45 individual chicks. 30 white breasted chickens, and 15 layer hens. I was counting on these birds for this year's final production totals on my homestead.

I ordered in early March, but they did not ship until late June. resulting that my turkeys would not be ready until December (rather than Thanksgiving). Oh well! I thought to myself that I would just sell them as Christmas birds instead of the more lucrative Thanksgiving bird.

Within two days, 44 of the 45 birds were dead. They were in a clean pen, they had plenty of chick starter and fresh water, they temperature was controlled. I have raised these animals for years, I know how to handle chicks.

I called them, and they were very friendly. They offered to send me another shipment of chickens. They informed me that they did not have any more turkeys to send me, and so they refunded the full cost.

The second shipment of chickens all arrived dead.

I called, and they refunded the cost of the chickens. I am left with one turkey this year, and NO fresh layer hens. Finding chicks this late in the season is really not possible.

This company does have excellent customer service. They were responsive and helpful. However, at least in my case, the quality of their birds was terrible.

I appreciate their customer service, but I will not deal with them again. I am out all my profit this year, as a result of trusting them.

About 1 1/2 months ago I put in an order for 15 chicks of all different kinds. They all arrived at the post office right on time, a couple days ago, alive and well. They were much healthier than I expected and there wasn't a single casualty. This morning, I woke up to find one of my Golden Polish dead. It wasn't unexpected, considering it was the runt out of the 5 Goldens I ordered. Also, the Polish were the smallest of 8 breeds I got. When I called Murray McMurray to tell them of my loss, they graciously refunded my money, not only for the chick, but the vaccinations I had paid for on it. I didn't think they'd do that. I will definitely order from them again.

Late April I'd made a order to Murray McMurray hatchery for 2 African goslings(females), 2 packages of electrolytes/vitamins, and some chick grit.

Now, these were meant to be pets, not your typical geese meant for laying/breeding, etc. I'd done a lot of research and followed a pool of knowledge to the letter. Heat-pads, starter specific for goslings w/ niacin supplements and 18% protein in it, clean water at all times, etc.

They both arrived alive. One did not make it, unfortunately. Upon review of a photo I took upon arrival, I believe she may of suffered a neck injury during shipment. I'd mistaken the dried blood for poop(they took two days to arrive, so by then it'd dried and hardened).

I'm still very happy, though! The other is growing like a weed and is a total sweetheart. Very inquisitive personality, she gets into anything she can. Loves her baths! Also loves my keyboard, biting away at it as I type. She sleeps with me and my husband, at times. Other times she's content to sleep beside the matress. She'll follow me everywhere. She'll wait at the door until one of us returns home. Does well with a diaper to catch her sometimes messy poops while cuddling with us. She is just the sweetest little goose and she's extremely healthy! Feathers are also coming in well at 1 1/2 months. Her name is Matilda.

Posted on April 16, 2013, updated June 11, 2013
Posted on March 19, 2013, updated April 16, 2013
Posted on March 14, 2013, updated March 19, 2013
I will definitely be ordering from this hatchery again for my future orders. Currently my batch of chicks, which are mostly layers, top hats, and feather footed, are 3 days old and are a group of little piglets that like to sit on fingers. I did lose a couple during shipment, and it was mostly due to weather I believe, we had some cold temps and high winds(going to force myself to wait the extra couple weeks next year). I notified McMurray of my losses within the 48 hour deadline, and although they were sorry about the loss, they refunded my account no problem. I did my order online and was very pleased with how user friendly their site is. I have another order of broilers coming and have no second thoughts on using this hatchery. Great customer service and great chicks! Will update as chicks get older.

I ordered 15 ornamental pullets. And 2 cochin roos. My experiance was horrible. On arrival 1 chick was dead. They sent me 6 polish breeds in the ornamental mix. Out of them i so far have 1 survivor. They sent me a golden penciled hamburg as my rare gift. It died as of day 2. In less then a week 7 died and i have two nearing death as we speak. As a mother of 5 , this is hard for my kids to see , as well for myself. Im so scared they my have some disease, That i have the sick ones separated from the well chicks although out of 18 chicks only 9 are still head up.....so far. I contacted MM twice the first time they gave me a refund for the first two who died. I contacted them again they gave me another refund for 4 more. I was never offered a reshipment of HEALTHY chicks. The shipping alone is very costly! I can honestly say im very upset about this whole ordeal and worried about my adult hens , praying they dont catch some disease from these poor sick chicks. I also keep them ALL very clean . And iam no rookie ive had mail order chicks off and for 15 years. This is my first time and last using MM. I did have them in my laundry room. But i did move them out to our mother-inlaw house. I have cocktails and a newborn child so out of fear i moved my poor little sick chicks. As of today i only have 9 happy chicks........but things can change it seems i lose one everyday =( Beware buyers........ P.S. i have always used Chickens for backyard or local ranch store......never had a death with them .Being able to choose 1 chick out different breeds just is not worth the pain. For my family or these poor chickies. Guess ill stick with what i know. Good healthy raising fellow farmers =)

I have been ordering from Murray McMurray off and on for more than 35 years with no problem until last year. Last year more than 50% of my chicks died within a few days, and the ones that didn't were not the robust birds I was familiar with from McMurray. This year, my first order was a 100% loss and I have lost more than 50% of my second order. I have to say that McMurray's representatives are always pleasant and helpful. They either reship or reimburse without question. My first shipment this year took 5 days to reach me and the second took 4 according to the ship date on the box. McMurray replaced my first shipment, and it arrived in 2 days with no losses.
McMurray ships to me on Saturdays, and I believe that this is the problem. My Postmaster says that the shipment will just sit somewhere on Sundays and move on Mondays. I know for a fact the USPS personnel have no idea how to handle chick shipments. I have driven to my distribution center in Roanoke, VA and found a rolling cart full of poultry shipments sitting in a drafty hallway.
I must say that this year's surviving chicks appear to be much more robust than last year's.

I saw a lot of negatives on McMurray, so I am posting my experience. Two years ago I ordered 14 mallards from McMurray, and in the box that arrived, there were 15, but one had died in transit, so I did net 14 birds. Prior to receiving the ducklings, I read Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks, and I followed the instructions to the letter, including temperature, feed, replacing litter/bedding, and how long to wait before introducing the birds to the outdoors. As a result of good quality birds from McMurray, and following Storey's guide, all 14 mallards lived to maturity, and they (well, the remainder - see below) now live on our pond, and give us lots of pleasure every day as we watch them flying around. From what I read of the negative comments, I think some of the people who lost birds did not understand all the food and temperature requirements and the absolute need for 100% protection from predators at least until the birds can fly. After moving the birds to the pond where they live freely, I have lost half the mallards to foxes and raccoons almost at once, but frankly, there is nothing you can do about that if you are not going to lock the birds in every night. Some will figure out how to avoid predators, and sadly, some will not, but that is how nature goes. The ones that do figure it out are generally okay from then on; I have not lost a bird in a year and a half. I have ordered six more female mallards this year from McMurray to replenish my little flock, and I expect as an good experience as I had the first time.

As a first timer ordering chicks from Mcmurray, I have to say I am very impressed. Upon departure from the hatchery, I received 2 emails as well as a text message notifying me that they were on there way. I also have to give kudos to Michigan's USPS. The post office called me at each checkpoint to let me know that they had arrived safely in Kingsford, L'Anse, and Baraga. This was especially good as the chicks were shipped during a snowstorm (which has yet to let up). My order consisted of Red stars and Pearl Leghorns. I ordered 35 and received 38- an extra of each breed plus our free chick, which we think may be a blue Andalusian :). Upon arrival at home yesterday, they were all little bundles of energy doing exactly what baby chickens are supposed to do. Unfortunately we lost one of the leghorns last night, but that's exactly what the extras are for. I cannot blame Mcmurray for that though. Even though the chicks were packaged extremely well for conditional weather, being shipped during a March snowstorm would be very stressful, and I honestly expected a much higher mortality rate. Other than that, the rest are doing amazing and are very hardy eaters. Overall, I have to give the hatchery high marks and we will definitely be ordering from them again.

In June of 2012 I ordered 3 goslings from McMurray Hatchery. I paid the extra shipping to accomodate the small number purchased. I ordered 2 female Embden Geese and 1 male African. The African turned out to be a bit tempermental so we gave him to our neighbor. As of this Spring, 2013, I find that I have only one female goose and the other a gander. They have built a nest and the eggs are fertile. Furthermore, they have many many gray feathers which seems suspectful to me as they are almost a year old. I not only didn't receive two females, but I question whether or not I received some sort of crossbreed?
Secondly, I ordered the Commercial Egg Layer bargain in July of 2012. In addition to this, I ordered a pair of Red Leghorn pullets and Buff Minorca pullets. The chicks were housed in immaculate surroundings and we kept them comfortable despite the summer heat. To my surprise, 13 of the White Leghorns dropped dead after having seizures, at approximately 5 weeks of age. I reported to McMurray, who responded with the "you better call your vet" response. I challenge them, as a chicken fanatic, that they perhaps sent me diseased birds? The Minorca and Red Leghorn were unscathed by the mystery illness, but the Leghorns were dropping like flies. These birds are to be very vigorous and disease tolerant. I lost a lot of time and money on that group. I will never buy their White Leghorns again!!!
Thirdly, I gave McMurray another chance October 2012. I ordered Ancona, Black Minorca, and Delaware. I knew at one month of age that I had received two cockerals of the Delaware. I immediately sent them an email only to receive a response that, "perhaps they are too young and I am mistaken"..Let me tell you that it is now March and no mistake about it. Additionally, the Black Minorca is to be a tall stately bird with depth, composition, and height. Mine are wimpy, wiry, 5# hens. Where are they getting these birds? The last time I ordered a Black Minorca from them she was tall, graceful, and had a look more toward the standard.

In conclusion, I question why I have recieved so many lackluster birds and whomever is sexing the poultry may need to take a little more time perfecting their craft. I am ordering all of my chicks from Sandhill Preservation this year. They have the genetics with their Minorcas that will make me proud to have my daughter show them at the county fair. They also seem to have more concern for quality over quantity.

Lastly, I want to say to McMurray that not all of us are novices to chicken farming. You may be able to pull this crap with the new age chicken farmers, but not with this old boy!!

I ordered the rainbow layers from McMurray last May (2012). I received an excellent assortment with over 8 different breeds! I ordered 25 and got 26 total. All were healthy and only 2 ended up as roosters.
I also wanted to share that the leghorns, (white, brown and red that I got) all started laying eggs at 4 1/2 months old and were laying JUMBO sized eggs by 7 months old! I couldn't be more happy with their leghorn chickens and have recommended them to many people.
I will be getting more this year and want to thank everyone at McMurrays for the great job they do with their chickens :)

Last year was my first time personally ordering from McMurray Hatchery (though my parents have ordered from them before). I wasn't sure what to expect. I had ordered quite the variety of chicks, though in retrospect, I should've made more logical decisions, as I had about half bantams and half full size chickens. Over the first week, we sadly lost about half of the chicks - all the bantams except for my little golden laced Cochin bantam, now named Coco, who is quite the adorable little roo. I will not blame McMurray as we are a very long way from the harchery and it was still really cold. Despite the losses, I didn't lose hope, as some of the chicks will little bundles of energy upon getting out of the box, the most energetic being my dark Brahma hen now named Ashley. Today, the bunch are doing very well. From that order, I still have my 3 beautiful Brahmas (one of each color), mottled Houdan who's a wonderfully energetic gal, golden laced Cochin Bantam, speckled Sussex, silver laced Cochin, black star, golden laced Wyandotte, white Cochin (who my sister now owns). Because of the loss, we got the same order (I probably should've learned from the first batch and gotten all bantam or full size), but this time, we got different survivors: my adorable golden laced Polish Shadowcrest, another golden laced Cochin (this time a hen abd the only banty to survive, again - I'd say McMurray's golden laced Cochin's are some of the finest and hardiest), a golden laced Wyandotte (who my sister owns), a white Cochin, 2 red stars in place of the one black (wonderful layers by the way), a light Brahma and a speckled Sussex. Now, despite my rather bad luck with survival rate, I really couldn't be more pleased with my beautiful birds. My Sussexs are both beautiful. One is the normal dark brown with white tips, and so is the other, but her white tips are much bigger, making her seem like she's white with brown, which, although probably not normal, I do find to be a nice contrast (she also lays beautiful dark brown eggs rather than the typical light brown, not complaint there though). The Brahmas are all very beautiful and gentle, and the hens are amazing layers of very large eggs, sometimes beating my stars! The older light one lays a nice brown speckled eggs, the younger lays a nice light brown, and my dark lays huge eggs that are almost pinkish in color (quite beautiful and eye catching if I do say so). The golden laced Cochins are adorable and very loving. The hen lays very large eggs, when she isn't broody that is. My sister's white Cochin and golden laced Wyandotte are very prolific layers of rather large eggs for show birds. My silver laced Cochin is a very big boy (and although he was supposed to be a hen, I have no complaints) and is a very good guard for his hens. My Houdan and Polish, who live together, are an amazing pair, both laying nice medium sized white eggs. The Houdan is an amazing flyer, very full of energy, yet relaxed when in my arms. My Polish is a sweet little gal and often comes when I call her. Both follow me when I let them out. My stars are all very beautiful, though it's interesting as the smallest, Comet, lays the biggest eggs, and Raven, the biggest, lays the smallest (they're still big mind you). My white Cochin is a very gentle and adorable girl who is an AMAZING layers of nice, medium, light brown eggs. And finally, my golden laced Wyandotte, oh she's a sweet heart. Everytime I enter her cage, she immediately jumps on my back and gets all snuggly, just like the other golden laced chickens. Despite the losses (which were very sad and hard to watch), I do love and appreciate my hens and roos, and regret nothing. The roosters are great protectors of their hens and the hens are tremendous layers. I will try other hatcheries to see what they're like though.

After reading some of the negative reviews of Murray McMurray I was worried about the chicks I would receive. Im happy to say my worrying was all for not! I ordered 42 chicks for delivery Feb 18, 2013. This date was a holiday so the hatch was delayed and I received 45 happy chicks on Feb 20! My free rare or exotic is a buff Cochin and i also was sent an extra rooster of two breeds I had ordered. I dont need the extra roosters but im not worried about finding homes for them. At the end of my 48 hour guarantee period I still had 45 live chicks. Unfortunately I lost 2 shortly after the guarantee period and a third wasn't doing good. I called McMurray and told them about the dead and dying birds and the customer service rep was very courteous and immediately offered to refund the cost of the birds even though it was several hours past the guarantee period. As I really wanted my Salmon Faverolles hens I asked if they would instead add the replacements to my order next month. Again, the gentleman was courteous and added them to the next order. Granted, those 3 will be a month later in laying for me but better late than never as far as im concerned. My experience with this company was exceptionally good and my surviving chicks are all large happy, healthy babies! The chicks I lost were all small which makes me wonder if they were from a young hen or one past her prime. I'll never know but I expected to lose a few so I definitely dont blame the hatchery or hold it against them! I'd surely recommend McMurray to anybody getting mail order chicks!

Posted on June 27, 2012, updated January 14, 2013
Ordered 25 Buff Orpingtons from McMurray's and received 27 June 18, 2012. They are 10 days old now and not lost a single chick. My guineas are a couple weeks from being shipped. I expect they will be as successful as the buffs and several other orders I have received from McMurrays. I have always been pleased with McMurray birds and I have been ordering from them for over 20 years.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from Cackle Hatchery. I thought I would save a little money ordering from Cackle and they sent me an order of sick turkeys that died and contaminated the rest of my birds they came in contact with.

I ordered 25 of the heavy assorted males, I got 27 + 1 rare bird a total of 28. All the chicks arrived in good order, one died about a week later I wasn't concerned about that, I've had that happen when I've hatched my own.

The shipping was super quick and their costumer service helped me out in trying to determine the breed of some of the chicks. I received 3 Americana, which where not on the list of assorted chicks that was advertise. I wasn't concern too much about the mistake since these were going to be meat birds and not too mentions those 3 were the largest one so far. The mistake didn't bother me this time.

The cockerels are now 10 weeks old and thriving, they have good form and color. I even sold one Black Australorp as a breeding rooster. The rest are growing fast and should be ready to process within a few weeks. The rare chick I received turned out to be a Buff Brahma Hen, she is beautiful and is going to join the egg laying flock.

Overall I was satisfied with the product I received, the mystery bird is a nice treat for customers I havent seen another hatchery offer that yet. I would do business with them again.

I can understand why people post negative reviews, but when you are dealing with live animal products there is always a chance of something that's not going to go according to plan. Just be tactful when you deal with companies, maintain a calm demeanor when speaking on the phone. Tell them that you'd like to continue to do business with them and that's why you want them to fix the problem at hand. Ive learned this and used it and and it has served me well.

We ordered 15 "top hats" and 15 "assorted feather footed bantams" for my children's 4H chicken raising project, we are experienced chicken keepers and have an established triple breed, egg laying flock of 35 birds(33 hens, 2roos)

Our chicks were shipped priority, but we still received them in ONE DAY-incredible! We did have 3 casualties out of the box and another 2that had "stuck eyes"(but they WERE pecking each other so that is to be expected to a point). There were another 2 that seemed a bit "droopy."

I called McMurray immediately and told them that while I would normally be happy with a credit, I really needed these chickens for my children's 4H project. Since it was the end of the season(order shipped 10/31), they offered to send me 10more chicks just in case we had any more casualties since it was SO important that my kids had these chicks survive and we were out of "ship dates" after 11/5(the next week). This also helped ensure that they weren't sold out by the time we had a full casualty count or if we had any "replacements" die. They also could only replace with feather foots since there were no "top hats" scheduled to hatch until next year...but you can only offer what you have to your customer, not their fault that we were JUST told that we had to have 10-14mos old chickens by next October :-)

Well, out of our droopy and eye chicks, we only lost one thanks to gro-gel and A LOT of TLC(I truly believe that with most chicken keepers they would've been written off, they were in BAD shape)...another was VERY close(she was laying on her side for about an hour breathing shallowly and I was SURE she was a goner, but she somehow pulled through-we aptly named her zombie chick, born on Halloween and came back from the dead :-)

Honestly, I couldn't be happier with our McMurray experience, the fact that they replaced our chicks that were "dying" and not just dead to be sure to accommodate our 4H project says so much about their customer service.

Our 31st free "rare chick" appears to be a salmon faverolle, such a neat breed, my daughter was thrilled! We have been playing "name that breed" all week with our assortment-assortments are great for kids(not so much for us where we occasionally hatch chicks and have no use for "mutts")

I have replacement chicks arriving this week and ducks arriving next week, will report back further when the rest of our babies arrive!

I would say my rating is more positive than neutral but there was one thing that didn't sit right with me...

I have ordered from MM twice. The first time, I got 25 chicks: EE's, bantam Mille Fleur d'Uccles, and bantam Golden Sebrights. All arrived in perfect condition and all lived, grew, and thrived.

The most recent order was this past spring. I ordered 15 (super rare) Silver Gray Dorkings, 15 Barred Plymouth Rocks, and 3 Cuckoo Marans. MM included a"bonus" rare chick, which I knew would be male and he turned out to be a gorgeous Partridge Cochin.

When my chicks arrived, they were all alive, but one had a broken leg. My theory is that it leapt from the packer's hand, landed on the floor, was scooped up and plopped in my shipping box without being looked over. It was dead the next day and its leg was black and withered.

On the second day I noticed also that there was one chick (another Dorking--blast!) who was small and lethargic. Next day, it was the same size when everyone else was already bigger. Next day: dead. Now, I understand this kind of thing happens--that would not move my rating to neutral. I also think maybe its hips were deformed a little--it was kind of spraddle-legged.

What changed my rating to neutral was the broken leg. I contacted MM and told them how sad I was that the thing obviously had been suffering and that I thought it had been dropped on the floor at the hatchery and that maybe the staff should be coached to look over dropped chicks. The only response I got was an email saying my credit card had been credited the amount of the chick. I felt like they just didn't give a $h*t.

I won't be ordering from them again, but not because of the broken leg. It's because next spring I'm ordering breeds they don't carry.

We purchased some Easter egg chicks from them and they all came fine with extras. Everyone of them made it. The chicks were quite healthy and vigorous. They just started to lay their first eggs and they are very colorful!
They do a great job hatching and shipping chicks. I have also ordered many times from them in years past, they are always great.

I received chicks from Murray McMurray, and the experience has been entirely positive. The chicks arrived quickly (2 days after hatching), the post office called me at 8am on Sunday to let me know I could come by to pick them up, and they were all healthy and happy. The weather was warm, and the transit was fast, so they were not overly stressed by shipping. The company was very good about communicating with me via email and by phone. I only wish that they put a sign on the box indicating my Quik Chick and Gro-Gel packets were included under the litter in the box the chicks were mailed in. I ended up throwing the box away in my excitement over the chicks' arrival.

Posted on May 3, 2012, updated May 3, 2012
I've ordered birds from MMM for my egg business several times, as well as ordering from other hatcheries. I've found that MMM hens seem to lay sooner and more eggs than other hatchery birds. I've also had great luck with them--out of 150 birds ordered, I've only had two chicks die. Those two came from this year's order; they just never were quite as active as the other 50. I called MMM not knowing quite which breed they were, since I ordered several breeds that look extremely similar as chicks. I expected MMM ask me to call back when I knew which breed they were, since each breed was a different price. Instead, the CSR said she'd just refund the price of the most expensive chicks I ordered so I didn't have to call back. This was going above and beyond, and much appreciated.

Lighten up on McMurry just a bit. I have ordered 100s of chicks the past few years and mostly there were no problems. Did have a recent order take 5 days and lost some, but they made them good. That was the airlines' fault. Has there been some mistakes as to breeds or sexes? You bet! Always will be, don't matter what hatchery you buy from.
Imagine - 10,000s (maybe 100,000s) of chicks to be sexed, sorted and packaged - 100s of combinations of sexes and breeds, and it all must be done within 24 hours. There's gonna be mistakes.
Occasionally you will get some wrong sexes and breeds, ACCEPT IT ! Or, hatch your own. I can't figure out how they do it with the degree of accuracy they maintain.
They are good folks and if you advise them of a problem with a decent tone of voice, you'll get a positive response. However, if you act like an irate horse's behind, you may get treated likewise. Just be nice.
FYI - I suggest that you do not order bantams and larger breeds in the same order. The larger birds may crush the smaller bantams. That's been my experience with several hatcheries.
As of today, I have orders with them to be delivered thruout the rest of the year, usually 50 per order every 2-3 weeks.

Marvin Shelley
Rural Real Estate Broker
Fayetteville, Arkinsaw

I have ordered from a lot of hatcheries and Murray McMurray is the most consistent. Chicks arrive on time and are perky and healthy.

We ordered a mixed batch of chickens for delivery in June of 2011. They arrived in good order, with the exception of one that was dead and one that was badly deformed. The chick had one eye which was definitely not functional, as well as a very badly crossed beak, that rendered eating impossible. My kids felt sorry for it as all it did was bump into the walls of the brooder box and cheep helplessly. I tried in vain to feed it with a syringe, but a few days later it died. Obviously animals are born with defects, but why ship one to a customer? My wife e-mailed Murray to express our displeasure, but we never heard back from them. Therefore, we will probably order from another hatchery next time.

[From a New Chicken Herder] I received my first-ever order of 25 chicks in mid October of 2011 from a hatchery. One was dead on arrival. I did not have my chicks vaccinated for anything. I fed them quick chick, put shop towels over the pine shavings for the first 24-48 hours, fed them Purina starter grower, dipped their beaks in water right out of the box, put a heat lamp at 18 inches - I followed all the instructions I was given to care for chicks.
Every one of them thrived. Now, at almost 13 weeks, they are beautiful birds, maturing very nicely - as best as I can tell.
McMurray hatchery credited me for the one dead chick without question.
My order was to compliment the hens I already acquired in June of 2011 from the local feed store, which kicked off my chicken raising adventure. The order consisted of males in 4 different breeds and a straight run of a fifth breed. The straight run was 7 to 6, male to female (single comb brown leghorn clearly differentiate by appearance after 8 weeks), and the rest of the males LOOK like males, but I can't be sure. I have no reason to believe otherwise.
I have been extremely satisfied with the McMurray hatchery, I enjoy their web site, their catalogue, their customer service, and I can't get enough of their 5 minute behind-the-scenes video online.
I have another order of mostly dark cornish and three other breeds coming at the end of this month. I have another order for geese coming in May.
I respect their mission of watching over chicken breeds, I think their operation is comprehensive, orderly and transparent to the customer. I will continue to do business exclusively with Murray McMurray hatchery for the forseeable future.

This is my favorite hatchery in the business. Their costumer service is impressive, and the their birds are even more so. I have ordered chickens from them each year for many years now, and their birds are always the healthiest and most beautiful in my whole flock. My birds from McMurray are very good egg producers, continuing their production all throughout winter and even into old age. Each shipment has arrived with all of the chicks healthy and lively, and I really love how they give you a rare mystery chick for free. I have never had any problems with them, and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to have handsome quality birds.

Ordered twice from McMurrays. 2 x 25 birds. Competent and professional when i rang to notify them of 4 dead on arrival, they credited my account. Poultry now 3 months old and very healthy. I'll do business with them again, no doubt.

I've ordered Cornish X's from MM for years, and a few always die from causes unknown. In an order of 50, I just expected 4 or so not to make it. The last order, however, the number was closer to 10, and this time I've lost 30 out of 50, not all at once but over the course of a month.They're still dropping off. I had them vaccinated for Marek's, but their symptoms are classic Marek's. MM said they'd replace the ones I lost and asked for a pathology report, though if I insisted they might replace them without it.

I've liked their service and the quality of their birds before, but I'm wondering whether they're having some quality control problems over there recently. I suspect this time I'll order 25 from MM and 25 from another company, just to compare.

I bought 30 pullets from our local feed store and ended up with 15 roosters. I found McMurrays online and ordered Barred Rocks and New Hampshire Reds in Nov. Of 25 pullets, I had one rooster. I was so pleased with my order that in March I ordered Sussex and Wyandotte pullets from McMurray's. This company is very professional, the chicks are shipped when they state they will be and I highly recommend McMurrays to anyone looking for chicks. The chickens I received are healthy, and beautiful stock. Recently I ordered a pair of Chinese geese. I am very satisfied with every order and I will stick with McMurray's for any birds I need in the future. This company definitely deserves 5 stars!!!