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We placed a web order with these folks on the 7th of May, and NOW, June 1st, they have finally gotten around to telling us that they don't perform the tests required for shipping to Virginia.
There was nothing on the website at the time to indicate that there would be a problem. The checkout process went without a hitch. Then, three weeks later, we were notified.
As of today, if you follow the "Message to Customers" link on their front page, or go to their FAQ page, there are notes about not shipping to VA; however, there is still no conspicuous, up-front warning -- hence this comment, which we hope may save someone else the frustration we have experienced. The breed we wanted (and were allowed for three weeks to believe we had ordered) is no longer available in the foreseeable future from any other hatchery. Thanks, Cackle!
On May 16, 2009, stumpyhillfarm Bridgewater, ME wrote:
Our experience with cackle hatchery has not been the most pleasent of experiences, and we're not here to badmouth- just to share our experiences and let you decide whether or not to order from them.
In the spring or 2008 we placed an order for 5 Ancona and 5 Cayuga ducks as well as 25 cockerels and 10 hens of the Barred Plymouth Rocks. We were going to use the cockerels for meat and the hens for a small batch of layers. Our location in Northern maine is such that even with overnight shipping, it takes 2 days to deliver. Because they were the only ones that had all the breeds we wanted we went with cackle. When i placed the order I made it explicitly clear overnight shipping takes 2 days and 2nd day takes 3 days, but by that point- some of the babys will most likely not make it, and we will pay for the overnight. They said that was not a problem and gave me a delivery date of July 7th. So i took the 7th off from work and went to the post office that morning to wait for them to come in. Post office opens- No chicks....So I waited till cackle opened to call them to find out what happened. When i finally got through all the busy signals- over and hour of calling- they looked it up and told me that some of the ducks hatched late and they decided to ship it out 2nd day, not overnight. When i told them that 2nd day took 3 days to get here and we needed overnight to get them all here alive, i got a very snarky response of 'you'll just have to wait and see' and when i asked why i wasn't notified, it was 'we don't have the time to do that' When i asked for a tracking number so i could find out where they were i was told 'we don;t have any of that information'. Needless to say it was not a very productive phone call. So back to the post office. Luckily, we live in one of those small northern towns where people are helpfull an bend over backwards to help a fellow neighbor. Our postmaster Trudy found the situation unacceptable and called just about every postal revieving warehouse in the state. She was finally able to locate them 150 miles away. So we hoped in the truck and went to get them. Luckily all were alive, so no complaints there. When they finally grew to be old enough to visibly tell the sex, we discovered they misread the order or didn;t sex them right becuase we wound up with 25 hens instead of 10 and 15 cockerels instead of 25, but oh well, we can live with that. Its now the spring of 2009 and all the hens are doing fine, but the ducks we ordered, out of the 5 females we recieved from them, 3 have prolapsed and we've had to cull. So I'm starting to question the genetics in their breed stock. All in all, I'm not very impressed with cackle, and will not order from them again, but again this is only my experience, so take it for what its worth. Hope it helps
I made an internet order for 25 Delaware pullets from Cackle Hatchery in late February of 2009. My credit card was charged and I received an invoice for the order, with an April 1st. shipment cited on the invoice. 2 days before the shipping date, I received a telephone message that my order would be delayed and that I would receive a notice when the order was ready to ship. On the 23 of April I was to leave town for over a week and half, so before that day I started trying to call the Hatchery to ask that the order not be sent until after May 5th. Their telephone lines were constantly busy, so as a last resort, I sent them an email asking to postpone the shipping to May 5th. Luckily, my trip got canceled at the last minute, because on Saturday, April 24th, without notice, the post office called saying that my chicks were in! It all turned out fairly well, but, only by chance. Had I not been there, I don't know what would have happened to the chicks. 5 have now died already (these 5 were not looking good when they arrived), but I'm not about to call for a credit because I will not order from that company ever again. I notice that they are still using the same excuse...they've hired more help, but, they're swamped with orders...
First time I ordered from Cackle and am not pleased at all. I ordered chickens and turkeys in February and said I wanted them the week after Easter. Well I got a call and was told that they would be here the 2nd week in March which was good. Well I took the time off and no birds showed and I called and they told me that they would not be here till April 15th and 17th. Well I took the time off again and once again they didnt show so I called again and then they go on to tell me that I would now be getting the turkeys and the chickens on the 29th of April. This has been the worst service, and I wish that I would have gone with my local feed store and McMurry Hatchery. I had to waste 2 days of my vacation time and the birds didnt come. If they give you a date they should stick with it or have the courtsey to call the customer a day or two before and let them know. Hopefully they will show up on the 29th!!
In July, 2008 I placed an order for several baby chicks. I later found a different hatchery that had available some breeds I originally wanted to purchase from Cackle Hatchery but was told were sold out for the year. So, I phoned to cancel my placed order (phone lines were busy AT LEAST what seemed 20 times.) When I finally got through, I was told office staff was operating at just 2 persons and staff was doing their best to keep up. I waited and WAITED on hold (long distance) at least what seemed 20-30 minutes (with my paying the bill) on two different days. I was told my order had been misplaced and that I would get a return call when they found my order slip.I did not hear back from them and I did not want the chicks sent in the mail, so I phoned AGAIN! And, again, I was put on hold (long distance) and again waited and WAITED. Finally, I was told I would receive a call later the day confirming my order was cancelled (it was already charged to my credit card.) Though I was frustrated beyond belief at what seemed like a lack of care for customer service, the person I spoke with on the phone from Cackle Hatchery was very nice. She must be a saint to be able to be friendly given the working conditions that seemed put upon her. I doubt I have the confidence to order from Cackle Hatchery again, for I would fear not receiving the right breed of chicks. My theory is if they can't find my 1 order with about 10 days of searching, how can they keep hundreds, if not thousands in order? And, a note to others who may be put on hold long distance for extended periods of time...it just may be cheaper to receive the chicks as the cost of long distance phone calls out-of-state during peek calling hours likely will be more expensive than the order. I was quite disappointed with this experience, but am VERY pleased with my chick order from WELP Hatchery in Iowa. They sent me 8 extra chicks. All are doing well.
Ordered 47 birds. Several were sick on arrival. All 47 died within a week. I've ordered birds several times before from MMCM and never lost a single bird. Called the day the birds arrove to inform that they looked ill, busy on dozens of attempts. I have since called almost daily and been unable to get through, I gave up last week. I emailed daily for a week, no response. Filed a complaint with the bb, no response still. I did everything by the book, sanitized litter, appropriate temperature, electrolytes, etc.. The birds were experiencing convulsions, lack of coordination, congestion, no response to antibiotics, looks to be aspergillus. They don't even have the respect to email me back and say sorry about your luck. They aren't allowed to ship to VA, Hmmm...
On May 28th, 2008, pinion added the following:
I attempted to call three times yesterday at 9:30 am EST, 12:30 pm EST and 3:45 pm EST. Today I have called at around 10:30 am EST and 12:30 pm EST. Busy all 5 times. If you have time to check daves garden, shouldn't you have time to check your email? I just received this from the BBB today.
Complaint ID#: 112426
Business Name: Cackle Hatchery
You recently requested our help concerning a problem with the company named above.
The company has not responded to the Bureau to date. If you have heard from the company please contact the BBB at .
We encourage you to use our ONLINE COMPLAINT system to keep up with the progress of this complaint.
Sincerely,
Shirley Daves
Director of Dispute Resolution
BBB Complaint Department
I would like to resolve this. I will not call anymore, I feel I have made every reasonable effort to get through via phone and email and attempted to resolve this consumer to business, in good faith. If you would like to review your email and respond to me via email, this forum seems to be my only means of contacting your company. My email address begins with Jonathan.Garrison, I sent emails on 05/12/08, 05/14/08, 05/15/08 and 05/16/08.On May 23, 2008, Cackle Hatchery responded with:
"
On May 24, 2008 7:15 PM, Cackle Hatchery added:
Sorry you have had a bad experience with us. This year has been an unusually high demand for chicks. We added staff and phones but are still unable to keep up . I know the phones have been busy, they ring as soon as you put down the receiver. I've been unable to keep up with emails also. I'm not aware of the b.b. complaint. Were the chicks a day late arriving? would like to discuss this with you . Please try to contact us by phone again. The state of Virginia requires a test that our state office is not equipted to test for, because of the volume. I know this must be very aggravating for you, but we do want to be able to talk to you. Please try to call again."
I placed my order for some heritage breed turkeys on April 19,2008 and it has now been almost 2 weeks NOT COUNTING WEEKENDS! I have NOT received a confirmation email or a phone call or my birds. I do have a order number from when I placed the order. I have also called numerous times as it states on their sight to "refrain from calling until 10 business days have passed",but the line is always busy even at non- business hours HMMMMM? I wonder. I know they must be extremely busy, but to leave their customers in the dark is just bad business,also I cannot cancel my order because they will charge a fee for restocking because that could have been sold to another customer!? I am not very happy with this experience hopefully I will hear something about my turkeys so I can get the turkeys I ordered and take my business to another place that may appreciate it .
One month ago I placed my order for some pullets. I asked when I could pick them up and was told May 1. The girl behind the counter had stated that I should either email or call ahead of time to be certain that my order arrived. For the past week I called every day five to six time a day and only got the busy signal. I also sent to emails during the past week to which I received no response. This morning (the morning of the First) I called five times before leaving. The one time I did get through all I heard was "Hello" followed by the person immediately hanging up the phone.
So I drove the two hours to Lebanon to pick up my order. At first the girl behind the counter said that I had misunderstood her and that my order was not to arrive until May 28. I pointed to me receipt and show her where she had written one month before that my order would arrive May 1. She then tried to say that I should have called first. When I explained the number of phone calls that I had made along with the two emails she finally admitted that they had forgotten to place my order. All she was willing to do was refund my money as she didn't think that they could possibly fill my order.
I have had four previous experiences with Cackles that though they weren't pleasing they were at least acceptable. This was the first time I had actually visited their facility. The girl behind the counter was walking around with a dead pullet in her hand, and the rest of the staff was sitting around eating donuts not answering the phone. Had I actually been able to see their facility online I would have questioned making a purchase with them. The local feed store that sells Leghorns is more sterile than Cackles showroom.
Thank you.
Ruth Maxwell
I will never order from Cackle hatchery again. Last year I ordered a batch of 25 pullets and what I received was far from that.
I ordered a mixed batch of pullets and got what looked like their top hat special which consisted of mainly Sultan cockerels and mixed Polish.
They actually had the nerve to tell me they were going to charge me more when I called and told them what I had received because there were 10 extra chicks!!! They did not offer any creative solution except to finally say I could keep the useless chicks that I had received and we "could just call it even". What do you do with chicks that have already survived the trip? They would die if they were sent back without food and water. They said I could send them back, but I told them I would not let them die because they messed up.
What a waste of time and money. I will not order from Cackle ever again. I ended up giving away a years worth of chickens to a 4H student that I met through the feed store who was looking for Sultans and Polish .
I ended up ordering a fine batch of Pullets from McMurray after this traumatic experience.
I ordered 100 pullets on 4/12/06. I received an e-mail stating that they would be shipped on 4/19/06 and I should receive them on 4/21/06. I called the office on the morning of 4/21/06 because I didn't get my chicks. I was then told that they would not ship till 4/24/06. I received an e-mail later the same day--apparently they use post-it notes to notify employees of ship dates, and mine got lost. So, i will not get my chicks until 4/26/06. What upset me the most was the girl I spoke to on the phone who said that their company does not send ship dates over the internet. I felt like she was calling me a liar. Once I get my chicks, I will never order from this company again.
