Meyers Hatchery ordering for 2012 already! NOT FOR CANADIANS

I have to say I was please and displeased with this hatchery last year. The majority of the birds were good, fairly good survival rate (bantams were hardest hit of course) and one major breed mix up but other than that they were good to deal with and I am thinking of maybe doing another order into them.
Did a trial order and the earliest I could get all the breeds was APRIL!!! So took one breed out and now I could possibly do a late Feb order, just not sure if that will be too early or not...Wish I knew what the forcast was for the end of February.

Here is what the almanac says for our area:

Annual Weather Summary: November 2011 to October 2012

Winter temperatures will be 3 to 4 degrees C colder than normal, on average, with the coldest weather periods in early December, mid-January, early to mid-February, and early March. Precipitation will be near or a bit below normal, while snowfall will be above normal. The heaviest snowfalls will occur in late December, early to mid-January, late January, and mid-March.

April and May will be much cooler than normal, with slightly below-normal precipitation. Snowfall will be above normal, with late-season snowfalls in mid- and late April.

Summer rainfall will be near normal, with slightly above-normal temperatures, on average. The hottest temperatures will occur in early to mid-July, early to mid-August, and late August.

September and October will be warmer and slightly wetter than normal.



What I got out of all that is that this will be a pretty normal winter. I say, go ahead and order away, Hidden!!

Well decided what I wanted, when I wanted it, called down to place my order and WAMMOOOO!!!! "Sorry we are not selling to Canadians this year"
Same old story, too much hassle for them, hard to get the paperwork done... Seems Ideal and McMurray are cornering the Canadian Chick market now...
More the reason for us Heritage breeders to sell to eachother@!

wow that must have been annoying for you, after you had gone and planned it all out and everything!!
A real kick in the pants...is McMurray selling to Canadians this year?
(did they last year?)

McMurray does, always has, but they cannot ship to Montanna for some reason before April...Found that out the hard way one year. And had to get cbrookkelly to go get them in Idaho for me....
But for summer time or late spring order they are great.

I wonder what the "hassle" might be? Issue with getting USDA Health Papers or the same thing that happened with Sandhill Preservation?

Also, got to watch that the "hatchery" is actually hatching all the breeds they offer in their own facility. Some pool shipments from other hatcheries so there is extra shipping time to consider.

I think it is the fact of getting the vet out to inspect the flocks, facility, etc for the "big papers", they are NPIP certified so you wouldnt think it would be a big deal?
As far as I know last year was the first year they did try to sell to Canadians, they were only able to sell the chickens because indeed the other poultry is sent from other places, but still not sure why it is such a hassel. I guess if they have enough business to keep them busy in the US why would they want the extra work of selling to Canadians?

Yes, it would make sense that NPIP certification would be sufficient but we do love our bureaucracy in Canada don't we?

Up until last year the customs officers really didn't know what the USDA Health papers were all about. I'm sure most times we could simply walk through without showing them. In fact in 2010 I drove up to the customs windows with a box of ducklings sitting on the seat beside me. The officer asked how long I'd been in the US and how much dollar value I was returning with. The receipt from the hatchery showed $350 so that's what I told him then corrected it to "US Dollars" . He waved me through. Didn't ask me what I spent the $350 dollars on. Of course, that's the advantage of ducklings - they don't do a lot of peeping - are very quiet.

Yes, Canadian business represents a tiny portion of the hatchery's sales.

Wow, glad I managed to get Buckeyes from them last year, makes it hard to get fresh genetics thats for sure.

If you go to Ideal Poultry's website and click on "printable price lists" and then "retail price list" you will see a list of many more breeds that they don't put on their on-line order system including Buckeyes. Orders will have to be placed by phone or by mail.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] is their website.

I've had shipment from them a couple of times including this year when a friend and I combined an order for 800 chicks. Very few shipping casualties.