Complaints
This profile includes complaints for Cackle Hatchery, LLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 20 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 7 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:04/02/2025
Type:Delivery IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Set-up an order for multiple chicks to be delivered and then set up an email alert for when additional chicks were available. I did get an alert on March ******* that a breed was available and I placed my order and selected a ship date of April 9th. I was then notified on April 2, 2025 that another breed was available to order and would be shipped on April 9th as well. I didnt want to pay $***** in shipping twice and reached out to the company about combining my order. I was told that was not an available option and would have to place a new order, however the first batch of birds were now no longer available and could not order those with my new order and so I would need to place a new order and pay the ***** in shipping again even though they were being shipped on the same date. If I canceled my original order then I wouldnt be able to reorder those birds. They charge the higher shipping for small orders under 15, which I was ordering 3 and 3 or a total of 6 and didnt want charged twice for shipping. Especially after placing a larger quantity order originally. The recent order is for order number ******. And was trying to add Lavendar Orpington to my already Black AmeraucanaBusiness Response
Date: 04/16/2025
I'm very sorry that we couldn't accommodate this request however our system has it's limitations. We do understand this is an inconvenience but we do inform customers that no changes or modifications to order items can be done after the order is placed. This is also agreed to before an order can be placed.Initial Complaint
Date:03/15/2025
Type:Delivery IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
This company shipped live baby ducks illegally. *********** notified me that live animals have to be shipped a minimum of two day shipping. Cackle Hatchery shipped them ground which took 5 days. All the birds arrived dead. They are not refunding me $15 cause they had to pay that to ****Business Response
Date: 03/18/2025
These are drop shipped from another hatchery. The owner is looking into why these were shipped ground rather than priority. The order itself was refunded in full. However, the **** surcharge is non refundable and this is agreed to when the order is placed. Please see attached. I'm very sorry but we're unable to refund the non refundable fee.Initial Complaint
Date:02/16/2025
Type:Delivery IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I ordered 15 Rhodas Island Red female chicks on December 4th of 2024. The hatchery sent me 15 large breed assorted chicks and then lied a told me thats what I had ordered online. The young woman I spoke with then told me thats what the online ordering doesnt work well. Not my problem. Just send me what I asked and paid for 3 of these chicks have died to date. I know how to raise chicks. I have hatched and raised over ***** Bobwhite Quail chicks and I didnt order assorted large breed female chicks for a reason!Business Response
Date: 02/17/2025
Mr. ********* did place an order on 12/4/2024. I have attached the order as received from the customer. After phone conversation with representatives, he then came to our email/chat portion of the website where I provided a copy of what he had ordered as well as provided the screenshot from the confirmation email of his order that he had to responded to back in December. This confirmation email showed exactly what he had ordered and he would have had the opportunity to cancel and reorder what he had meant to. We shipped the order as it was ordered and cannot refund for fulfilling the order as it came in.Customer Answer
Date: 02/18/2025
Complaint: 22948852
I have reviewed the business' response and am rejecting it because:cackle Hatchery sent me a confirmation the same day the *********** in ****** **** called to inform me the chicks were in their location. I had no time to reject the incorrect order. And I have still never been sent a copy of my online order. And the you lady I chatted with told me the online ordering system doesnt work well and I should have called and spoken to them direct
Sincerely,
****** *********Initial Complaint
Date:02/13/2025
Type:Delivery IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Ordered chicks from Cackle back in December 2024. Received them Feb 8th 2025. Upon arrival 3/17 were deceased. Reaching out to the Hatchery they refunded for the deceased chicks but not shipping, even though only $15 of the $45 shipping charge was specified non refundable. Upon several bad reviews the company posted on Facebook giving anyone who writes a review and shows it to a worker a 5% discount. Not a single bad review is written from those customers, nor do any of them disclose they were incentivized to write the review. In my opinion, no one will write a bad review if having to show it to the staff to receive the discount.Business Response
Date: 02/14/2025
I'm very sorry that ******** did not have a good experience but our representatives did as they are instructed to do. I have attached a snip from our guarantees and policies that explains that we only refund the per bird price. I'm sorry if this wasn't explained to the customer when asking why they could have their shipping and handling refunded. We cannot refund when we did ship the birds, per our guarantees and policies that were agreed to when the order was placed.Initial Complaint
Date:01/16/2025
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I ordered 3 female Welsummer chickens. I received 3 male welsummer chicken. The website is not allowing me to add a review, despite being logged in. There are only positive reviews...Business Response
Date: 01/16/2025
I'm so sorry this has happened. We do have a 90% sexing guarantee, we just need to be able to confirm the reported issue. This is the first contact we've had about this problem but we are more than happy to come to a resolution. We just need our customer service department contacted and images of the suspected **** sent for us to review.Initial Complaint
Date:06/18/2024
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I bought five silky bantam chickens in April of 2024 all of which died within 24 hours.Repeated attempts to reconcile or figure out in any way what went wrong, I've got nowhere the company This is a very big disappointment for my children after a couple years of preparing and after repeated emails I got nowhere with to figure out what went wrong They sold me sick birds, and 'goods' were not rendered to say the least.Business Response
Date: 06/18/2024
These birds shipped on 5/8, arrived on 5/10. We were not contacted until the 12th. After discussing care, ******************* informed us that she had them at 92 degrees since they arrived. These chicks need a minimum of 100 degrees on arrival for the first several hours. This is in our care instructions on line as well as a pamphlet that is provided with each shipped order of chicks. We went over care extensively to try and help find out what may have gone wrong, including sending links to further detailed blogs on our website. ******************* continued to tell us what another hatchery down the street said to do. Upon being told she would write reviews everywhere, we again explained the temperature discrepancy, how mail order chicks need more heat on arrival than locally sourced chicks and reminded her about the live on arrival only guarantee that we offer and that was agreed to by the customer. We are not able to bypass this policy as we were not contacted until two days after arrival and care instructions were dismissed by the customer.Initial Complaint
Date:06/06/2024
Type:Customer Service IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Order#****** 7 chicks died SUDDENLY, two before my eye went from healthy looking and energetic to falling down with both legs straight and neck bent backwards. Cackle hatchery blamed me, saying this happened because I did not have a thermometer in the brooder. I will have Arkansas Game and ************** investigate the cause of death, and if it happens to be a virus, I hope Cackle will get appreciate calls from authorities. **** BEWARE. CACKLE HATCHERY WILL BLAME YOU AND WILL NOT MAKE ANY EFFORTS TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT.Business Response
Date: 06/10/2024
We have a live arrival only guarantee in place that *************** agreed to before she placed her order, this is documented in two attachments provided. By all accounts, this order arrived in great timing, 2 days and per the customer "they were alive and energetic" on arrival. This is the guarantee that we offer and fulfilled. Upon being contacted via email the day after arrival, we tried to provide care recommendations to keep from losing any more and we were advised by the customer that they did not know the temperature in the brooder they were caring for the chicks in which is when we advised getting a thermometer to know the exact temps in the brooder. Per our policies and the guarantee agreed to before the order was placed, a refund was not offered on the losses that occurred after arrival and we are not able to offer one now.Initial Complaint
Date:03/25/2024
Type:Product IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I had issues with them not answering, but went against my better judgment and ordered zombie chicken and a Jersey giant. Some of the zombies didnt look good on arrival, but I didnt complain. I kept their area between *****f. One of the zombies progressively got worse. He went from not walking much OUT OF THE *** to not being able to use one foot. I separated him. He didnt want to eat or drink and couldnt use either foot. I manually fed him and kept him separate. The next morning, he and 2 others had passed, and the remaining birds were acting the same way. They died as well. I have 21 chicken in the same barn. I spent over 12k on a barn and converting it. All of the chicken have separate rooms by breed. They are also divided by hatchery. I go to the extreme to protect, love, and care for my pets.So when I emailed cackle, I was met with several questions from *******. It was almost as if she was trying to undermine me. The company refused to take responsibility, apologize, refund, or replace the chicken. Please believe the reviews below. I am escalating my issue to BBB.Business Response
Date: 03/26/2024
We are very sorry this experience was not the best. Unfortunately, we were not contacted for 2 days after arrival of any issues with this order. Our guarantee is for live arrival only but we have to be contacted within 24 hours of arrival. When the customer reached out pictures of two completely soaked and squashed birds were sent to us, with one still laying in a bowl/plate of water. We tried to discuss the care that was being provided for the chicks on arrival but with us not being contacted until the birds were all dead, we were not able to assist with this. Our representatives primary objective when discussing care is to help prevent more loss from happening, whether it is for this order or another. This order and the communication that occurred was discussed with management and the final decision to not offer a refund/replacements was based on the guarantees and policies that the customer agreed to when they placed the order. These guarantees and policies have been linked with this response.Customer Answer
Date: 03/26/2024
Complaint: 21484392
I am rejecting this response because: this is a blatant lie. They dont answer their phones so I sent an email on the 24. Here is the proof.
so first they say they only guarantee live arrivals, now all of a sudden, theres a 48 hour guarantee? Either way, I reached out via phone on Saturday, and via email on Sunday. They are refusing to take responsibility with this, as theyve done to other peoples order on google.I am not the only person having issues with this company and birds arriving sick. Im willing to take this to court behind $120 if I need to. They were tiny and lethargic on arrival. This company is an absolute joke and I will share my experience.
Sincerely,
*********************Initial Complaint
Date:03/05/2024
Type:Customer Service IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
On March first I received an order of supposed to be live chicks from cackle 1 was dead and the rest were alive . As soon as an hour after they were unboxed and they da r consistently been dieng off ever since. I emailed the business to no avail. They claim I didnt contact in the correct amount of time to warrant a refund or replacementBusiness Response
Date: 03/06/2024
When a customer places an order they are informed of and have to agree to our guarantees and policies, one of which is our live arrival only guarantee. **************** reports here that one was dead on arrival and the rest were alive. We sent extra birds, which would ultimately mean he still had his quantity of birds paid for alive on arrival. We also have noted in this same guarantee that if there are any losses on arrival or issues that we need to be contacted immediately, **************** waited 2 days, until most birds were already deceased. We offered to go over setup to see if we'd recommend any adjustments and then management could revisit the decision on refunding/replacing. The customer opted not to do that, stated he knew what he was doing and would never order from us again. We were within our stated guarantees and policies that **************** agreed to before he was able to place an order. Attached is a screenshot of what a customer agrees to before placing an order as well as the full guarantee that we link to in those terms and conditions. At this time, we will not be granting the request for a refund.Initial Complaint
Date:11/05/2023
Type:Service or Repair IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Sent dead livestock refused service harassed my farmBusiness Response
Date: 11/16/2023
***************** was refunded for her losses on this order. After several verbal assaults on our customer service representatives that include vulgar language and harassing messages eluding to violence, the owner decided to cancel further orders and refund the price paid for the unfulfilled orders. We explained to ***************** that we would not fulfill any future orders placed by her. She continued to place orders and staff continued to cancel and refund these orders. Copies of these interactions have been included in the attachments. We have not been in touch with ***************** other than to refund orders. We have not responded to further emails, as we explained due to the graphic nature of her emails, we will not subject our employees to this.
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