CACKLE HATCHERY

I recieved a catalog from Cackle Hatchery (never ordered one) and was browsing through the pages. They claim they ship pure bred poultry. When I saw the prices I was shocked. For example: "Easter Egg Chicken" 5 pullets for $14.95.
I know prices have went up but good grief is this how much chicks are going for? They also sell Cuckoo Marans 5 pullets for $14.75.
Can anyone tell me if Murray McMurray is about the same price. Plus is Cackle Hatchery chicks pure bred poultry vs Murray and also Ideal?

If anyone can give any input greatly appreciated.

Chiefs Mess

at Murray Mcmurray the pullets are about 3.38 a piece for EE and you have to order 25 the prices have went up and shipping is crazy
Marans are 5.35 a piece

I was actually looking through my catalogs last night and my Murray McMurray one lists Cuckoo Marans for a *lot* more than Cackle. I think it was about $130 for 25 pullets from MM and only $69 for 25 pullets from Cackle.

Chiefs Mess said:

I recieved a catalog from Cackle Hatchery (never ordered one) and was browsing through the pages. They claim they ship pure bred poultry. When I saw the prices I was shocked. For example: "Easter Egg Chicken" 5 pullets for $14.95.
I know prices have went up but good grief is this how much chicks are going for? They also sell Cuckoo Marans 5 pullets for $14.75.
Can anyone tell me if Murray McMurray is about the same price. Plus is Cackle Hatchery chicks pure bred poultry vs Murray and also Ideal?

If anyone can give any input greatly appreciated.

Chiefs Mess

Click to expand...

You can look at their website and look for specials.

http://www.cacklehatchery.com/

They have a special this week for 25 heavy breed chickens as straight run for $56.70 (that includes shipping).

They list "Easter Eggers" as a rare breed. It's not a breed and it's not rare. I guess people like those blue and green eggs.

Are you looking for a particular breed? If you aren't particular about breed, you can get some very good deals through many of the hatcheries.

They list "Easter Eggers" as a rare breed. It's not a breed and it's not rare. I guess people like those blue and green eggs.

Are you looking for a particular breed? If you aren't particular about breed, you can get some very good deals through many of the hatcheries.



That is why I used them as an example, did not know they were rare, lol. But one of my questions is are they noted for selling "pure bred poultry". As for prices that was answered, just like everything else prices went up on chicks too.
If they are a good quality hatchery then I would buy from them since I only want a small amount of chicks.

I am interested in Marans and EE. Anyone in Central VA sell chicks of those two breeds. I am one who likes the dark choc. eggs and the colored eggs (brings back memories when I was a kid raising EE and Americanas (sp)

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They list "Easter Eggers" as a rare breed. It's not a breed and it's not rare. I guess people like those blue and green eggs.

Are you looking for a particular breed? If you aren't particular about breed, you can get some very good deals through many of the hatcheries.



That is why I used them as an example, did not know they were rare, lol. But one of my questions is are they noted for selling "pure bred poultry". As for prices that was answered, just like everything else prices went up on chicks too.
If they are a good quality hatchery then I would buy from them since I only want a small amount of chicks.

I am interested in Marans and EE. Anyone in Central VA sell chicks of those two breeds. I am one who likes the dark choc. eggs and the colored eggs (brings back memories when I was a kid raising EE and Americanas (sp)

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I think in most cases you will get good chickens from hatcheries. But don't expect a particular breed to meet the standard of perfection.

In the case of "Easter Eggers," they never meet the standard of perfection because they aren't a breed. I am sure you will get hens that lay blue and/or green eggs, though.

I can't speak to the quality of their Marans. Welsummers lay dark brown eggs also, so you might think about that breed.

Most of the hatcheries breed for good layers, so you should be fine with hatchery birds. Look around for the best deal.

To me, "purebred" means nothing about the quality of the chicken. It just means the offspring will look like the parents. An example I use from an article I saw a while back. A breeder took a flock of chickens and split it. He bred one of the split flocks for large size and the other for small size. The article did not say how many generations it took, but the average size in one flock is now 9 times the size in the other. Both those flocks are purebreeds from the same ancestors.

Unless certain traits are reinforced each generation, chickens quickly can lose those traits. I think that size difference shows the power of selective breeding. This means that you could get the best quality chickens and breed them. If you don't know how to select for the right traits, in a very few generations, your birds would probably be no better show quality than hatchery birds.

Hatcheries are not all alike, any more than breeders are all alike. You get different quality birds from different hatcheries, just like you get different quality birds from different breeders. But you are not likely to get show quality birds from any hatchery, certainly not consistently. Some do a better job than others of picking their breeders, but most use the pen breeding system where they keep many roosters in a pen with many, many hens. The random nature of the breeding keeps genetic diversity up, and most will look a lot like the chicken is supposed to look, but most will have flaws that keep them from being show bird quality. I've gotten the same breeds from different hatcheries and they look different. There are different people with different abilities and different goals picking the breeding flocks at different hatcheries.

When a show quality breeder breeds birds, they often match a specific rooster with one or two specific hens, trying for perfection. Even the best breeders hatch out more chicks that don't make the grade than potential prize winners. It's no surprise that the hatcheries with the randomness of the pen breeding method hatch a lot more rejects.

If you want a chicken that looks pretty much like the breed should but is almost certainly not show quality but will probably lay pretty well for that breed, the hatcheries are into mass producing these birds. If you want a show-quality chicken, you need to find a breeder that knows what they are doing. But they are not mass producing chickens and their prices will reflect that.

Yes, selectively breeding can dramatically change the look, size, behavior, and other things in any animal. New Hampshire chickens were created by selectively breeding Rhode Island Reds.

With chickens you have to look at how closely a chicken meets the standard of perfection for its breed. There will be some variation in offspring. You are right that if someone doesn't know what they are doing, they can easily breed chickens and lose the qualities of the breed.

I bought my Bantam Cochins from Cackle last year. I think they are pretty nice looking birds (however I am not an expert, I am just partial to my birds lol) I was shopping around at several websites comparing prices, shipping and color options. Some hatcheries had better prices but no the selection of color or vise versa. Anyway Cackle had the colors I wanted and the price wasn't to bad. For egg laying standard size birds I am going with my local feed store because they sell them at their discount. Meaning I don't have to by X# to get the cheaper price and they are not charging shipping either. My cochins are broody all the time so instead of ordering chicks I am letting some of the girls hatch some. Here are some pics of my cochins, hajacking the thread here but are they good examples of the breed?