Best hatchery for SOP birds?

[RememberTheWay]

***EDITED TO SAY I AM VERY AWARE THAT HATCHERYS DO NOT BREED SOP birds. My question was to find out which hatchery had better stock not which hatchery has SOP stock. I'm aware they are infamous for breeding birds that don't fit the standard. But it also impossible to find certain breeds in my area. Also private breeders are not always perfect either. I haven't been able to find certain breeds in my area at all let alone to the standard. I have to start somewhere, right? So what I'm trying to do is find stock with the least amount of problems to start with. Hope this clear up the confusion.


Curious to hear about everyones experiences with certain hatcheries and the quality of birds they got from them for SOP. Also curious about vitamins vigor. I am In the middle Tennessee area and just ordered from Meyers. It hasn't been great. I've already lost ten of 48 chicks. And have a feeling a few more will pass as well. I would like to attempt to replace the ones I've lost but would like to get decent chicks and ones that are strong.

I would like to know who people have ordered from and how long your chicks traveled to get to you. I believe that Meyers is 7.5 hrs from me, the chicks were in the mail on Monday and I received them Wednesday. The bantam passed shortly after its arrival. I thought it was dead on arrival but it wasn't and I was unsuccessful to save it.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not blaming Meyers. I think maybe something happened in transit. But I'm not sure. They also chose not to put in a heat pack and packaged favorolles (know. For being fragile) and one late hatch bantam in with full size strong chicks. I think that probably played a part as well. Personally I would not have put the bantam in and would have packaged the favorolles in their own compartment. But that's me. I also think hatcheries should feed the chicks before they leave. It would make them stronger for shipping.

 

[BGMatt]

You will spend thousands more dollars, and at least a decade of time breeding ANY hatchery birds anywhere close to the Standard. Take the money to travel to a show and buy from a breeder. Heck go to the Ohio National this fall, if you can't find it there, it probably doesn't exist in quality.

If you are absolutely dead set on having to have birds right this second, and don't care about throwing away time and money, Cackle offers a few breeds they claim are from exhibition stock Buff Orpington, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Barred Plymouth Rock, and Rhode Island Red that can be found on their rare breed page. They also got Dominique stock from Mark Fields in both sizes so those may be ok.

The APA messed with a flock certification program that was supposed to be an incentive for hatcheries to care about quality, it seems to have floundered. Good Shepard Farms are a part of that in their breeds. Murray McMurray had but did not maintain certification in five breeds (Buff, Partridge and Silver Penciled Plymouth Rock, White Polish, and White Langshans), the last one of these that I am aware of is Greenfire Farms did at one point have their Light Sussex Flock certified.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Hatcheries breed for quantity, not quality. If you want birds that meet a standard, look for actual breeders

 

[SourRoses]

So sorry to hear about your babies, that's always hard

No hatcheries have what you're asking for.
By the very nature of the industry, hatchery birds are poorer quality, except for egg laying (numbers, not egg size or color).

If you get particular on a specific breed, you can find that one hatchery has slightly better birds than another. Some have even started with quite good stock from breeders. But the longer they are in charge of maintaining the lines, the worse they get.

If I had to pick a hatchery, I'd probably go with Cackle.

We tried to start our long ago flock of Speckled Sussex with hatchery stock, thinking we could breed for better. But the chicks produced didn't offer anything better than their parents. Small eggs, small hens, mean roosters. All very consistent.

 

[Major_in_MS]

I also think hatcheries should feed the chicks before they leave. It would make them stronger for shipping.

I read somewhere, I can't remember the source and I can not find it now, that once you begin feeding your day old chicks, you must provide food and water because the chicks metabolism shifts away from the absorbed yolk to dietary intake. If this is true, then feeding them before shipping might actually do much more harm than good. I wish I could remember where I read that. Maybe someone else can provide more information.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Hatcheries don't breed for quality. I have found much better quality with breeders who are breeding to SOP.
I have been able to work with a great breeder who i will be getting more eggs to hatch from. Her chickens are all bred to SOP.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Are you aware that hatcheries don't really ship direct to you? I mean the distance from the hatchery to you, as far as how long it takes you to get there, is irrelevant. Shipments go to central locations or hubs like, say, Chicago, where they are redistributed to another location nearer you (St. Louis in my case) and then get closer and closer until they end up at your place. That's why it may take up to three days for your chicks to reach you.

As far as feeding the chicks, they don't need to. Chicks can survive on the yolk they're absorbing for up to 72 hours, which is why shipping is even possible. They typically won't eat for a couple of days even if you hatch them at home.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be critical. I was just trying to pass on information I thought you might not be aware of. I've ordered from both in state and out of state hatcheries, and to my surprise it seems to take chicks three days to reach me in any case (I do live in a very rural environment). Most arrive in great shape. The only exceptions have been a) in the event of a freak blizzard and b) when shipping was delayed due to a holiday. In neither case was the hatchery at fault (different hatcheries) and in both cases, the hatchery sent me a replacement order at no cost to me. I've had great results from virtually every hatchery I've ordered from.

 

[RememberTheWay]

Hatcheries breed for quantity, not quality. If you want birds that meet a standard, look for actual breeders

I'm aware of this. The question was to figure out which hatchery had better stock which helps me to not have to correct as many things

 

[RememberTheWay]

Curious to hear about everyones experiences with certain hatcheries and the quality of birds they got from them for SOP. Also curious about vitamins vigor. I am In the middle Tennessee area and just ordered from Meyers. It hasn't been great. I've already lost ten of 48 chicks. And have a feeling a few more will pass as well. I would like to attempt to replace the ones I've lost but would like to get decent chicks and ones that are strong.

I would like to know who people have ordered from and how long your chicks traveled to get to you. I believe that Meyers is 7.5 hrs from me, the chicks were in the mail on Monday and I received them Wednesday. The bantam passed shortly after its arrival. I thought it was dead on arrival but it wasn't and I was unsuccessful to save it.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not blaming Meyers. I think maybe something happened in transit. But I'm not sure. They also chose not to put in a heat pack and packaged favorolles (know. For being fragile) and one late hatch bantam in with full size strong chicks. I think that probably played a part as well. Personally I would not have put the bantam in and would have packaged the favorolles in their own compartment. But that's me. I also think hatcheries should feed the chicks before they leave. It would make them stronger for shipping.

Are you aware that hatcheries don't really ship direct to you? I mean the distance from the hatchery to you, as far as how long it takes you to get there, is irrelevant. Shipments go to central locations or hubs like, say, Chicago, where they are redistributed to another location nearer you (St. Louis in my case) and then get closer and closer until they end up at your place. That's why it may take up to three days for your chicks to reach you.

As far as feeding the chicks, they don't need to. Chicks can survive on the yolk they're absorbing for up to 72 hours, which is why shipping is even possible. They typically won't eat for a couple of days even if you hatch them at home.

Yes you are absolutely correct a chick can survive on that yolk uptake. But that isn't what it was intended for and there is a huge difference in survival and thriving. If you would like to take a look at the research that backs up better quality stronger birds if they are fed sooner I'm more then happy to provide it. My point in bringing up this topic at all was to point out that for birds being shipped, which is stressful on them period, if they qere set up for success before leaving the hatchery by feeding them then the hatcheries would prevent a lot of unnecessary losses.

And yes, I'm aware they don't go directly to me. My point in putting that information was to get an idea of how far other people were from the hatchery they ordered from to see if it compares. I am aware that shipping time matters when it comes to chicks. I can't compare my experience to some one who ordered from a hatchery four hrs way and it took one day. The other reason for bringing that up was to look at the average trip chicks were taking and the rte of deaths comparably. If everyone's chicks are fine from one state away but half of them die when it's two states, that's something I wanted to take into consideration when I order again, IF I order again. Which I'm probably not going to.