Cackle hatchery's Hatchery Surprise- Anybody got this before?

[snuvy]

Anyone else placing any orders or have any future orders coming their way? I'm ready to put in my order!

Edit 6/26/14: Just placed my order. Will update when shipping date is confirmed.

Edit 6/27/14: Shipping date 7/7/14.

 

[dealfinder500]

No more for me! I've got nearly 150 chicks upstairs in the brooder room now!

 

[jc12551]

This was in my surprise and I have no idea what it is. As a chick it looked like a chicken chick. Mutant? Not a chicken? IDK

 

[WildWestChick]

No it's a chicken...I'm just not sure of what kind it is. :/

 

[dallasathome]

Just an update - I did receive my surprise box yesterday! It had 59 baby chicks in it! All the chicks seem to be standard size and all of them are clean legged variety. I can't speculate on specific breeds for most of them just yet, BUT almost half are crested breeds - a favorite of my wife and myself! (27 crested total).
This is my guess for the crested:
7 - Gold Laced Polish
7 - Buff Laced Polish
7 - White Crested Black Polish
3 - Blue Polish
3 - White Polish

The other 32 chicks make up quite an eclectic mix. Some black with white, some yellow with gray, some solid yellow, and many striped chicks which are very difficult to distinguish one from the other initially. Some have brown on brown striped, some brown with black and white, some red chicks with deep brown stripes, and on and on lol.

There are also 6 Americauna chicks which was a wonderful surprise as well! 4 are gray with splotches of brown and yellow, and 2 of them are striped - but they all have fat faces with full beards!

 

[WildWestChick]

Cute! You should post some pics of your new babies...I wanna see!

 

[dallasathome]

This was in my surprise and I have no idea what it is. As a chick it looked like a chicken chick. Mutant? Not a chicken? IDK





Definitely a baby vulture!

 

[jc12551]

That is what my dh said.

 

[dealfinder500]

Just an update - I did receive my surprise box yesterday! It had 59 baby chicks in it! All the chicks seem to be standard size and all of them are clean legged variety. I can't speculate on specific breeds for most of them just yet, BUT almost half are crested breeds - a favorite of my wife and myself! (27 crested total).
This is my guess for the crested:
7 - Gold Laced Polish
7 - Buff Laced Polish
7 - White Crested Black Polish
3 - Blue Polish
3 - White Polish

The other 32 chicks make up quite an eclectic mix. Some black with white, some yellow with gray, some solid yellow, and many striped chicks which are very difficult to distinguish one from the other initially. Some have brown on brown striped, some brown with black and white, some red chicks with deep brown stripes, and on and on lol.

There are also 6 Americauna chicks which was a wonderful surprise as well! 4 are gray with splotches of brown and yellow, and 2 of them are striped - but they all have fat faces with full beards!

Nice! 27 crested! Wow! Awesome! I got 7 in my 2nd batch, and only 2 this last batch. I didn't get any bantams in my last one, either (I got it three days ago). My first batch I got tons of those chipmunks! They are hard to figure out. This time I only got 6. I did get about a dozen or so with feathered legs.

The yellow with gray may be Columbian Wynadottes, or Light Brahmas.

 

[Fetch33]

Just checking in to see if anyone else has received a shipment lately and what kind of birds you are receiving.

Also, I'm looking to buy a surprise for myself, but I want to raise them all as pets.  Do you know if they're good about not giving broilers/meat birds (because it would be quite depressing to watch the chickens/turkeys grow only to have heart attacks).  

Has anyone ordered the surprise in the later months (August/September/October), what kinds of birds are you getting during that period (since I think they stop hatching ducks/geese/turkeys by then).  Don't know if it may be worth it for me to wait until later on to get an order, so I don't get water fowl/turkeys.

Finally, how does everyone house 40 grown chickens?  I only have 3 dwarf chickens right now, and they live in a cute store bought/pre-made coop and run (which is perfect for them).  However, I'm not sure how I would house 40 of them!  I don't really want to spend $1,000 on a coop/run, but does anyone know of an alternative?  I'm not too handy, but I was thinking a covered chain link fenced area?  Do they need a coop to roost in?  Or are they happy always living outside (but with some enclosed nesting boxes)?  I live in California so it never gets below freezing (and I can always cover them with a tarp if it does get cold/rainy).  Any suggestions would be great!  Thanks for reading.

I got my surprise in March. I was fascinated by this video.

. So I bought an ancient construction trailer and I am transforming it into the coupe de trailer, lol. There are 2 rooms in it. A feed room and living area. I have put in extra windows and a solar automatic coop door opener. The next projects are installing the rear roll out next boxes through the wall so I can collect eggs from the feed room and gutter system to collect rain water. I move the coop to fresh pasture every 3 weeks or so. I have 2 sections of Premier poultry net with a solar electric fence charger. Might expand that to 3 sections to cut down on moving the trailer.