Chicken SCratch poultry?

[Bergere]

I just ordered two Blue Copper Maran Pullets from them. Will ship out tomorrow.
Just hope they are as nice as their photos show.

Their prices are not that bad for the older birds. Shipping it a lot more spendy from non commercial set ups, they don't get the big volume discounts the large hatcheries do.

 

[Bouvsgrl]

I received four very nice pullets from them in early summer. Two have just started laying. They are healthy, friendly and gentle birds. Angie was great to deal with. I would order from them again.

 

[Theclickens]

I purchased 4 (maximum allowed) Jubilee Orpington hatching eggs from them in September. After 14 days, and candling, there was no sign of development. I looked inside, could clearly see a blastoderm in each egg, none had the bullseye appearance of being fertile. I emailed to let them know to check their fertilitly, guess I offended them. Anyways, I'm out $60. Never will order from them again.

 

[sarahandbray]

I was not thrilled with them. Cost was high, shipping was high, and vaccination was high ($2/bird for only Marek's).
Chicks were born on a Tuesday morning, shipped out at 3pm, paid $38 overnight shipping--but didn't receive them until 11am on FRIDAY!!!!! I was a hot mess on hold for hours with the post office on Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday. One chick died in transport, another died the first night.
Owner said this happens all the time. Period. Bothers them, but what can you do?
This blasé attitude and zero help recouping my shipping fee made me never want to order from them again. To add insult to injury, one of my Olive Egger hens turned out to be a crossbeak at 2-weeks old.

In contrast, McMurray was fast, efficient, had .19 cent vaccinations for Marek's and Coccidioysis (sp?) and was to me in a day. All chicks, plus extras, lived and were vigorous.

I recognize these are not show-quality birds, but for a backyard chicken person interested in nice birds who lay eggs, they seem fine.

When I want really pretty, nice birds, I'll contact an actual breeder. Not a boutique hatchery.

 

[Miss Dottie]

I have an assortment of black Marans and blue Marans from Chicken Scratch. So far, I am very happy with how they are all turning out. They are 4 months old and I am anxious to see how they mature. The quality of these birds far exceeds many Marans I have seen.

It seems they are well invested in their birds. The focus seems to be quality over quantity and that's just what I was looking for. I'm hoping to see more consistency than I have seen with sources of Marans. Their lines come from some of the best available, from what I gather. We'll see how they finish. I am excited, but of course will reevaluate once the birds are completely grown and laying.

 

[sarahandbray]

I like the eggs I'm getting from Chicken Scratch, as they are dark and speckled, but their delivery and charges are AWFUL!
I found out later after I ordered, that they're not really a breeder. Still more of a hatchery. Pretty $$ for a hatchery.
I won't order again from them due to the shipping fiasco, but I do like my birds now that we are several months into it.
My Lavender Orps from them are big and fluffy, but they do have that undesirable "fraying" of their feathers, especially in my two hens.
Fine for me, since I don't breed, but not something people want when they're trying to work on colors/standard of a breed.

 

[enola]

Just received a batch of chicks from Chicken Scratch this morning. I ordered 4 black copper marans chicks, 4 rumpless Araucanas, and 4 of their proprietary olive egg-laying hybrids (ameraucana x black copper marans). I received an extra baby of each variety, and all seem to be doing well as of moving into the brooder in my sunroom a couple hours ago. Only two of the Araucanas look like they might be duckwing patterned. I had asked if I could get golden duckwing babies, but evidently their breeders are not segregated by colors. Even though the duckwing chicks are pretty distinctively colored, they would not pick 4 out for me. Also, none of their Araucana chicks this season have been hatching with tufts, oddly, even though I was told that their breeders display some tufting. With such high prices for chicks, I was hoping for some stock that I could breed from, but if I can't get tufts to come through, I'm not sure if it is worth the trouble that hatching rumpless Araucanas always presents. Does anyone know if these clean-faced chicks might accidentally be able to pass on a tufted gene, without displaying tufts themselves? If not, I guess I'm going to try to track down a decently tufted rooster for fertilizing the clean-faced hens, and hope for more successful hatches that way. The breeding stock that is called "Wade Jeane" did, after some pointed questions, turn out to be second-hand, so probably the eggs these babies will lay will not be the deep chocolate brown that Jeane strove for, but that other breeders so often allow to fall be the wayside in favor of hatching and SELLING as many "Marans" chicks as possible, regardless of the increasingly pale and red eggs they lay. The olive egger chicks are super cute and fluffy, a couple have Ameraucana bearding evident already. Overall, the shipping was very high, given that I am only a day away from their farm, but the packaging was very sturdy and all the babies arrived in good health. The prices for the chicks themselves really were outrageous, especially given that the "Rumpless, Tufted Araucanas" turned out, after my paypal payment cleared, to not be tufted at all. Even the hybrids were $8 a chick, and while olive eggs are cool, I could very well have bred my own quite easily. 15 chicks ran me $120 or so, after shipping and handling. Hopefully the cost will result in some decently dark Marans eggs, and some decently blue Araucana eggs, but as I said, I am still in the market for a nice tufted rumpless roo. Anyone?

This statement is not meant to defend the hatchery...... But, they probably only have 'some tufting' in their breeding flock so they can hatch more sellable chicks. When both parents have tufts, a high percentage of the chicks will develope but not hatch.

 

[sarahandbray]

I will say that I am very happy with my Olive Egger hen at this point. She is solid black, has fluffy chipmunk cheeks, and is super friendly. Her eggs are still small but of a great color. I will also mention that she had a sister that had a SEVERE crossbeak that presented around 3 weeks old and got progressively worse very quickly. I was able to re-home her at a local Poultry Swap for free to a lovely mother/daughter who already had a crossbeak at home and knew how to care for her. She was very sweet, but clearly deformed, poor girl.
This is not necessarily the fault of Chicken Scratch since I have heard the Easter Eggers/Olive Eggers/Ameraucuanas run a high risk of having crossbeaks as compared to other breeds.
I guess now that I know a little more about raising chickens and breeders vs. hatcheries vs. hatching your own, I kind of don't see the point of ordering these chicks for this high price again. I will look locally and elsewhere.
But hey--you live and learn!!!

-Sarah

 

[Bouvsgrl]

I ordered four pullets from them last spring. They arrived a bit tattered (Illinois to Texas) but I would too being in a box
They have grown into happy, healthy hens now reliably laying several eggs per week. They are Lavendar Orpington, Light Sussex, Blue Copper Marans and Black Copper Marans. The Black Copper Marans is all black (no copper) but is so sweet and loves to be held. I here are some eggs pics. The pink is from the Orp, light brown is a pullet egg from the Light Sussex. The dark brown are the Marans, the Blue Copper lays really dark eggs. The blue is from a Crested Cream Legbar and the green is from an Isbar (both from the Old Farm House). Also a pic of the Lav Orp "Hyacinth"

 

[Miss Dottie]

Those of you who have lavender orpingtons, Marans or Welsummers from Chicken Scratch...how old were your birds when they started laying?

Bouvsgrl...love your lavender Orpington...what a beautiful fluffy but!