Hatchery's out of stock

[BlueBaby]

Wow! That’s a long way! They are about an hour and a half from me. They deal in the less common breeds so I’ve never bought any. I guess I’m a more common breed kinda guy. Let us know how it goes.

I already have some of these that I hatched out last year from different states, but they were shipped from up north. This year since it is winter and up north is cold right now, I figured to order from someone in the south. It will also add to my gene pool of the one's that I already have going over here.

 

[Percheron chick]

I looked on a couple popular hatchery's and u can't get straight run or pullets for at least a month. Still can get roosters lol. I hope this plays out because I hope to sell baby chicks and ducklings in 3 to 4 months. Shouldn't be hard to sell chicks if people can't get em through hatchery. Does anyone know if it's a high demand issue or a disease issue at the hatcheries

Get an order in even if it's not 100% what you want. Buy them now. You might have the best luck by going with hatchery choice straight run. Not able to select breeds but typically it's high production breeds, red breeds and the lower priced common breeds.
What breeds are you most interested in? Why straight run? Most buyers are only interested in pullets. Are started pullets better in your market?
Feed stores are also on the chick buying craze. Unless you are buying chickens in quantities, you might be money ahead by buying from the feed store. By the time you factor in shipping and loses, you should be looking at $6 per chick. I can buy chicks at the feed store for $4.25. $1-2 more for the less common breeds.
I would test your market with 25 chicks and see how it goes. Get your ducks in a row and develop next year's plan. Get your chicks ordered Dec-Jan when the lists first come out.

 

[Percheron chick]

Hoover's has chicks to ship tomorrow. I have only had their EEs and they were one of the nicest colored group of EEs I have had. Not the regular brown.

 

[springvalley123]

High demand

that makes sense. I'm in a new neighborhood, I have five hens, and my neighbors are asking for eggs---I don't have enough. looks like all the common layer breeds. I'm glad I got a small order in thru Hoovers/TSC.

 

[nuthatched]

Try some other hatcheries. Ideal, Mt Healthy, Meyer, McMurray…even if they don’t have all of the breeds you want, if they have some order double, or try some breeds you weren’t thinking of originally.

2x Mt healthy usually has open ship dates and good choices.

 

[Ponyiqandhens2]

I looked on a couple popular hatchery's and u can't get straight run or pullets for at least a month. Still can get roosters lol. I hope this plays out because I hope to sell baby chicks and ducklings in 3 to 4 months. Shouldn't be hard to sell chicks if people can't get em through hatchery. Does anyone know if it's a high demand issue or a disease issue at the hatcheries

It is fairly normal that the first 8-10 weeks are always bad.. most places started taking the orders for the upcoming year during october/november...there are some smaller hatcheries with birds available laye feb..i knowmeyers had to pull a bunch of chicksback this week due to predicted ice storms ..they went to the store to the bargin bins..but they stopped all ordering for feb/early march to get caught up...

 

[NatJ]

I guess someone could buy 100 males and end up with 90 in the freezer and 10 pullets...

Definitely an interesting idea.

Of course those numbers rely on their sexing being 90% accurate. If they are more accurate with the sexing, you would have fewer pullets than that.

 

[Alagirl]

that makes sense. I'm in a new neighborhood, I have five hens, and my neighbors are asking for eggs---I don't have enough. looks like all the common layer breeds. I'm glad I got a small order in thru Hoovers/TSC.

did they drop the 10 chick minimum through Hoover?

 

[springvalley123]

did they drop the 10 chick minimum through Hoover?

It's 10 thru TSC/hoover's. Hoover's directly has always been 15 and is now (except it was more I think during the earlier years of covid).

also, they may ship 12 instead of 10, for survivability---my niece got 10 in october in Phoenix, but years ago I got 12 in december.

 

[grizleyguy]

Thanks to all that replied. Gives us all more perspective of the market