Please help me understand.

[Cammo77]

Hi everyone, I have a question for all you lovely North American people and this is in no way a judgement on how your system works over there. First of all I am Aussie and still fairly new to chickens. I have joined this forum and also follow a lot of chicken social media pages. I have seen a ridiculous amount of posts about people buying chicks from Tractor Supply Company. There have been many disappointing posts about poor quality of chicks plus inaccurate breed ID. Reading through the comments I see people saying to buy from local hatcheries and then people responding that they have no local breeders which I find hard to understand. I'm just trying to get my head around this whole situation. Are the opportunities to buy chickens limited in North America or is it that people who buy from this place just don't know any better? Are there strict laws on breeding chickens yourself so you don't need to rely on big corporate stores?

 

[TooCheep]

Hello @Cammo77. I certainly can't speak for everyone in the US, but here is my take:

A large subset of backyard chicken owners live in cities or suburbs. Only a small percentage of people live in truly rural areas. Many of us don't even have roosters, so again only a smaller percentage of chicken owners would have fertile eggs to work with. Also, many of us have few contacts with chickens and are the exception in our neighborhoods. Finally, many are newer chicken owners after Covid, so only a subset have direct experience with breeding/hatching.

We often don't have lots of local contacts raising chicks and in my limited experience they are 60%+ barnyard mixes. If you want particular breeds, you may have a hard time finding them locally or at the time you want them. So, it is common to either go to one of the few local farm stores (ex: TSC or Rural King) or to buy online from one of the major hatcheries. They are just "easier".

I personally haven't had a problem getting the right breeds, though I did get one male this last year that was hatchery-identified as a female chick (out of 4).

 

[Cammo77]

Hello @Cammo77. I certainly can't speak for everyone in the US, but here is my take:

A large subset of backyard chicken owners live in cities or suburbs. Only a small percentage of people live in truly rural areas. Many of us don't even have roosters, so again only a smaller percentage of chicken owners would have fertile eggs to work with. Also, many of us have few contacts with chickens and are the exception in our neighborhoods. Finally, many are newer chicken owners after Covid, so only a subset have direct experience with breeding/hatching.

We often don't have lots of local contacts raising chicks and in my limited experience they are 60%+ barnyard mixes. If you want particular breeds, you may have a hard time finding them locally or at the time you want them. So, it is common to either go to one of the few local farm stores (ex: TSC or Rural King) or to buy online from one of the major hatcheries. They are just "easier".

I personally haven't had a problem getting the right breeds, though I did get one male this last year that was hatchery-identified as a female chick (out of 4).

Thank you for your reply. What you say definitely makes sense. I guess there'd be good money in breeding if you're allowed to on your property then?

Just for context I live on a 1acre block in a semi rural area. I am allowed by the local council (government) to have up to 10 chickens but to keep more or to keep a rooster I need to apply for a permit which costs over $100 and I am not guaranteed they'll approve my request. And from the sounds of it I am very lucky here that I only need to look on FB or a couple other websites to be able to buy many different breeds at different ages within 20miles of me. This is why I guess I find it wo weird.

 

[TooCheep]

I live in a city on 1/4 acre and can keep up to 12 chickens including a rooster. I'd never have a rooster as the hens make enough noise and I'm trying to be a good neighbor. I'd be happy to breed/raise my own if I lived rurally. The one rooster I had was a very handsome boy, but he had to go to freezer camp.

I don't use Facebook, so I can't comment on what's available there. My sources for locally raised chicks are the Indiana thread on BYC and Craigslist (online ad site). I got one pullet via Craigslist to replace one lost to a hawk. My three generations of hens have all come from local stores.

 

[Cammo77]

I live in a city on 1/4 acre and can keep up to 12 chickens including a rooster. I'd never have a rooster as the hens make enough noise and I'm trying to be a good neighbor. I'd be happy to breed/raise my own if I lived rurally. The one rooster I had was a very handsome boy, but he had to go to freezer camp.

I don't use Facebook, so I can't comment on what's available there. My sources for locally raised chicks are the Indiana thread on BYC and Craigslist (online ad site). I got one pullet via Craigslist to replace one lost to a hawk. My three generations of hens have all come from local stores.

That's a good amount on a block that size. I get the good neighbour bit. We have a cockeral that hasn't started crowing yet but I'm worried he'll annoy the neighbours. I'm up at 4am and can only ever hear 1 rooster crowing from all the houses around. I personally would rather hear a rooster at 5am then cars driving up the road

 

[TooCheep]

That's a good amount on a block that size. I get the good neighbour bit. We have a cockeral that hasn't started crowing yet but I'm worried he'll annoy the neighbours. I'm up at 4am and can only ever hear 1 rooster crowing from all the houses around. I personally would rather hear a rooster at 5am then cars driving up the road

Oh, I'd never go for a full 12. I have had 3-4 for 6 years, but decided I wanted more eggs, so I'm upgrading to 8 going forward. I consider them livestock (many consider them pets), so they normally "retire" after 3 years and I bring in a new generation.

I agree about the rooster, but the neighbors likely wouldn't be as understanding. I give them free eggs occasionally to help maintain good relations, but can only expect so much. On the other hand there are so many dogs in the neighborhood that my chickens make much less of a racket than the local dogs.

One thing I didn't mention in my original post: Those with larger flocks (largely in rural areas) can order directly from hatcheries rather than depending on TSC or other stores. That would reduce the chance of breed mix-ups.

 

[Cammo77]

Oh, I'd never go for a full 12. I have had 3-4 for 6 years, but decided I wanted more eggs, so I'm upgrading to 8 going forward. I consider them livestock (many consider them pets), so they normally "retire" after 3 years and I bring in a new generation.

I agree about the rooster, but the neighbors likely wouldn't be as understanding. I give them free eggs occasionally to help maintain good relations, but can only expect so much. On the other hand there are so many dogs in the neighborhood that my chickens make much less of a racket than the local dogs.

One thing I didn't mention in my original post: Those with larger flocks (largely in rural areas) can order directly from hatcheries rather than depending on TSC or other stores. That would reduce the chance of breed mix-ups.

That's an excellent point about the dogs! I hate my dogs barking for no reason but many people don't care.

 

[Sammster]

I agree about the rooster, but the neighbors likely wouldn't be as understanding. I give them free eggs occasionally to help maintain good relations, but can only expect so much. On the other hand there are so many dogs in the neighborhood that my chickens make much less of a racket than the local dogs.

Same-same

 

[JacinLarkwell]

guess there'd be good money in breeding if you're allowed to on your property then?

Not as good as one would think. Since most people can't have males, they want sexed chicks or older pullets. Most private people can't sex chicks outside of specific sexlinks, and raising older pullets costs more than most are willing to pay, at least here. Plus not everyone wants the same breeds. As I mention on other threads, what I want isn't what my neighbors or other chicken people near us want typically

 

[TooCheep]

Plus not everyone wants the same breeds. As I mention on other threads, what I want isn't what my neighbors or other chicken people near us want typically

Yup. There are a lot of breeds available and we are spoiled with having stores/hatcheries to have a good selection. 100 years ago, we would have just been happy to have some mixed-breed/barnyard-mix chickens. Now we can be a lot more picky, so it can be hard to find what you want from a breeder locally.

Also, many just don't want to deal with the males. About 50% of the chicken listings I see on Craigslist are people trying to give away roosters.