2014 Hatchery Chick Orders

[KuroKitsune]

just ordered my ducks...getting some black east india ducks 4 females and 1 drake...cute little bantam duckies! they hatch and ship out the 19th i think...cant wait!

 

[cholmberg]

First time having chickens again after a 10 year or so span without them (and missed them!)

I ordered from Meyer for delivery March 4.
2 buff orpingtons
3 black australorps
4 light brown leghorns
6 EE
4 rare egg assortment
4 new hampshire reds
1 golden laced wayandotte
1 dominique
1 extra (meal maker, donate the eggs to someone needy)

I'm looking forward to my mixed flock and awesomely colorful egg basket!

 

[tbishop]

I just ordered 10 female cayugas. Started last spring wth 9 straight run- ended up this spring with 2 pair. Don't want those girls too overworked...

 

[KuroKitsune]

I just ordered 10 female cayugas. Started last spring wth 9 straight run- ended up this spring with 2 pair. Don't want those girls too overworked...

with 6 girls each i'd think the drake might be alittle overworked but your girls would be safe

 

[tbishop]

I didn't realize there was a maximum ratio. What's the ideal situation? I was concerned about the drakes over-breeding when it was 1 on 1. I figured on loss factoring before they are of age.

 

[KuroKitsune]

I didn't realize there was a maximum ratio. What's the ideal situation? I was concerned about the drakes over-breeding when it was 1 on 1. I figured on loss factoring before they are of age.

6 girls each might be ok you'll just have to watch. my drake has just 4 girls and i know he'd be a tired overworked boy if he had 6 girls. but like i said watch them and see

 

[akelley]

I ordered 20 speckled sussex from Ideal for a 3/10 hatch date. A week after I ordered they were wait-listed. I am SUPER excited to try out this breed!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Speckled Sussex, pretty pretty birds, bet you really like them, they usually have such nice temperaments. SandHill has Erminettes hopefully later this year, put in for some, really interested to see what those are like.

 

[SlipsWife]

I was looking through a few pictures on my phone and thought these might be useful for people looking to put in orders for this year. These are all from our 2013 chicks, our first chicks, who were all hatched February/March. The eggs are from October.

1-Red Sex-link from Privett (I believe they are listed on their site under 'Gold Sex Link'), bought at local TSC, we have one girl that lays eggs a littler larger than the other. They average around 2.4 oz . They lay almost daily, sometimes one might take a day off but it is very rare. Laid all winter, no extra light, friendly.

2-Bantam Easter Egger from Privett (listed under Ameraucana) bought from private order, laid almost daily, taking off maybe once a week, STOPPED cold turkey in October and hasn't laid an egg since. She is the first one in the coop in the evenings and I kept saying I was going to put a light in the coop to see if it would jump start her again but I haven't...she is 'wild' and wants NOTHING to do with us. I think its because we didn't spend much time with the chicks from that order and lost 80% to predators.

3-Turken/Necked Neck from Cackle, private order. Very friendly! Both girls lay almost as well as the Red Sex Link girls but have smaller eggs. Their eggs are pinkish/tan. Laid all winter without extra light, average egg weight 2 oz.

4-Partridge Plymouth Rock from Cackle, private order. Both girls pretty much took off for the winter, one had a very hard molt, but both laid last week one day, haven't since, so I'm hoping they are about to pick back up again. Extremely friendly. Their eggs are around 1.8 oz.


We did have an issue with dry pox this past fall. The Partridge girls seemed to have had it the hardest, plus the one went through a hard molt around that time, she looked horrible.

There are so many breeds out there and so many wonderful layers and beautiful chickens I just figured it might help someone looking into a first time order or adding something different to their flock to see the eggs. I would suggest the Red Sex Link girls to anyone for a first time, they aim to please.

 

[Searsmom]

We built our chicken coop with ample room for 11 if they have to be closed in all day. Fortunately they don't - they have space underneath and an attached pen with access 18/7 and that's only if I've seen loose dogs in the area, otherwise they're all over the place. So with broody hens and foraging at the co-op for blue egg layers, I'm up to 15 after cull. I have 3 Blue/Black Copper Marans coming around Mar 10th from a local farm and am on another local waiting list for a breeding trio of Cream Legbars this summer/fall.

Sigh.

Time to build an addition.

But next year I can fill my egg boxes with cream, pink, beige, brown, pastel green, olive green, blue and chocolate brown eggs! I'm excited! And with a breeding trio - it will be time to get into breeding the Cream Legbars.