2021 Chick Order

[JacinLarkwell]

I’ve never ordered from a hatchery. Are they pretty good about sending what you order or is it pot luck? What condition are the chicks in?

Depending on where you order, they may or may not send substitutions if they don't hatch out enough of what you order. I had that happen both times with my Cornish bantams this year if you look through the earlier posts from March and april.

Some places have a place were you can chose what you would like should they not hatch enough. Choices are usually substitutes, or a refund for the missing chicks if the order minimum is still met afterwards

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Like Nat J says, usually chicks ship well. I had absolutely horrible luck my first few deliveries this spring. I believe I ended up with between 20% and 60% suevibg out of the first 3 shipments. The later ones were far more successful, likely due to the cold snap the 1st 3 had shipped through.

Last year (smaller order though by far), I didn't lose a single shipped chick, and only lost one total ( a store bought calico princess)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Gah, so close. Thought maybe I figured Big Boy out and that he was a marans, but he doesn't look like the male's either. My poultry friend (the one I ordered for this year) is convinced he's a Jersey Giant, but he's the wrong colors for that

 

[NatJ]

Gah, so close. Thought maybe I figured Big Boy out and that he was a marans, but he doesn't look like the male's either. My poultry friend (the one I ordered for this year) is convinced he's a Jersey Giant, but he's the wrong colors for that

I don't remember which one Big Boy is, but it's certainly frustrating when you can't figure out what breed a chicken is!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I don't remember which one Big Boy is, but it's certainly frustrating when you can't figure out what breed a chicken is!

He's this handsome stud. Him and one of the females I just can't figure out. The other two are obviously mystic onyxes since they've got an extra toe on one foot, but Big Boy and the other pullet don't. 2 out of the 3 pullets are lying little tan eggs, but I'm not sure which two.

 

[NatJ]

He's this handsome stud. Him and one of the females I just can't figure out. The other two are obviously mystic onyxes since they've got an extra toe on one foot, but Big Boy and the other pullet don't.

Gah, so close. Thought maybe I figured Big Boy out and that he was a marans, but he doesn't look like the male's either. My poultry friend (the one I ordered for this year) is convinced he's a Jersey Giant, but he's the wrong colors for that

I agree he's the wrong color for a Jersey Giant.

Mystic Onyx seem to be some kind of a mixed breed, so if some can have extra toes on one foot, then probably some can have extra toes on no feet. I'm guessing he's a Mystic Onyx.

Edit to add: Hoover's website shows a photo of two Mystic Onyx chicks, one with extra toes and one with the normal 4 per foot.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I agree he's the wrong color for a Jersey Giant.

Mystic Onyx seem to be some kind of a mixed breed, so if some can have extra toes on one foot, then probably some can have extra toes on no feet. I'm guessing he's a Mystic Onyx.

Edit to add: Hoover's website shows a photo of two Mystic Onyx chicks, one with extra toes and one with the normal 4 per foot.

He's just got the wrong shape too for the males. The picture of the male i saw was more Game looking than Big Boy.

I dunno, he was totally worth the mustery, but it kills me that I don't know for certain what to get next year for more like him. Planning to breed him to the pullets I got from his bin next year to try and get more giants

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I should have gotten pictures but my friend came to pick up the cull pullets rmtoday and I was rather startled by the appearance of one of my birds.

Story goes that I was grabbing the pullets my friend was taking when our of the corner of my eye I notice that the entire side of a sebrights head is crimson.

My heart drops as I immediately think she lost her eye or skinned herself, something awful for her and me.

She's calm as I pick her up, something she's not exactly known for, and I start looking, not seeing anything wrong. Her eye is there, there's no wound, but her whole left side of her head is covered in dried blood and she was fine 5 minutes ago.

Then I see her nail is bleeding. Silly bird had broken a nail and then started scratching her face, smearing blood everywhere.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Processed 2 males this morning. First ones we've ever done 100% of the work on. Did the frizzle male (absolutely gorgeous bird, but the meanest bird I have had In years) and a buff Minorca who stopped walking and started to get beat up. Not sure what happened with him, he looked fine internally but he just wouldn't walk and he didn't want or drink at all yesterday.

On the other hand, we are now wondering if being so large in a certain pair of organs is what was making the frizzle aggressive. He was a week older, and a bantam, but they were at least a time and half bigger than the Minorca if not twice as large

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Update: ate the two males as well tonight. Baked in a crock pot for a few hours with the skins on, then peeled the skin and pulled the meat off as well.

A bit tough and chewy, but certainly no where near what I was afraid. If we had processed tomorrow, the birds would have been exactly 20 weeks (Minorca) and 21 weeks (Frizzle). Took us roughly 2.5 hours to get both birds processed from setting up to them going in the cold water inside, not bad at all considering we knew barely enough to do it ourselves and it took about 40 minutes to get the water to temperature the first time.

Had a difficult time with the frizzle. We cut the the bone, so he neck was broken, but it wasn't clean like the other male, so that was rough until I remembered that we had a quail that acted similar when it was doing the spasms and we knew that it wasn't alive anymore.

Fully ready to do the next ones (Atlas, my NN male i bought last year) and likely my other Minorca.