25 is too many for me to start with - what to do?

[Eggs-Actly]

Ok ladies and gents, roos and hens. I need some help clarifying something. I'm a very new newbie - this is my first post - and I am somewhat confused with how many chicks to purchase. This is my first attempt at raising chickens and in doing some research I have noticed that many hatcheries have a minimum buy of 25 chicks.

Also, in reading about the sq ftg these girls/guys need I know I will not have the room for the 250 sq ft run these will require when they get larger. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to keep 25 chicks in the house! (I've already figured out my wife will just LOVE them when she sees them but if she sees 25 I'll be picking her up off the floor

) I also do not want to have so many chickens that my neighbors are calling the chicken police on us.

I don't know anyone around me that would want to split a shipment of chicks so I'm curious to know what others do. I'm in the Daytona Bch area so maybe there's someone on the boards that may want to split? Or maybe there's someone on the board who knows someone down here that I can drive to and pick up a few chicks? I'm really looking to do this for the fertilizer and eggs - no exotics (at this time - but who knows maybe I'll go egg over heels for these little guys).

Any input/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[HeadHen]

Try My Pet Chicken. They ship as few as three.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

There are some hatcheries that sell as few as 3 at a time but then they add on a huge care package price tag. Other than that I would just see if anyone near you has some for sale. Maybe even find a poultry swap meet in your area. I got my first birds from a swap meet and love them. Quality can really vary at a swap though so I just looked for the birds that looked healthy and had nice shiny feathers.

 

[skeeter]

pullets are usally easy to sell,keep what you want and sell the rest on craigs list,25 babies dont take up much room at first so let them get featherd out before you sell

 

[Eggs-Actly]

thank you soooooooooo much for the quick feedback. I'll try petchicken but only after I look for some swaps.

thanks again.

 

[flip9109]

ideal has a min of $20.00 instead of min # of chicks

 

[LynneP]

And why not check your yellow pages and do a local internet search? You might have a breeder nearby and could get chicks newly hatched or pullets well on the way. Mine were less than 12 hours old from a nearby hatchery and all survived.

 

[ashyannehand]

Check with your local co-op if you have one. We have a huge board with trade/sell on farm animals.

Good luck!

 

[kinnip]

I ordered from My Pet Chicken. The care package cost was only about $25. They were very good about communicating and answering questions. It was also nice to get an assortment of breeds. It really helped me figure out what kinds of birds I'd like to raise. Good luck. Oh BTW, you signed on here, so you're already going 'egg over heels' you just don't know it yet.

 

[Suess hens]

Do you have a local feed store that sells baby chicks? You can pick them out yourself that way, and can buy as many or few as you want.