Ahhh, the beauty of hatchery chicks!

[BlossomSilkies]

My EEs, RIR, BR, SLW, Silkie and BO are all from the feed store, who get their chicks from Ideal Hatchery.

 

[BlossomSilkies]

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Yes, very pretty.

 

[Duramaxgirl]

Well I love both! I ordered from hoovers hatchery this year and they where great! Cheap prices healthy birds and very helpful. And I've purchased breeder birds to. It all depends on what each person wants. I've ordered from mcmurray before also. I will agree that shipped eggs are a huge gamble! I purchased 11 SQ SLW eggs... only 4 hatched in my big GQFs and 2 have straight combs! Aarrgh oh I took the risk!

 

[theoldchick]

Actually, my husband purchased my group as gift for me. And though I wanted to take my time to select my stock, go meet local breeders and so forth, I did like the fact the hatchery chicks were sexed and vaccinated. They arrived on time, healthy ( no defects), and all survived! I did have one chick separated and shoved in the corner of the box, and she had 'cardboard burns' on her back and neck. Once her feet hit the brooder floor she never looked back, and I named her Cardboard Chicken. She is a sweet girl who likes to hop in my lap, look me in the eye, and talk softly.

 

[CarolJ]

I wonder why hatcheries don't deal with true Araucanas and Ameraucanas. Except for those breeds, I can get all I want from a hatchery.

 

[cashdl]

I can tell you why they don't deal with true Araucanas. They are incredibly hard to breed. 1 in maybe 10 chicks will be tufted and usually they are the first to die. The lack of tail makes breeding difficult from a balance point of view. Also even in breeding rumpless to rumpless you can get partially tailed birds.

I have been breeding and raising Araucanas for 5 years now and it is a struggle every year to hatch and raise a few good birds to add to the next years breeding program. Now maybe if I didn't care how they turned out or looked, and was only interested in hatching lots of chicks, I could have more to add to my breeding program. But I am seriously interested in the quality of the birds I produce. I only sell my culls, never my best chicks or birds.

The Araucana is a challenge and definately not profitable.


Lanae

 

[HHandbasket]

I know what you mean about araucanas. I can see why hatcheries don't sell araucanas... that makes sense to me now.

What I really don't get about hatcheries in general is why most of them can't call an Easter egger an Easter egger... why do they have to try to sell them as "americanas"?

That aside, because I am very aware that when I order "americanas", I'm really getting EEs, some of the best chooks in my flock are either hatchery EEs or offspring from hatchery EEs.

 

[CarolJ]

Thanks, cashdl. That certainly makes sense. Thanks for explaining it for me. I knew that it wasn't easy to breed Araucanas, but didn't realize it was that difficult.

 

[babyrnlc]

I am quite happy with my hatchery chicks! They turned into some pretty girls! Assorted pullets from Atwoods (from Ideal). 100% girls too!

 

[NYREDS]

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Americanas sold by hatcheries are not the same as the breed Ameraucana-note the spelling difference. The only hatchery catalog I ever get is McMurray & they clearly state their birds are not bred to standard. They, in fact, refer to them as "Easter Egg Chickens". The only place I've ever seen the term "Easter Egger" is here on BYC.