Any Recommendations for a Hatchery???

[mtnhomechick]

I am going to order 25 or so meat birds and try it. I live in AR. and am wondering if anyone can make a hatchery recommendation for price, quality, customer service etc.


Thanks

 

[perfectly_polish]

If your going to get cornish crosses I suggest cackle hatchery but if you want freedom rangers J.M hatchery has a great selection for those. Good luck!

 

[mtnhomechick]

Which are better? Or easier for a rookie?

 

[mtnhomechick]

Quote:
Chickens...I mean.......sorry. I got a good batch of rir's from Cackle but the customer experience left a lot to be desired.

 

[mtnhomechick]

Do the rangers HAVE to free range?

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
For a rookie well I'm kind of a rookie too. But it depends on you. The cornish grow very fast, they don't need as much room, eat a lot more, they can develope leg problems and shouldn't get to hot. The freedom rangers grow slowers, won't be as big for processing, need more room, but don't eat as much. I have a selection of both, to see what we like better. But we did process a few 9 week old cornish a few days ago and they are HUGE!

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
They don't have to, but it's better for them, and they need a lot more room then the cornish crosses do.

 

[mtnhomechick]

It's gotta be cornish then. I only have pen space.....can't free range them. Where did you order from?

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
I got 50 cornish crosses from cackle hatchery for only $56 plus shipping. They do have min. orders as low as 15 though.

 

[mtnhomechick]

Do you have any pics of your coop/pen/tractor? Looks to me from some tractor pics on here that they don't need nearly as much space as layers. What do you feed them? Sorry for all the questions