Anyone heard of or used Hoover's Hatchery in IA???

[Nuggetsowner:)]

I am from southern MN and am thinking of ordering 15 more laying hens. I want a variety and have particular breeds in mind. I was hoping to order from somewhere fairly close that may even let me pick them up. Hoovers Hatchery is about a 2 hr drive. Of all the hatcheries that I have researched this one looks to be the small mom and pop kind of place I would like to support. Has anyone else heard of it or ever gotten chicks from them. Thanks in advance for any help and information. If anyone else would like to check out their website it is...

www.hoovershatchery.com

 

[MNKris]

We buy our Cornish Xs from there every year - very good.

We have also bought the gold stars and the easter eggers from them.

The gold stars laid well, but were not nearly as friendly and seemed to have a lower livability than the red stars from McMurrays. We lost several of the gold stars as young adults, we lost no red stars.

The easter eggers were a great color assortment, but we ended up with 2 roos out of 11 pullets ordered. There is also issues with crooked toes in them. They lay great though. And, they are about a $1/bird cheaper.

Prices are very reasonable, but you may get what you pay for on some of the layer types. Hoovers pickup day is Thursday and the people are very nice there. We actually have our chicks shipped up to us. We get about 100 or so broilers. I am also thinking about ordering some of their white rocks and black australorps. If you can wait until March, they hand deliver to many feed stores so there is no postage. It's a service they provide. You get day old chicks delivered within minutes of your home. You can call them to see if they deliver in your area. I know they come up to our area north of the cities twice a month. It's a great deal!

We are picking up an order from McMurray in two weeks. They have also been great to deal with and are fairly close. Although they are a bigger hatchery, they are also small town and started from very humble beginnings.