Best hatchery to order from with a minimum 3 chick order?

[bruceha2000]

The problem with adding extra chicks, always the less desirable gender of course, is that some people live where they can NOT have roosters. And they don't have space for more chickens than they ordered. The city I used to live in has a 5 bird maximum, NO roosters. And not everyone is willing to eat the "packing peanuts" when they start to crow, or are able to find someone who will take them for whatever purpose.

 

[Quackems]

The problem with adding extra chicks, always the less desirable gender of course, is that some people live where they can NOT have roosters. And they don't have space for more chickens than they ordered. The city I used to live in has a 5 bird maximum, NO roosters. And not everyone is willing to eat the "packing peanuts" when they start to crow, or are able to find someone who will take them for whatever purpose.

Yes, here lies the darker side of any agricultural industry. The male chicks are synonymous with male dairy calves ... Both are sadly disposable at infancy due to their uselessness within their industries. Perhaps individuals will begin to change this phenomenon over time by creating a purpose for the male babies of these industries in the future. I understand that most people who raise backyard chickens and ducks for either eggs, meat or companionship cannot feel good about what actually happens to male chicks and ducklings at large scale hatcheries on hatching day.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Alright enough chit-chat about major hatchiers

Anyone try Chickens For Backyards?Shipling is crazy, but they have silkies and Sebrights and much more, min chick order is only 3, And I hear they are REALLY good.

 

[~KH~]

Anyone try Chickens For Backyards?Shipling is crazy, but they have silkies and Sebrights and much more, min chick order is only 3, And I hear they are REALLY good.

I ordered from them a few years ago and was happy - ordered 4, all 4 survived, although one had to be nursed back to health. But they aren't a hatchery - from the tracking info I received, I think mine came from Cackle.

 

[bruceha2000]

Seems @KH is right. Even though their site says they are a hatchery:

Q. What hatchery do you get your chicks from?

A. We work with several well-known hatcheries that are National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) certfiied.

(their misspelling, not mine!)

I'm sure Cackle would be one of them since they are only 11 miles distant by road.

 

[flipflops]

I just wanted to update you guys. I got 3 from Meyers and they are 5 days old now. All happy and healthy!

 

[chickenE]

Awesome!!!

 

[abbydmac]

What did you get?!

 

[bruceha2000]

Congratulations @flipflops !! Now you get to watch how fast they change! In a couple of days they will be able to hop up to something a foot high. In another week they can fly to something 2' high. Hope the sides of your brooder are high enough!

Time to plug the better way of brooding chicks, for anyone who comes upon this thread to help decide where to order their chicks:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

You can put this out in the coop any time though some like to have the chicks in the house for a couple of days because:

1. they are CUTE!
2. you can keep an eye on them to make sure everyone is eating, drinking, not getting pasty butt.

There are nearly 10K posts and obviously one won't/can't read them all! But read the first few pages first to get an idea of how and why this works. One thing that @Blooie would do if she could (can't edit really old posts) would be to specify that the heating pad is best attached UNDER the support so the chicks can get their backs right up against it.

There isn't just one way to make the support, read through and see examples of what may be easiest for you to make, especially if you happen to have "stuff" on hand.

The one caveat that you should really pay attention to is:
Ensure that the chicks can't get between the pad and the support. There have been unfortunate incidents. The chicks can squirm in forwards but aren't so good at backing out.

WHY do this??

1. It is far more natural than a heat lamp. 24x7 light is NOT normal, confuses the chicks as to when they should be awake and asleep. That is one reason chicks under a heat lamp are noisy.
2. They can come and go to the heat source as they would with a mama hen. Being too hot or too cold is another reason chicks under a heat lamp are noisy.
3. These chicks (June '15) spent their first 2 nights in our bedroom with a MHP in a box. Never heard a thing from them at night and they chattered during the day, no all day long "I'm annoyed" peeping.
   
4. Chicks ABSOLUTELY do NOT need 24x7 ambient temp of 95°F the first week, 90°F the next week etc. These 4 day old chicks are in the brooder area of the coop with a brooding hen. The night time temps were in the 60s, daytime in the 70s. Here they are 8 days old, Zorra has them out in the run in the same temps
5. These are the April '17 chicks at 4 weeks old. They had their MHP for 3 weeks before Zorra decided she wanted to "mother" them. It was 65°F this day and as you can see, these three are slower maturing than the others. Not what one would call fully feathered! Trouble (left) was clearly a cockerel at 3 weeks, his Barnevelder "sister" Trill on the right. The 7 chicks found the alpacas' "always open" door at about 2 weeks and went out quite often. Here they are outside at 4 weeks, 65F with no "heat source" to run under.

 

[jeria]

I ordered 4 chicks from MyPetChicken, they are all doing wonderfully-- the shipping was like $50.00 Backyard chickens does have cheaper shipping, found them later. MY PET min. is 3. Mine arrived safe and happy though hungry and thirsty they chowed down the first 24 hours. I did put nutra drench in their water. Had a bit of possibly pasty butt or simply poop stuck to down the first few days: added some grit and some organic apple cider vinegar to their water and have had no issues since. I would have purchased them locally but no had any sexed chickens in my area and driving to Cackle or Estes would have cost more than the shipping and used up at least a day of my time.