Best place/way to buy chicks

[The Sniper]

For quite a while now my nearby Rural King has been selling almost all their chicks for the low low price of only $2.01.
They are all marked as $4.99, but over that marked $2.01 and they no longer have limits as to how many chickies you can buy at once. Rural King sources chicks from Hoover Hatcheries, who sells chicks for a base price of $3.69 currently
Also all their chicks seem to be partly feathered, which just means they are more likely to survive without any issues.
If anybody knows another cheaper way I would love to know, as would probably anybody else who wants to expand their flocks.

 

[500Chickens]

I buy from hoovers hatchery

 

[BigBlueHen53]

When buying at RK or similar feed stores, it's hard to know what gender you're getting. We prefer to order from a hatchery. For years we've gotten mail-order chicks with few disasters and the hatcheries always made good on those. One year a freak blizzard blew in while the chicks were in transit, with no survivors; the hatchery replaced the entire order at no cost.

This year I carelessly ordered chicks to arrive in mid-July and realized too late that I'd set myself up for another disaster. Fortunately I'd ordered from a hatchery in state, so my GC and I drove up to the hatchery and picked them up. All 21 are doing fine!

One advantage of ordering from a hatchery is that they have trained professionals who can vent-sex the babies. It's not 100% guaranteed accurate, but at 80- 90% it's a lot better than hoping for the best at a feed store! I've always gotten what I ordered from a hatchery.

Another option is buying from a breeder, but ... do your homework.

 

[The Sniper]

But still it doesnt beat $2. You would pay more for sexed males from Hoover or Cackle or Murray, and even rare breeds are $2
Any roosters is just a $2 sunday dinner to me, and I can always count on them surviving transport because I transport them myself. the RK is actually 45 miles from home but the next best is a TSC 11 miles away with $5 straight runs.
Also Ive learned many chicks can be sexed without professionals or vents, as many have distinctive patterns from the moment they hatch, not all, and not 100% accurate, but I got 11/12 females from RK using that method

 

[Altairsky]

If a cheap price is what matters the most for you, then go for it.
To me, price matters zero. I only buy from private breeders that I meet at bird exhibitions. I drive up to 200 miles to go to their location and buy fertile eggs. I never buy chicks or larger birds anyway because I'm too lazy to do all the quarantine shenanigans.

 

[PoppasGrill]

We get quite a few from RK. Our lady does a good job at getting pullets for us, 85%<>, I think of the last 40 we got 2 cockerel, a couple more before that.
We incubated and hatched 15 of our own and got 5 cockerels out of the clutch.
We’ve never gotten directly from a hatchery.

 

[Sally PB]

Another option is buying from a breeder, but ... do your homework.

Absolutely do your homework. Some are good, honest, and do the best they can to ensure healthy birds and happy customers. Others are less so.

 

[nuthatched]

There is a quality issue that needs to be addressed. Hoovers birds aren't great.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

But still it doesnt beat $2. You would pay more for sexed males from Hoover or Cackle or Murray, and even rare breeds are $2
Any roosters is just a $2 sunday dinner to me, and I can always count on them surviving transport because I transport them myself. the RK is actually 45 miles from home but the next best is a TSC 11 miles away with $5 straight runs.
Also Ive learned many chicks can be sexed without professionals or vents, as many have distinctive patterns from the moment they hatch, not all, and not 100% accurate, but I got 11/12 females from RK using that method

I mean if you're looking for cheap, you can set an incubator and be churning out chicks like nobody's business, supplied by your own hens. Most chicks are not going to be feather sexable, unless you purposefully choose those breeds and those traits, but yes some breeds like barred ply rocks, CCL and sex links are easy to identify without vent sexing Most chicks you're getting from feedstores are coming from hatcheries anyway, so unless they ordered straight run, typically you start with about ~80% pullets when selecting at a feedstore.

 

[PoppasGrill]

If a cheap price is what matters the most for you, then go for it.
To me, price matters zero. I only buy from private breeders that I meet at bird exhibitions. I drive up to 200 miles to go to their location and buy fertile eggs. I never buy chicks or larger birds anyway because I'm too lazy to do all the quarantine shenanigans.

Are you buying specialty birds or just laying hens for production?
We’ve gotten a few special breeds from RK ( white faced Spanish ) and some cross production breeds ( Red Star) but usually get straight production breeds ( Leghorns, RIR, Brahma, Americauna).
We’ve had a few batches we purchased where we got 3 different breeds (5 of each) and 3 of one breed died within a week for no apparent reason while the other chicks thrived in the same brooder. When asked at the store, no one reported having an issue with that breed or that batch.