Bonus Mystery Chicks

[Iluveggers]

McMurray hatchery, male, Bielefelder (a few years ago)
McMurray hatchery, male, White Crested Black Polish (a few decades ago)

Two more great breeds!

I completely forgot answer the actual question. I have had packing peanuts that were all Rhode island red males and a freebie barred rock pullet. Time of year will probably be the biggest indicator of potential freebies, some breeds lay much better in winter than others for example.

Packing peanuts are all males, right? Awesome that your freebie was a pullet! One of my barred rocks is my current favorite (but don’t tell the other girls!)

 

[3KillerBs]

Packing peanuts are all males, right?

They're usually supposed to be, but someones people might get an "oops" pullet -- just like "oops" cockerels in pullet orders. The 90% sexing accuracy thing.

 

[pony007]

Meyer hatchery's free chicken is refered to as a "Meal Maker", and usually if you are ordering pullets, it will be a pullet. I've ordered 3 times and have gotten, a barred rock, an Olive egger, and a Cream Legbar, all 3 pullets or course. The three ended up being my flock favorites.

 

[Iluveggers]

Meyer hatchery's free chicken is refered to as a "Meal Maker", and usually if you are ordering pullets, it will be a pullet. I've ordered 3 times and have gotten, a barred rock, an Olive egger, and a Cream Legbar, all 3 pullets or course. The three ended up being my flock favorites.

That’s awesome!

 

[NatJ]

Packing peanuts are all males, right?

Ideal Poultry has a policy of adding male chicks to small orders ("packing peanuts") rather than heat packs, unless you specifically request otherwise (you have to pay extra if you want a heat pack.) These are pretty reliably male, although of course they could mis-sex one.

Many other hatcheries require that you order a certain number of chicks, and they have boxes just the right size for that many chicks, so those hatcheries do not add extras as "packing peanuts."

It's common for many hatcheries that if you order 25 of one kind, they ship 26 (so if one dies in shipping, you still have the 25 you paid for.) If you order one each of many breeds, they typically do not add an extra of any of the breeds. For numbers in between, I've seen plenty of variation, both from one hatchery to another and sometimes between orders from the same hatchery.

 

[Iluveggers]

Ideal Poultry has a policy of adding male chicks to small orders ("packing peanuts") rather than heat packs, unless you specifically request otherwise (you have to pay extra if you want a heat pack.) These are pretty reliably male, although of course they could mis-sex one.

Many other hatcheries require that you order a certain number of chicks, and they have boxes just the right size for that many chicks, so those hatcheries do not add extras as "packing peanuts."

It's common for many hatcheries that if you order 25 of one kind, they ship 26 (so if one dies in shipping, you still have the 25 you paid for.) If you order one each of many breeds, they typically do not add an extra of any of the breeds. For numbers in between, I've seen plenty of variation, both from one hatchery to another and sometimes between orders from the same hatchery.

Probably depends on if there were any extras of any breeds? I am so flipping excited for my order this year!

 

[NatJ]

Probably depends on if there were any extras of any breeds?

Yes, it probably is partly that.
But extras also go into assortments, so they have to allow for how many of those are ordered too.

They probably do something like:
Barred Rocks hatch
pack straight-run Barred Rock chicks
sex remaining chicks, pack Barred Rock pullets and cockerels
pack assortments of Brown Egg Layers
pack assortments of any-color egg layers
pack assortments of any-chicks-at-all
So they have to allow enough chicks for all steps in the process

Actually, they probably start by counting the chicks, so if they run short they can check what customers allow substitutions and what ones don't, and hopefully keep everyone happy. I assume they have a computer doing a lot of the checking and deciding, so the people actually packing the chicks are just given a list for each box and don't have to stop and figure out some of the other details.

 

[CoconutCoffee]

I've only done it once with my first flock. I received a barred rock pullet from Meyer. She was actually the first one to start laying but passed away shortly after which sucked. It's been a while since that order but I believe they try to get it to be the same type that you order. So they'd add a male if you ordered a BBQ special or whatever but a pullet if you order all pullets.

 

[LukeyLux]

Got a mystery chick from McMurray Hatchery last year, ended up being a Houdan roo!

 

[Capricoco]

C

$62 for 5 feather footed Bantam assortment from Cackle. I will look at Ideal and Mt. Healthy
View attachment 2955180

Cackle is just kind of expensive I’ve noticed, but they’ve got some really high quality birds and they’ve always provided some of the healthiest chicks. I’m getting a really large order from them this July.