Buying new chicks/eggs

[BSharwood]

Why not get older birds? That way you know for sure, and honestly the extra cost is money you'd pay for their feed anyway.

That’s true but I like to raise them from young as possible to get them used to me

 

[Jraba1315]

it looks like he doesn’t have anything right now

He will start having chicks again February or march

 

[Feathered_Texans]

I have used ideal poultry before and I was very pleased with the chicks I ordered. I compared their prices to Murray Mcmurray and Ideal poultry was cheaper. Also, they do not have a minimum amount you have to buy of each breed.

 

[aliciaplus3]

You could always hatch some?

 

[Rooapalooza]

That’s true but I like to raise them from young as possible to get them used to me

Fair enough. I've had good luck with craigslist for chicks, but they are always straight runs. Ironically of the chicks I've hatched (8) or gotten from craigslist (6), I've only had 1 rooster. The supposed pullets from Tractor Supply have been at best 60/40. You could always check craigslist to see if anyone has sex-links in your area.

 

[Rose Quartz]

it looks like he doesn’t have anything right now

You're going to have a hard time getting chicks this time of year. If I remember correctly shipping season on live chicks is March to October. I'm not sure on that, it's been a while since I looked it up. Have you tried looking at local?

 

[aart]

But I want to make sure I’m getting pullets because tractor supply hasn’t been the greatest at sexing.

To be fair, and so you know, TSC doesn't sex the chicks, the hatcheries do and most only 'guarantee' 90% accuracy.

Definitely not chick season up here, so you may have to wait.

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[cmom]

To be fair, and so you know, TSC doesn't sex the chicks, the hatcheries do and most only 'guarantee' 90% accuracy.

Definitely not chick season up here, so you may have to wait.

Welcome to BYC! @BSharwood
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Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
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View attachment 1991743

True. I have used different hatcheries and have had good luck with all that I have dealt with. I have not bought hatchery chicks in many years. I hatch my own. The last time I did buy chicks I got a completely different breed than I wanted, I was after Brown Leghorns and ended up with Partridge Rocks. I finally found a breeder and got the Brown Leghorns and sold the Partridge Rocks. I am also curious where you live. If you are looking for hatchery chicks I would look for a hatchery close to you. Most hatcheries that do ship chicks usually have warming pads in the boxes this time of year. Good luck and have fun...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I've only bought from a few different hatcheries, Cackle, Meyer, and Ideal, so I certainly can't compare them all. But from what I've seen the best is the one that has what you want when you want it. I just don't see that much difference between them. There were minor differences in the same breeds, but those were more in appearance than productivity.

I don't know where you are located but another consideration would be what route they take getting to you, if you can figure that out. The longer it takes to ship them and the more stops along the way the more chances you have of something going wrong, especially this time of the year. You don't want them delayed a day or two because of a blizzard. I've gotten chicks in winter a couple of times and they were fine but the risk is higher in winter. So you might look for a hatchery fairly close to you. One you can drive to and pick them up would be fabulous. and void shipping on a holiday weekend. Many horror stories about shipped chickens center on holiday weekends.

Since you want sexed chicks your best bet is to buy from an established hatchery. Some chicks can be sexed at hatch by differences in down color, but these are hybrids, not breeds. The established hatcheries have specially trained people that look inside the vent of the chick to determine if they are male or female. These people may sex tens of thousands of chicks in a day so they are moving pretty fast. And sometimes the difference isn't that obvious so mistakes can be made. That's why most hatcheries only give a 90% guarantee. Often that guarantee is money back or credit on future purchases. Each hatchery can be different there. Most won't even try to sex bantams, they are just too small to get a good look.

You only want females. Some hatcheries will sometimes ship what we call packing peanuts with your order. The reason they have minimum orders is that most hatcheries rely on there being enough chicks in the shipment to keep each other warm. Some will ship fewer chicks and add artificial warmth and charge you accordingly. The hatcheries always hatch a lot more males than they need, so some will occasionally add males to your order to help keep them warm, especially during cold weather. Different hatcheries have different policies but it might be worth it to you to contact them and tell them you do not want packing peanuts.

Feed stores get their chicks from hatcheries, so the hatcheries are the ones sexing them. Some people that work at feed stores and work with the chicks know what they are doing, some don't. That is not just Tractor Supply but Rural King and all the others. Just like every other chain business in the country, some employees are better than others. If 40% of the chicks you are getting from that specific Tractor Supply are males then either someone there messed up on labeling or sorting the chicks when they arrived or you read the labels wrong. 10% is to be expected, 40% is someone's mistake.

 

[Rooapalooza]

Yes for sure it's a mistake at the store level! I don't like to give any service industry employees a hard time, it isn't their fault if they aren't trained. I have seen them mixing together straight runs and pullets before though. I've seen unlabeled or mislabeled bins, and when I've asked I'll get different answers from each employee. This is a problem at almost every retail location. I went to a local reputable farm store to buy quail and was told there was no way to sex them (these were adult Coturnix, very easy to tell just by looking). It's frustrating. Sometimes I see something dangerous for the animal, such as no water, heat or food, or incorrect placement of the cage/barrel, and then I feel like it's everyone's responsibility to say something.

PS If you are located in the south, this is actually a pretty good time to order. However, I'd still say buy two/three slightly older pullets from someone in your area, then get chicks later. You could get silkies or another sweet, motherly bird, now, and then let them hatch/raise chicks for you later... I bought two 4 month old silkies and they bonded with me just fine.

PPS To be fair to TSC, I once bought four pullets from them, which were obviously boys at around 3 weeks old (red combs, wattles, etc). They gave me four more pullets for free when I told them. It still would have been a huge pain in the butt to rehome four roosters (I already had 2), but then I had a massive fox attack that got all but 1 hen.