chicks received in "surplus" order

[afarhat8]

you know how most hatcheries have a special discounted price for what they usually call surplus or leftover chicks? i've never ordered a batch, because i figured that's how the hatchery unloads its male leghorn chicks. some hatchery catalogues even state there will be mostly males in the batch. i'm curious as to what breeds of chicks were received by anyone who has purchased one of these specials. i'd be especially interested in the breeds and sex of chicks purchased from murray mcmurry, my favorite hatchery. their write-up for the "special assorted bargain" states that they are all straight run chicks, and that this may contain the most varied breeds of any assortment offered. so if you have ordered one of these special bargains from mm or any other hatchery, what did you get? thanks.

 

[Kelsie2290]

you know how most hatcheries have a special discounted price for what they usually call surplus or leftover chicks? i've never ordered a batch, because i figured that's how the hatchery unloads its male leghorn chicks. some hatchery catalogues even state there will be mostly males in the batch. i'm curious as to what breeds of chicks were received by anyone who has purchased one of these specials. i'd be especially interested in the breeds and sex of chicks purchased from murray mcmurry, my favorite hatchery. their write-up for the "special assorted bargain" states that they are all straight run chicks, and that this may contain the most varied breeds of any assortment offered. so if you have ordered one of these special bargains from mm or any other hatchery, what did you get? thanks.

I've ordered that assortment from MCM twice, once last year and once this year.
Last year I ordered 25 the end of May, they sent 26, all chicks survived, they turned out to be:
Cochin, Black (1M/1F), Cochin, Silver Laced (1M/1F), Langshan, Black (2M), BBOEG (3M/1F), EEs (2M/1F, Hamburg, Spangled (1M), Langshan, White (1F), Cochin, Blue (1F), Maran, Cuckoo (1M), Rock, White (1M/1F), Cornish, Light (1F), Leghorn, Brown (2M/1F), BLRW (3F- all 3 were splash) I think that adds up to 26. I was impressed with the # of different breeds and the sex ratio was pretty good also.
This year I ordered 15, they sent 16, they came last week. I can't tell what they are yet. But there are 8 feather-legged ones, look to be at least 3 different colors of Cochins, and I think two are Black Langshans, also a White Giant, Sumatra, EE, two solid buff chicks that are probably either Minorcas, Rocks or Orps, and three chicks that are brown with stripes that could be a lot of things.

 

[afarhat8]

thank you for taking the time to respond to my question, it's greatly appreciated.

i'm glad to see that you got such a varied group of chicks. my concern was that a
hatchery used this type of grouping to dump their light-weight male chicks, and
it's nice to know that that's not the case.

thanks again.

 

[Tomtommom]

That's a really nice assortment, Kelsie! Those boys should sell pretty quick on Craigslist, should you want to part with them

3F BLRW, that's awesome.

 

[redsoxs]

I can't speak to hatcheries but I have purchased the "fry pan special" at my local farm and ranch store before and the assortment is always EE's, RIRs, and Barred Rocks.