Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

Quote:
Try www.mypetchicken.com. Their minimum order for our area is 3. And

 

[chicken danz]

There's lots of us out here. I'm not sure how many live close to Wichita. There's several swap meets around. Ideal hatchery allows a minimum order as long as it totals $25. Cackle hatchery allows a minimum of 15 chicks. I think most of the others require more. But when you consider the added charges for a small order that adds up to a lot of money for a few chicks. ( I would recommend Cackle hatchery over Ideal. They seem to have better quality chicks and most can be ordered in multiples of 5 per kind.)
If you are willing to make a drive there's quite a concentration of people that raise chicks north of you. I hatch a lot but not the kinds you are looking for. I'd go with Craigslist and see what I could find. There doesn't seem to be many chickens on the Wichita list so you might check the surrounding areas outside of Wichita.
All in all if I were in your shoes I'd probably order what you need from one of the hatcheries if you don't find some really close. It could come down to paying for gas or paying shipping. Hatcheries offer specials nearly every week this time of year. You could probably order 25 chicks as cheaply as a smaller order and then sell some to a friend or put them on Craigslist to sell. Remember there is almost always a 10% loss or so from shipping stress.

 

[Nana2KJS]

Quick note from the resident postal employee:

While we are still getting shipments once in awhile , it's awfully hot for shipping baby chicks. Might be better for the chicks to spend the gas money. Plus meeting people on the forum is a great deal of fun.

 

[Fat Daddy]

You may want to really consider a incubator. Its easy to hatch eggs, and you can get just what you want from anywhere in the country. I have hatched quail from Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida just to name a few. You get the exact birds you want and no chance of draggin home syphlis monkey pox from dirty barn yard avian...

Bill

 

[Nana2KJS]

Quote:
That, too. We have 3 week old babies running around in "their" nursery pen. We got eggs from a fellow sunshine/consolidated Kansan. 5 hatched out of 6 in a little Brinsea incubator. My grandsons love to watch them hatch. Have to admit I sat there and watched the whole thing, too.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay, too hot to ship chicks right now... well, that's probably okay since I don't even have a coop! I hope to have it finished in August or September? Maybe by then (sept) it will be cooler and better to ship? I'll keep an eye on CraigsList, too. I don't want any roosters.. well, maybe one, if he were really nice and didn't chase me.

I didn't think about having a loss on shipped chicks- so I guess I could go ahead and order a few more and then perhaps still have my ideal number met if a few died. That sounds really sad, though. Nana2KJS- I saw your coop in your profile picture and it is ADORABLE!! I'm wanting something like that. Something really cute and charming... however, I also really love the look of the "Wichita Cabin Coop" types, too. Those seem REALLY practical. I've been compiling a list of ideas from everyone's coops and trying to write down everything that seems like it would make my life easier. I'm wanting to maybe do something similar to the "Mid Life Crisis" Coop. (but that might be a lOT more work than I really need) Thank you all so much for the hatchery names- I'm going to go browse thru them and see what I can get and if it might be worth it to order a few more than the 8 I was planning on.

Okay- going to see if I can post pictures, now... This is my baby turkey that someone dumped.
Nope, it wouldn't let me put in a picture... that or I just don't know how to do it. I tried to paste the HTML code in, and then I tried just the <img> and then the link with </img> Frustrating!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12186506@N03/5860190068/ I wonder if this link will work. It's just a picture of my turkey. I was checking to see if I could figure out how to post pictures.

How do I find out about the swap meets? Are they listed in the paper or something? My local CoOp used to have them years ago, but now they don't.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
To post pics, click on "uploads" in the blue bar near the top of this page. Select your picture and upload it. Once that is done, BYC will generate a URL for the pic and you can paste that into your post.

I didn't think about having a loss on shipped chicks- so I guess I could go ahead and order a few more and then perhaps still have my ideal number met if a few died. That sounds really sad, though.

Don't count on having losses. I've received several shipments and never lost a single chick.​

 

[chicken danz]

I'm not saying you will always have losses but all the hatcheries count on at least a 10% loss, particularly in less than optimal weather conditions. It's a given that shipped chicks will almost always get pasty butt. There's also just plain 'failure to thrive' which no one can do anything about. They are simply weak chicks that don't make it. (survival of the fittest, so to speak)
Hawkeye95 is some one who doesn't get chicks every day and on going experience makes a huge difference. I remember when I started out after not raising chicks for 35 years. Oh my! And I thought I knew it all.
The one piece of advice I can give Hawkeye95 is that whatever you decide to build for a coop, make it larger than what you think you will need. Once you get the chicken fever you will probably need more room. Plus baby chicks might seem lost in a bigger coop but they grow and grow and grow.

 

[ByN8ureHomstead]

Quote:
Sometime I see swap meets posted in CL

You almost had it. Use [ i m g ] photo url [ / i m g ] just remove the spaces. if you click on quote you should be able to see how I did it.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Okay, I've been looking at the mypetchicken.com site and it is fabulous! They have everything i want, and no minimums on how many of each bird I can get! So excited! Thank you for recommending them! Okay, question about them, though. They sell 'vaccinated' birds and 'unvaccinated' and they want a dollar extra for each bird to do it. Is this something I can do myself and save myself an extra dollar a chick? Is this actually a shot? I have already bought a package of electrolytes and the antibiotic stuff everyone was talking about on another thread. (just being sure I'm prepared). I could also buy the medicated feed? Is this the same thing, or not? I really loved the look of the Barred Rocks, Dominique, Silver Laced Wyandotte and of course, going to get a couple White Crested black polish. All of them (except for the polish) say they are cold hearty and do well.

ETA: oh! ByNatureFarms- thank you for explaining what I did wrong for posting the picture. It looks like i just used the wrong <> instead of using the correct [ ]. You're right, I was so close! I write HTML all the time and it's a habit.