Dark brown egg laying breeds

[Henrietta23]

I have 8 chicks on order (combined with a friend's Murray McMurray order) for delivery in mid April:
2 BO
2 Black Austrolorps
2 Red Sex Links
2 Americanas

I find myself wanting a dark brown egg layer or two so I did the thing on mypetchicken that tells you what breed is for you. McMurray only sells Welsummers and Cuckoo Marans as straight run so I looked at the list for mypetchicken thinking I could order from them and I can, but now I've become obsessed with Barnevelders and I can't find anyone who does small order who has them. Any ideas? I'm in eastern CT. And I'm quickly becoming a chicken-aholic......

 

[AussieSharon]

Try ebay. There was a guy selling them yesterday. He lists quite often and has good feedback
oops sorry, his are hatching eggs

 

[hcammack]

I think ideal sells them and the minimum for Ideal is an order of 20$ or more no chick minimums nice sheep to I want some east fresians for cheese making when I get older.

Thanks
Henry

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
Oh well. It was a thought. If I even suggest a 'bator my DH's head will explode!

 

[hcammack]

Oh and Meyer hatchery sells all of those breeds sexed but they dont have barnlavenders and there minimum order is 3 chicks but they charge more for small orders I got my marans from them and I am ordering again in spring.

 

[AussieSharon]

Just do what I did. Bought myself one for my Birthday LOL. Good luck, wish I could be of more help

 

[Buster]

Ideal sells all 3 breeds sexed too. They require a $25 minimum order, but they'll send less than 25 birds. I'm probably going to go through Ideal because they have the breeds and colors that I want.

 

[hcammack]

I am still trying to come up with 7 chicks that equal 25$ does any one want to split an order ? I am in maryland

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
That's looking like the only option right now. I'd have to pay $20 for 2 or three chicks and they'd stick in a bunch of others that would probably all be roos I'd have to find homes for. So here's another thought: if I were to order, say 10 Barnedvelder pullet chicks, would I easily be able to sell some of them when they got older? I don't know many chicken people in the area.

 

[ole-crone]

Ideal offers a dark brown egg layer assortment which I ordered. You get Barnvelders, Cuckoo Marans and Welsummers. I ordered 25 and received exactly 25 (one died the next day).

I'm not too excited with the chicks though. They seemed smaller than normal and not very active. They are 11 weeks old now and two of the marans have yellow legs rather than white and two I suspect are roos. One of the roos doesn't look like any of the above - considering I ordered 25 and received that number, he shouldn't be a 'packing peanut'.

I'll let you know how I like them in a few weeks when they start to lay and how many did turn out to be roos and how many of the marans ended up being Barred Rocks.