Disappointed with hatcheries

[Cafediem]

Twice we bought from a hatchery and twice we got some roosters together with some hens.

Why?

 

[roosters4sale]

Its hard sometimes to sex the animals especially if they are smaller chickens.

 

[txcarl1258]

How many roos did you get with each order? Most hatcheries have a guarantee that if you get more than X number of roos in lets say an order of 25 then they will refund you the cost of the chicks. Most hatcheries say that you might get some roos with each pullet order.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Did you order just sexed pullets or straight run? Either way, it's always a good idea to have a Plan B for any unwanted roos that result. Hatcheries generally guarantee 90% accuracy in their sexing, so there's always a chance for an error. If you're ordering straight run you have a 50-50 chance each chick will be a roo.

Or did they just add extra chicks to your order that happened to be roos? Often they'll do that to get rid of extra roo chicks, and/or to add warmth & padding.

The only ways to guarantee you'll only get pullet chicks is to order a sex-linked breed or buy older chicks. I wish you the best of success with the birds you have!

 

[Illia]

There's always going to be the chance of having a mis-sexed chick. Also, some hatcheries will even tell you that they added a couple roosters in there as "warmers" or "packing peanuts" to keep the rest warm.

 

[Lbrad7]

Quote:
Very true, and those "warmers" or "packing peanuts" drive me nuts!!! I like roos, but you can very quickly have too much of a good thing.

 

[prov31gal]

i love packing peanuts. im always glad when i get them, there usually just a plain old heavy breed or production roo. nothing special, but thats good! because we eat them! and id rather eat a leghorn than a mottled houdan!