Does anyone have suggestions on where to get rare breeds?

[Meri Maura]

I was wondering if there was a reliable online hatchery that can send one each of a hand full of rare breeds like polish, blue red wyandotte, marans, and salmon faverolles? I was thinking about getting maybe three sent to Texas?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Greenfire Farms is good, but expensive

 

[NatJ]

Try Meyer http://meyerhatchery.com/
Or My Pet Chicken

(I have never ordered from either of them, but I've looked at their websites and their minimum order amounts.)

Cackle will ship as few as three at some times of the year, but you need to order at least 3 of each breed if you want pullets.

McMurray lets you order one of these and one of those, but requires a minimum order of 6 or 15, depending on the season.

Ideal lets you order one of these and one of those, but the minimum order is $30 of chicks. Last time I checked, that worked out to 7 bantam chicks (they're among the most expensive), or more chicks if you get cheaper kinds.

(I have ordered from all 3 of those, and been satisfied each time, but their minimums appear higher than you want.)

 

[NatJ]

I just took another look at Cackle's website, and this might be right for you:
https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/city-town-female-special-3/

Exactly 3 pullets, pick three breeds from the lists.
It has Salmon Faverolles of the specific breeds you named, and some other semi-rare breeds, but not the specific other breeds are on your list.

The shipping cost tends to be pretty high when you want to order just a few chicks. With more chicks, they can keep each other warm in the box, but just a few can require special packaging, heat packs, and sometimes different shipping services.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Those aren't exactly rare breeds. Most of the major hatcheries have those.

 

[CinnaBun]

Ideal is in Texas and has those breeds.

 

[Meri Maura]

Ideal is in Texas and has those breeds.

Nah they're VERY untrustworthy for me after mixing male and female EEs and selling them as Ameraucanas, mixing JGs and Australorps, mixing WhitE Rock males and females.

 

[Meri Maura]

I'm never ordering from them again, and their selection isn't that great for me. (I am an unofficial chick collector) but thank you for the help!

 

[CinnaBun]

Yikes! I won’t order from them either!

 

[NatJ]

Nah they're VERY untrustworthy for me after mixing male and female EEs and selling them as Ameraucanas, mixing JGs and Australorps, mixing WhitE Rock males and females.

That's interesting, because I've ordered from Ideal several times, and I haven't had that trouble. I've ordered more than 100 sexed chicks from them over the years, and I've only had two mis-sexed birds: one cockerel when I ordered a pullet, and one pullet when I ordered a cockerel.

When you mention "mixing" breeds or genders, I'm not sure if you mean they sent the wrong birds, or just put them together in the box so you could not tell which was which. I've ordered from three different hatcheries, and they all put breeds together in the box without marking them, so I have assumed that's normal. I just have to sort them out as they grow.

I have never received completely wrong breeds in my orders. A few times I have received extra of one breed, and less of another. But since I always included a note that they could substitute with any of the breeds I ordered if they need to, I don't consider that to be much of an issue.

They do not have "Ameraucanas" on their website now--they are calling them Easter Eggers So when I ordered Easter Eggers, I got what I expected.

I guess we just had different experiences when dealing with the same hatchery