favorite hatchery?

[Broodica]

Just received my 2 new ducklings from Metzer. They put Gro-Gel in the box and they arrived safe and sound and not dehydrated. Both seem very healthy and active. 2 day delivery to me in Washington state. Very pleased. Never ordered chicks from them, but will try them. Still very pleased with my chicks from MPC.

 

[MOChickenz]

Marti Poultry has a great selection and all of my chicks arrived alive and healthy both times. Didn't lose a single one except through my own error later.

 

[pookiegoldman]

I like Cackle hatchery

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
As long as they're close. The problem with many small outfits is that they aren't used to shipping. If I had my druthers, I'd prefer to pick up my chicks but there is nothing close that has what I'm looking for and I won't buy chickens from a hobbyist or farmer--hatching eggs yes, birds, no.

Is this because of risk of disease, or some other reason?

 

[UGAchick]

My babies from Ideal just arrived today. It was my first hatchery order, but I am happy and would order from them again. All 25 look excellent and seem to be doing great. Not one seems even a bit lethargic after two days in the mail. I am also happy with the variety in the assortments. I ordered 4 different variety packs, and I got about 10 different breeds/colors.

 

[briteday]

I've gotten chicks from Ideal, Privett, and Townline.

BY FAR!!! the easiest and most efficient operation was Townline. Their staff is pleasant and knowledgeable on the phone. And I got exactly what I ordered (plus extras!), healthy, all alive, packaging material was above average compared to the others, and paperwork/billing was excellent. All of the chicks have grown up to be extremely healthy and productive egglayers, every single one of them.

With Privett I always receive some cockerals in the sexed pullets, always, every time!, no matter the breed. This year I ordered 6 RIW sexed pullets. I received 5 pullets and one cock. Of the 5 pullets, 2 have yet to lay an egg and they are over 7 months old now. However, their roosters are pretty nice for the breeds. A neighbor won a ribbon at the state fair with a Privett cock. And in general I just have not had great success with Ideal birds as egglayers once they are grown. The ordering, sexing, shipping seems fine (though there always seems to be a a few fatalities in shipping but I've come to expect that)...their birds just don't grow up to be as productive or friendly. The feed stores who order from Ideal always seem to have quite a few sickly looking chicks in every bin when the orders come in.

 

[enggass]

I see a lot of people stae that MPC gets their birds from Meyer Hatchery, This may be so, but MPC now offers Black Copper Marans & Barnevelder chicks and Meyer's does not. I wonder why? MPC says "For those of you interested in showing, these birds come from Bev Davis and Wade Jeane lines."... Does any one know of a Hatchery that sells Black Copper Marans besides MPC?

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

Cackle- Healthy chicks, good looking birds. I have bought a lot from them, over the years, and have no complaints. They have the best catalogue- real pictures, not drawings (though not always their own pics). Their light Brahma standards were really good 3 years ago.

McMurray- First shipment last year had 1 survivor which went on to win a GC the 4-H fair. 2nd shipment the postal trucker let them ride in the cab on the last leg of the trip to my P.O. and ALL survived. My LF Silver Penciled Wyandottes are lovely and great layers, but when I compare them to the ones on the Wyandotte thread I can see their flaws. If I wanted a perfect tail held at the right degree angle I would buy them from a breeder instead.

Ideal- Love the variety, but not all of that variety comes very close to the APA Standards. The bantam Wyandottes, I bought (columbian, buff columbian and BLR) are adorable and quite possibly my favorite chickens, BUT I look more like a columbian Wyandotte than the chickens do. They are a pitiful representation of the standards, but I should probably revise that and say I am head-over-heels in love with the bantam wyandottes. Beautiful and fun birds that don't look exactly the way they should.

Townline- I have had these through the local Rural King and a few breeds were badly represented, but I like the d'uccles I have from them. I wanted some mille fleurs and they are just right.

My best breeds did not come from hatcheries, they came from breeders who put a lot of years and money into turning out the S.O.P.
I can see the difference in quality in my hatchery birds, but I wanted them for different reasons. Beauty is only skin deep when it comes to chickens, too!

 

[jrobertson]

Quote:
I ordered 17 slow broilers and 8 hens from Welp and they were shipped on the 25th of Aug. They arrived on the morning of the 27th all very healthy. They included an extra Barred Rock and an extra broiler. All are very healthy and growing like weeds. I've had NO TROUBLE and am very pleased with Welp's chicks. The only complaint that I had was the extra charge for my hens. I ordered 8 different breeds so they charged me an additional fee for each hen. Not exactly sure why but I'm am pleased. I only had a couple of the broilers get a slight case of pasty butt that lasted about a day so it wasn't a problem. They will be two weeks this Wednesday and they already have lots of feathers and very healthy.

welp charges an additional $1.50 for every breed that you dont order five or more. also most hatcheries charge a set rate for pullets which is higher than both straight run and cockerals.

 

[billfields]

Quote:
Meyer does. In fact they seem to have several types of Marans. They have Barnvelders as well