Frustrated about the availability of chicks

[C Siena]

I think limits should start to be set at TSC, at least for the first few days after receiving chicks. There is a hatchery near me (a few hours drive), who has started limiting people to 10 chicks. I would totally drive that far, but I am not willing to take time off of work to drive out there with a chance that they won't have chicks available. They are not taking preorders unfortunately.

Our local stores RK, TSC & FFH (family farm) were almost out for 2+ weeks. RK placed a sign for a limit of 20 and does not sell the chicks for several hours up to a day. I purchased 6 a week ago and could have purchased 20. TSC sold out. RK employee said the chicks would be gone in a couple of days.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Yes! I live in SC and our TSC literally gets a truck and the chicks are gone in 30 minutes. They said 1-2 people come in, bulk buy, and wipe them clean.

Those people are probably behind all the "barnyard mix straight run" sales I'm seeing on Craigslist and Facebook for inflated prices.

 

[akroberts1085]

Must be the same people who bought up all the toilet paper at the start of the Pandemic and now doing it with the egg shortages... greedy people.

They bought all the toilet paper because they didn't want to die and get to heaven just to get asked if their bums were clean.

 

[SourRoses]

Those people are probably behind all the "barnyard mix straight run" sales I'm seeing on Craigslist and Facebook for inflated prices.

Those advertisements have been around forever... a barnyard mix is when they just let various breeds and hybrids run around together. But now they think they can charge a lot

I saw a shared post in one of the FB groups of an add for three laying age pullets for $200. Hatchery stock. People were laughing. I doubt they sold them, just had high hopes!

 

[MROO]

I'm getting horrible hatch rate with USPS shipped eggs. Now, granted, I am a noob, so take that into consideration, but I have been following the advice of many different people about hatching mailed eggs, following as best as I can, and my temps and humidity stay fairly constant until lockdown (temp stays same, jack up the humidity). Thus far of the 4 batches I've tried, my hatch (survival actually, had to euthanize two chicks) rate is 17% (x2), 33%, and 42%. So that can get quite pricey too.

Are you using built-in humidity and temp gauges? Those can often be off by quite a bit. Try using a separate thermometer and humidity gauge to verify your numbers. That may help.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Those advertisements have been around forever... a barnyard mix is when they just let various breeds and hybrids run around together. But now they think they can charge a lot

I saw a shared post in one of the FB groups of an add for three laying age pullets for $200. Hatchery stock. People were laughing. I doubt they sold them, just had high hopes!

Those ads have exploded in number lately. I've been watching them for four or five years and I've never seen so many, especially from people for example on Facebook groups who are new.

Crazy times we live in. I'm hoping everything is a little more calm when I'm looking to buy in the fall.

 

[TexasBlues]

Those advertisements have been around forever... a barnyard mix is when they just let various breeds and hybrids run around together. But now they think they can charge a lot

I saw a shared post in one of the FB groups of an add for three laying age pullets for $200. Hatchery stock. People were laughing. I doubt they sold them, just had high hopes!

I sell my homegrown chicks at $5 each. I’m glad people are getting to start or replenish their flocks with healthy chicks.

 

[Airyaman]

Are you using built-in humidity and temp gauges? Those can often be off by quite a bit. Try using a separate thermometer and humidity gauge to verify your numbers. That may help.

I use Govees but they often read a bit lower. I actually check the incubator temperature with a digital meat thermometer and that actually tracks well with the incubators. I put the probe tip at the same level as the eggs.

The Govees also read lower on humidity but I'm less concerned about that as I do a dry hatch in a room with elevated humidity (~60%). The humidity runs ~35% for the first 18 days. I then elevate the humidity to 65%-75% for lockdown.

 

[Coops Dad]

Those advertisements have been around forever... a barnyard mix is when they just let various breeds and hybrids run around together. But now they think they can charge a lot

I saw a shared post in one of the FB groups of an add for three laying age pullets for $200. Hatchery stock. People were laughing. I doubt they sold them, just had high hopes!

One of my best layers is a mixie; the result of an Ameracauna rooster over a Rhode Island Red hen. She's dark gray fading to a nearly mahogany head and she lays beautiful mossy eggs.

 

[Zenmonkey]

Those advertisements have been around forever... a barnyard mix is when they just let various breeds and hybrids run around together. But now they think they can charge a lot

Well, they're really not wrong. They can, and most people will know better, but you only need a couple desperate ones. Worst part is that this is still only March.

I saw a shared post in one of the FB groups of an add for three laying age pullets for $200. Hatchery stock. People were laughing. I doubt they sold them, just had high hopes!

Same people that paid 3x a reasonable price for rural real estate in 2021 probably won't bat an eye over the price of those pullets. It'll be kind of funny when they discover chickens don't lay a dozen eggs each every day. It'll be a little funnier if those pullets start to crow instead of lay eggs!