Has anyone used this hatchery?

[Seatrout00]

http://www.chickensforbackyards.com/

I am curious about you all's opinions/experiences. I am purchasing baby chicks as my local feed stores won't have chicks in until Easter and I simply can not wait that long!

 

[jcpawlak]

Sorry I can't comment on that company/website in particular as I haven't used them. But we just got an order of 15 day-old chicks from Townline Poultry Farm (http://townlinehatchery.com/) earlier this week. After looking at a variety of online/mail-order chick suppliers, we opted for them based on breeds offered, order flexibility and geographic location (they shipped Monday, arrived on Tuesday for us). We were happy with their help before we placed our order, and are very happy still after getting our "winter babies".

If you browse the forums you will see comments for many hatcheries, but thought I would at least give my positive story from my experience with Townline.

 

[junebuggena]

Ideal Poultry has a huge selection. Their only minimum is $25 worth of poultry, and they don't charge you a huge amount for small orders.

 

[CherriesBrood]

I have used backyard chickens hatchery a lot! I love them except for their prices. They give you very healthy chicks, are true to breed, and most of the time get the sex right.

 

[realsis]

Have you had any complications with Merek's? I am curious what the statistical likelihood would be that my girls would pick it up.

likelihood of Mareks, look in the backyard chickens search for Mareks or Mareks in your flock. I've watched my old Silkies breeder loose her entire flock of beautiful birds to Mareks. It can actually travel Miles in the wind alone! your birds can actually HAVE Mareks and have NO symptoms but be carriers and infect others. After the issue with my Silkie breeder, YES I do vaccinate. please do research Mareks. it will suprise you how it's everywhere. My breeder said she didn't vaccinate either. never had a problem..Until she got Mareks in her flock. She couldn't sell anymore and lost the most beautiful birds. Now she DOES vaccinate and seeing what she went through, I do too. She didn't live too far from me. I figure, it could just as easily happen to me..

 

[thegreatwhite]

i've used them and had the marek's vaccination done. no complaints and they had excellent customer service!

 

[sbrandewie]

I haven't used that hatchery, but I can recommend Murray McMurray. My dad always ordered from then when I was growing up, and I've used them twice since starting my own flocks. The chicks have always been healthy. We have used Cackle Hatchery once for our meat chickens. We did lose a few of them (the breed we got is prone to diseases), but they had amazing customer service and sent us a refund. We will still be sticking with McMurray in the future.

 

[Seatrout00]

I appreciate both of your responses. The Murray hatchery, which I checked into, has a minimum chick requirement larger than anything I could accommodate. I have a tiny yard with a tiny house, so we are only getting 5 chicks. I did see this hatchery advertised here on the site, and they had a reasonable time that we would get our chicks - most other hatcheries, like My Pet Chicken, couldn't get the chicks to me until late April - which I felt was way too late.

Chickens for Backyards, whome I called, was able to get me my chicks in February, which I felt was quite reasonable.

 

[chickenchick12]

I would recommend Murray Mcmurray Hatchery or Cackle Hatchery. They are the best ones that I know of. There is also Dunlap Hatchery, but they don't have a very large assortment of breeds so they are not my favorite. I will be ordering from Dunlap this spring because that is what my 4-H leader decided. If I had a choice I would say Mcmurray. If they require too large of an order then you might want to ask around and see if anyone else in your area is planning on getting chicks from the same hatchery. Then you could organize to order the chicks together so that you reach the requirements. That is pretty easy way to get a small order from a big hatchery. Hope this helps. have fun with your little "peep peeps"!

~chickenchick

 

[Seatrout00]

Ideal Poultry has a huge selection. Their only minimum is $25 worth of poultry, and they don't charge you a huge amount for small orders.

I checked with them first, before checking with Chickens for Backyards, and their webpage would not work properly and they wouldn't answer my phone calls, despite it being still during their "open" time. They too, according to their web page, could not deliver any chicks until April.

Sadly, I can not find reviews for hatcheries on this website, in the reviews section.