*HATCHARIES* Where, who, and dependability.

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Oh darn. Well I suppose I can always admire from afar

Not to self promote or anything, but we will be shipping hatching eggs, and/or chicks of Blue Australorps, especially in the spring. They would be able to handle the cold better than Andalusians.

 

[Folly's place]

Blue Australorps?! They sound lovely!
Mary

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Blue Australorps?! They sound lovely!
Mary

Yes ma’am! In the spring we’ll have our Splash Rooster covering 4 Blacks which will produce all blues. I’ll be able to share more once we get closer to being able to ship out of state.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Hello fellow feather collectors!

So I'm just curious. When the time comes to get my baby chicks next spring I was curious if you guys new dependable, honest, and high quality breeders/hatcherwant that also ship in low quantities because I dont need 15+ birds Haha so I was hoping for some trustworthy names I should go through. I don't want leghorns or Rhodies which is all the farm supply stores around here sell. I have two specific breeds in mind and just want to make sure who I'm going through is trust worthy. Just call me nervous cause I've never bought and shipped live animals before and I worry for the wee ones.

Thank you to anyone who respondes.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I got my Barnevelder from Meyer Hatchery. I don’t know if she is poor quality, but I really like her. She always looks like an angry eagle, lol!

 

[CannedMonster]

Would it be a bad idea to use like straw or hay right away? Cause my neighbor sells straw and hay bales for dirt cheap. Its basically just his pastures left untouched until he cuts and bundles it. Pine shavings for some reason I can't find a big enough "bag" or bundle of it.

That would probably be fine.
You may want to put paper towels over the straw for the first few days and sprinkle chick starter on them so they understand that’s food not the straw.

Pine shavings are usually found at feed stores.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

That would probably be fine.
You may want to put paper towels over the straw for the first few days and sprinkle chick starter on them so they understand that’s food not the straw.

Pine shavings are usually found at feed stores.

Yes, I prefer to use paper towels too. I like to change mine a couple times a day to keep everything clean and it’s really quick and easy with paper towels. I have heard that straw can have mites, so I don’t think I would use that.

 

[KodaBlue]

Oh my Shes a beauty!!! I am so excited to get my hands on this breed of chicken!!!

 

[av8torcrj]

Not a big fan of hay as a bedding. It gets musty and moldy when it gets wet and ultimately turns into a matted doo-doo carpet over time. Short term in a brooder prolly ok if changed regularly, a disaster ( in my experience) in a chicken coop as "deep litter". Shavings have worked best for me. I have been concerned about them seemingly eating small bits but have never seen any negative side effects such as impacted crop personally though I'm sure it's possible.

 

[deepbluesea]

I used a homemade 'mama heating pad', which I learned about here. Basically a heating pad bungied to a baking rake with a waterproof cover on top. Do a search, there's a loooong thread about it. It's great! They get used to day and night cycles so they're much quieter and calmer. And it's really cute to see them snuggle under the heating pad.

Also, you might want to consider a lavender marans. She hasn't started laying yet, but she's a beauty. Here she's scoping out my new Appenzeller Spitzhauben, Luna.