Hatcheries & Silkies

[P0U1TRYP3RS0N]

I got some lavender (ok, ok, self-blue) silkies from Ideal this april. Ordered 8. all but 2 died within the first few days. Called and was assured replacements would be shipped. Amazing thing...when I opened the replacement shipping container...lots and lots of free "barred rock" (thats what it said on the order statement--but I know they are Dominiques..how many b.r have rose combs? LOL) ROOSTERS for warmth...but no self blue silkies. Oooooops. I called and they were like, "oh, yeah, I guess we're sold out of them for a few months!" AHHH!
Of the remaining two, one got turkey-stomped so now I just have my lil pullet. She's cute as a bug. Kinda like dr seuss charactor.
BUTTTTTTTT....I ordered 25 assorted bantams a few winters ago from Ideal, mentioned I liked silkies on the phone, she said no guarantees, but when I opened the box I ended up with 28 adorable silkies! Black and white and one buff I think (? Too many chickens. I've gone senile.). Lost quite a few from pasting (it was my fault.

), but the rest turned out absolutely gorgeous for hatchery silkies. Nice vaulted skulls, decent toes, ect. I'll try to find a pic.

 

[silkieluver_07]

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Sounds like what happened to me with the lavenders. I ordered 10 selfblues. The chicks all arrived healthy, but they were not LAVENDER. They varied from a light blue to an almost black. I emailed and Ideal and they refunded my money. Usually there is a stamp for who the shipper was. No one stamped the order form. I've been wondering if they ran out and the shipper just used the blue silkies as a replacement hoping that I wouldnt notice.

 

[SunshineSilkies]

Depending on what you are wanting to accomplish, I would not get silkies from a hatchery. If you are just wanting them for pets, that would be ok. But if you have thoughts down the road of showing, best to start off with good stock from a breeder. Sometimes people will come to me and want "show quality" birds at a hatchery price. Breeders will sell their culls at "pet" quality birds. Sometimes people will buy those birds and turn around and sell them for profit using the breeders name which is unfair also. If all you want is pets, then get them from at hatchery.

 

[WalkingWolf]

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I do believe most silkie owners are not showing them. They buy them for their personalities and fuzzy balls or fur running around their yard. Nothing wrong with hatchery silkies at all, for pets. Actually there are MANY chickens owners on BYC that are perfectly happy with and love their mutts.

If the buyer is looking for show quality, then they should go to a show and buy show quality. There is no guarantee of getting show quality from a breeder that claims show quality. Your chances are higher if you can actually validate that the parents of said chics or starters, or eggs have blue ribbons be prepared to pay through the nose. Nobody that pays thousands into feed housing and vet bills for winning shows is going to sell you a bird or eggs cheap. You get what you pay for, to give a example at a recent auction a blue ribbon sussex went for $4,4000.00.

Hatcheries are not perfect, they handle a lot of chicks, they make mistakes, also chicks are not sorted according to quality or standard. Respected hatcheries are NOT misrepresenting what they sell. I have 2 Sussex that were shipped from champion bloodlines, I got them by mistake. Once they lay eggs I WILL NOT REPRESENT THEM AS SHOW QUALITY. That would just be wrong and misleading as their is no guarantee. JMHO