Hatcheries

[BigPeep]

I am new to this portion of the BYC site but I was participating in a recent thread about a hathery where the issue came up about drop shipping.

Perhaps there is already something here, but it would be a nice service if BYC could inquire at the various hatcheries, perhaps as a condition of allowing them to have a banner ad, about their practices.

I would like to know such things as:

(1) Do you raise all of the chickens yourself?

(2) If not, who does and where are they located?

(3) If you don't raise all of the birds, do you at least hatch all of the eggs on site?

(4) If not, where it that done?

(5) Are the chicks mailed out directly from one location or do they have to be sent to a central point and remailed?

(6) Do you vaccinate? If so, for what?

(7) What is your refund or credit policy for damaged, dead or diseased chicks?

 

[TexasVet]

I'm not sure what difference the answers would make. I've ordered chicks through a "drop shipper" who got them from Privett. They arrived on time and in good shape. Same result I got when ordering directly from Ideal and McMurray.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[BigPeep]

Well, for one thing, I live in the upper midwest where it gets cold. I would think that birds that are raised for many generations in this or a similar climate might be more cold tolerant so I wouldn't lose them over the winter.

I would also think that the less time the chicks spend in the boxes, the better. I have seen posts on both sides here in terms of what shape birds arrive in from various hatcheries. Some people are very please with a particular hatchery and some got a bunch of dead or dying birds from the same ones. If the hatchery is just drop shipping birds from somewhere else, there may not be any consistency in the conditions under which they were hatched.

 

[MidnightChickenLover]

Yeah.... I'm the one that started that thread.. I emailed Nature's hatchery today about it all. Hmm... who knew! By the way thank you for your information BigPeep