Hatchery Poll

[Kessel23]

Feed stores can be a good place to buy a few chicks, but you will need to know what you are doing first. Be able to ID breed types, at least, and realize that those inexpensive chicks will not be vaccinated against Marek's disease. That's done buy special order only, or when you have it done by the hatchery that you order from directly.
I'm not so concerned about getting some cockerels, and usually order straight run, because I know that my boys will have nice lives, even if short. Do you ever wonder what some hatcheries do with all those extra cockerels?
Be reasonable about ordering chicks so they are shipped during reasonable weather!!! If it's winter in the north, or super hot summers in the south, things won't go well.
Mary

My flock has Marek's, I have gotten around a dozen birds from TSC and none of them ever showed any symptoms of it. The store I got them from claimed they were vaccinated against a whole bunch of things, one of them was Marek's. From what I can tell they were not lying. It is possible that all of them were just lucky and did not show any symptoms but that is unlikely, more than half of the birds I hatched this year either showed symptoms or died from Marek's. I will do some more playing around with TSC birds this spring and see if the birds really are vaccinated from the stores around here.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My flock has Marek's, I have gotten around a dozen birds from TSC and none of them ever showed any symptoms of it. The store I got them from claimed they were vaccinated against a whole bunch of things, one of them was Marek's. From what I can tell they were not lying. It is possible that all of them were just lucky and did not show any symptoms but that is unlikely, more than half of the birds I hatched this year either showed symptoms or died from Marek's. I will do some more playing around with TSC birds this spring and see if the birds really are vaccinated from the stores around here.

And I had bad luck with my tractor supply chicks coming down with Mareks, so I no longer get chicks from them. I only had limited experiences though with a couple of bantam chicks.

 

[Acre4Me]

In many states, including Michigan , NPIP certification only covers S. pullorum. That's important, but leaves out so many other diseases!

Maybe. I'm not an expert by any means...and I'm not NPIP (nor do I expect to pursue that either). But, in looking at the site, there are many things other than pullorum that are covered and mentioned - at least to my inexperienced eyes.

in looking at their website guide ( I think for people with user ID, etc) they have this example:

Looking to me like there are 5 diseases on here, for which a breeder/hatchery can be "free-from".


Here is the first page of the state of OH listed NPIP cert. Several diseases are listed as these people are clean from. At least to my eyes - and I'm not an NPIP certified and very much a novice here, so please correct if this is my misunderstanding.

Also, I like to search by state...who is near to me, who sells, what do they sell...etc. It is at least a way to find breeders/hatcheries that have been tested and have sought out the NPIP certification, which included inspection. For me it is a database of whom, what breed, and where!

and @Kacey Elle, I found it interesting that CA has 8 pages of NPIP cert breeders/Hatcheries, but OH has 36 pages! I guess there are a lot of chickens in OH!

 

[Kessel23]

And I had bad luck with my tractor supply chicks coming down with Mareks, so I no longer get chicks from them. I only had limited experiences though with a couple of bantam chicks.

I also have limited experience. I got 8 layers from them this spring and 4 turkens this fall. I also got 8 layers from them 2 years ago. None of my birds ever had any problems. I have not tried bantams yet though.

 

[WhoDatChick]

My flock has Marek's, I have gotten around a dozen birds from TSC and none of them ever showed any symptoms of it. The store I got them from claimed they were vaccinated against a whole bunch of things, one of them was Marek's. From what I can tell they were not lying. It is possible that all of them were just lucky and did not show any symptoms but that is unlikely, more than half of the birds I hatched this year either showed symptoms or died from Marek's. I will do some more playing around with TSC birds this spring and see if the birds really are vaccinated from the stores around here.

Can they get in trouble for making such claims and then your birds die from a disease that is supposed to be covered?? I would get my money back!

 

[WhoDatChick]

Can they get in trouble for making such claims and then your birds die from a disease that is supposed to be covered?? I would get my money back!

And how would they get the disease that they are vaccinated for? And what do you mean.. showed symptoms?.... after vaccination?
And what are the symptoms ... I can Google...

 

[Folly's place]

NPIP certification requirements do vary by state; there's what would be nice to have, and then what each state might require.
Marek's disease vaccine does not protect chickens from developing the disease or being carriers, but it will help prevent the birds from developing the tumors that kill infected birds. Avoiding this disease virus happens because of practicing rigid biosecurity practices, and being lucky. If there's a near neighbor with infected birds it can't be helped!
Mary

 

[Kessel23]

And how would they get the disease that they are vaccinated for? And what do you mean.. showed symptoms?.... after vaccination?
And what are the symptoms ... I can Google...

Yeah they still get the disease when vaccinated they just usually don't die from it if they are vaccinated. There are several strains of Marek's disease though and I don't think there is one vaccination that covers them all so even vaccinated birds can die from the disease.

 

[WhoDatChick]

Yeah they still get the disease when vaccinated they just usually don't die from it if they are vaccinated. There are several strains of Marek's disease though and I don't think there is one vaccination that covers them all so even vaccinated birds can die from the disease.

Oooohh, okay ... thank you!

 

[Kacey Elle]

Mypetchicken.com, awesome sauce IMO!!!!

Started out with them for chooks, ordered two separate batches, they were always ready to answer my (many) newbie questions, chicks were great, sexed 100% correctly both times, awesome customer service...I'm in NJ, they drop shipped from Meyer. Difference between MPC and Meyer chicks, Meyer I believe has a large minimum, also they don't sex bantams. You can only purchase straight run day old chicks from Meyer. MPC has a chicken sexer that sexes those Meyer (and other hatchery) bantams.

That is a skill and worth it for the extra money not to have extra roosters (I am not fond of the idea of extra roos as warm packing peanuts, ugh).

I have enough roos (from hatching my own, lol, not MPC) so if I ever order more it would be from MPC or a local breeder who sexes their birds, or I'd buy started pullets.

Another thing with MPC, like I said they have great CS. On my initial batch, one tiny d'Uccle didn't make it. They gave me so much good advice to try to help that baby pull through (I mean I was a brand-spanking-newbie at that point). They were kind and respectful when she died. They reimbursed my money with no question.

I feel I have the perfect flock now, almost two years out, no regrets. I have ordered non-chicken stuff from them too (just bought a Cozy Coop heater that I have yet to hook up) and would not hesitate to get babies from them again...when mine start dying off I will definitely get some more d'Uccle pullets cuz that breed has my heart.

Good luck!

(Edited for truly crappy typing)

Thanks! I am really leaning towards MPC after this poll! It seems like people had great experiences there and I looked at their website today and really liked it. Everything was clear, the information seemed really helpful, and chick availability was reasonable. I may have a winner!

My flock has Marek's, I have gotten around a dozen birds from TSC and none of them ever showed any symptoms of it. The store I got them from claimed they were vaccinated against a whole bunch of things, one of them was Marek's. From what I can tell they were not lying. It is possible that all of them were just lucky and did not show any symptoms but that is unlikely, more than half of the birds I hatched this year either showed symptoms or died from Marek's. I will do some more playing around with TSC birds this spring and see if the birds really are vaccinated from the stores around here.

That sucks that you have to deal with Marek's. Vaccinating doesn't seem like a huge additional expense so I will definitely get them vaccinated. It's too bad that customers have to take the word of feed stores (even though it looks like yours was honest). It would be nice if there could be a certificate that says "x breed and y number of chicks were vaccinated" and the feed stores could just post it. But I guess they could just reuse the paper to cheat.

and @Kacey Elle, I found it interesting that CA has 8 pages of NPIP cert breeders/Hatcheries, but OH has 36 pages! I guess there are a lot of chickens in OH!

Now you know why it's so frustrating when people say, "Just go to your feed store!" Chickens supposedly are getting very popular in my area but it's still difficult to find feed and chicks/chickens! When I'm on this site reading about people with nearby mills or TSCs I am soooo jealous.

I went through all 8 California pages and only found about four places that had websites and look like they might sell chickens. Still, that's four more than I had before! Even though I might just end up going through one of the big hatcheries, I did find two from the link you shared that might be close enough to visit (they both offer classes on chickens and gardening). Thanks again!