Since the hatcheries ship only one day old chicks, what happens to the leftover two day old chicks? And the males? Not that I probably want to know. In fact, I'm sure I definitely do not want to know. But please tell me.
Call and ask them... Some sell out of the plant as well as shipping them and family and friends of staff can buy them... I do not want to think about the unwanted roosters.......
Well, you would have to ask each individual hatchery. They all do not follow the same practices. Many leftover chicks, they try to sell in specials, usually fryer specials. Some hatcheries only sell straightrun, thus eliminating the excess males. Many times the hatchery is left to dispose of the chicks, in which they have several methods of killing and ridding themselves of the extra. It depends on the hatchery, so if you have a particular hatchery in mind, it's best to ask them. -Kim
i know that meyer has a sort of incubator orphan program, where they do a sweep of the incubators and you get whatever you get. i haven't seen the same type of program for other hatcheries, though. i'll bet some of them get packed off to feed stores for straight run assortments. you don't really want to know what happens to rooster chicks after the sexing process, though, you really don't. i'll just say "chicken meal" and leave it at that. i think more people should order fryer specials rather than broilers, just to give the little fellers some time to grow up and be chickens.
I know some send them off to local feed stores to sale. Some even sale them in a store front at the hatchery. Then I am sure there are others I really don't want to think about.
I know from experience that a lot of the "extras", or roos , go into the reptile industry for snake and lizard food.