Hatchery recommendation?

[feldon]

I want to order some day old chicks. I have never ordered from a hatchery and wondered which one was the best. Also minimum order required. I don't want a whole lot. Is this a good time of year to order day olds, I need to raise some to be replacements in my flock. Or, does anyone in the forum have day olds? Lot of questions to be sure, but enquiring minds need to know.
feldon

 

[sara]

Ideal doesn't have a minimum order, just 25.00 total. I get mine this week, so I'll have to let you know later if i am pleased with them.

 

[lurky]

www.mypetchicken.com is great. You can order as little as 3, but they seem to prefer you order 5. i think they should just change min. to 5.
Good luck.

 

[Judymae]

I loved Ideal. My babies were so healthy looking when they arrived. I would try to order from the closest hatchery to your home. That way they don't have to travel as far.

 

[sara]

Unfortunately Ideal is far from me, but I only wanted a few chicks. Hope they make their journey safely

 

[chickenhorsefarm]

I've heard good things about mypetchicken and Murray McMurray. A lot of people like Ideal, but I was not entirely happy with them- they didn't send exactly what I ordered (no polish chicks, which were practically the ONLY reason I was doing mail-order in the first place!) They never called to say there was a problem getting the polish to me, or to find out if I would like something else in their place... Also, I was splitting the order with a neighbor, and asked Ideal to mark a few of them that would be hard to tell what breed they were- to put the right chicks in the right home, and they didn't mark anything at all. They did send two extras, not sure who ended up with them... no signs of roosters in my group yet...

It is nice using Ideal to get smaller numbers of chicks, but I would emphasize to them that you want what you've ordered- ask them to call you if there is a problem, and if you want anything marked, maybe call a day or two before they're supposed to ship and *remind* them that you had asked for that to be done!

Overall I was very frustrated with the experience, but the chicks we got are healthy. My neighbor lost one within the first several days, but otherwise they've all done well.

Robyn and Greg

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

Last year I ordered from Murray McMurray, within a day 2 had died but they did give me a credit.. all the other babies done good and have made beautiful hens.. I wanted breeds McMurray didnt have so this year I ordered from Welp, just received them this passing Friday.. so far they are so so lively... I have one with a leg prob but that seems to be something that happened in route.. I havent lost one.. they were jumping out of the box when I took the lid off.. and when I go to change their brooder box its a challenge to say the least.. They are on a screened in back porch in the brooder and when I went to check them half of them were walking around the porch.. no clue how they got out.. they put in 2 extras and marked all the males without me asking.. I would definitely order from Welp again...

 

[crazylilchick]

I ordered from Murry McMurry this spring I think the min. was 25 chicks. We kept 12 and gave the rest to a friend. I expected to loose a few but every one of them was very healthy. They sent me an extra even though I checked the box that said not to. No harm I just didn't want them to send me any roos. I liked that they had several of the breeds I wanted and they could sex them. I think I may have ended up with a few roos though. When I gave the extras away I made sure I sent the ones that were questionable. I know for sure one of the polish was a roo. The chicks I kept are 15 weeks now and all are very pretty and healthy. The green starter gel you can order was great. Every one of them was eating it and drinking water right away. I also got the vitamins to put in the water for the first few days and had good results with it too. I would be concerned about having chicks shipped in our July heat 90+, you may want to take that into consideration.