Hatchery recommendations

[U_Stormcrow]

I have no personal experience with Banties. Cackle, McMurray, Ideal are all well respected in the undustry, generally. I have a bunch of birds from Hoovers, by way of TSC . Like many, I started my flock at the beginning of the pandemic - you either took what was on display, or you went home with nothing - and often they sold out before I could make the 40 minute drive into town.

Hoover's, in my very limited experience, produces a tolerable bird at best - but you can work with them, if you have to.

I've been following comments on the various hatcheries (purely anecdotal "evidence", as I'm thinking I'm going to need some new genetics, Spring 2023. Currently, Cackle is top of my list - for large "meaty" birds. That's what I've been looking for, and posters are putting up very impressive weights from Cackle's birds this year. I've not been following reports on Banties. Its possible Cackle's exceptional performance extends to them as well - but its equally possible, in fact, more likely - that it doesn't.

You might consider using the search engine and skimming for recent posts using Bantam/Bantie/Banty etc and the name of a particular hatchery, to see if it has some useful info, in addition to your general request for aid in this thread.

 

[saysfaa]

You might look at west coast hatcheries. Shorter shipping distances and times are easier on the chicks. I'm in the midwest so don't know what is out there other than there are some.

 

[mbrobbins]

Standard please! I tend to like the heavier breeds as well- cold hearty as I am in NY

I have the lavender orpingtons, and now I'm adding the black orpingtons to my flock to improve the feather quality. Have you considered hatching eggs rather than buying from a hatchery?