Hatchery vs. Local Feed Store

[minnow]

Yes I have read the list... LOL.. I guess you can say im like a sponge right now. I am trying to read as much as I can before the babies arrive.  I also want to make a good investment. Although i am sure you can say anything can be a bit of a gamble LOL

There are so many options for you, depending upon your intentions. When you say "good investment", in MY mind, that means that you want to get lots of EGGS to eat or sell. If that's the case, there are some breeds (like leghorns or production reds and a handful of others) that will begin laying earlier than most other breeds, and will reliably lay one egg a day, for 6 or 7 days a week.

Or you may mean that you want a naturally sustainable flock to save money by not having to purchase new chicks every year or so. In that case, you will want to get at least one rooster (cockerel), and choose at least one or two pullets that have motherly instincts (in chicken terms, we say, "hens that go broody"). These hens will occasionally decide that it's time to sit on and incubate eggs (instead of setting them and forgetting them like production breeds do). These same hens will often raise and care for ALL of the chicks they hatch (even when they came from different mothers)!

Personally, for ME, a good investment means having an all-girl flock that has some variety. That makes it easy to tell them apart (and name them, which my daughters love to do). It also gives me a variety of naturally colored eggs, which makes for a personal touch when I give my neighbors eggs on occasion! Those are the kinds of "investments" that have intangible dividends.

Either way, I encourage you to take the leap and learn as you go. You came to a great place for that!

 

[N F C]

Very interesting to see such a range of experiences and opinions.

Our experiences with local places have not been positive. The only local feed store that carried chicks when we were ready for them had 3 breeds available but no one could tell me much about them (sex, vaccinated or not, where they came from, one of the clerks even tried to tell me you had to have a roo to get eggs, etc). We ended up purchasing 7 chicks from a local breeder who had RIR, EE, BR's and that was not a good experience, especially being 1st time chicken folks like us. 4 of them died within about 4 wks and the breeder wouldn't replace or refund anything. The breeder told us they had all been vaccinated but we don't believe that was true, 3 died exhibiting signs of Mareks and 1 from some mystery illness. Thank goodness the remaining 3 birds seem to be healthy and have grown into beauties. The cost of those 7 local chicks plus all the heartache involved made buying guaranteed and vaccinated chicks from a hatchery worthwhile for us.

After comparing what several hatcheries offer (breeds, vaccinations, support, minimums, shipping costs, customer reviews), we decided to give Murray McMurray a try. Our 15 chicks are due to arrive in April (3 Gold Sex Link, 4 Speckled Sussex, 4 Barred Rock and 4 Black Australorps). Can hardly wait!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I am VERY new to all of this. We are getting our babies next month. What are a few ' common breeds" and a few ' heritage' breeds ? What is a good book to read on breeds ?

I recommend looking at the next 2 breed comparison charts:
http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html
First select all the breeds that can handle your climate. Then from that list, narrow it down by your needs, wants and personality. Think about whether they'll be foraging all day or need to be adaptable to confinement. Think about the number, size and color of eggs you want. Size of the bird, large fowl or bantam. Feather color, aggressiveness, docility, calmness, flightiness are other characteristics to match to your personality. Both charts will have that info.

For books:
Gail Damerow's 'Chicken Health Handbook' is a must for any chicken keeper's library.
For small urban/suburban flocks 'City Chicks' by Patricia Foreman is good.
A little more in depth is 'The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market' by Harvey Ussery.

Tractor Supply #1: Cornish and Straight Run Pullets (not joking) that's what they said
Tractor Supply #2: Cornish and Straight Run Brahma
Feed Store (Orschelns): getting in Friday, they have no idea what kind
Both tsc stores are getting more tomorrow

Excellent example of why getting advice about poultry or other livestock from the feed store is probably a bad idea.
Even if they have raised chickens, that doesn't make them experts. I don't know any that have been to vet school either. They may be smart people but they are mostly expert at what aisle the oyster shell is in.

My Rhode Island Red is from orcelens and I got her when i was 5 and I'm 13 she's still laying eggs but also I got some hatching eggs from Meyer hatchery.com and 3 hatched just a little while ago 1 died 1 had a hairline crack and broke but I still have 2 in the incubator and 2 Rhode Island Red chicks next to me peeping like crazy I recamend getting chick from tractor supply or orcelens

It's good to hear you have an 8 year old hen laying.

I am a first timer so my criteria was lots of day old chicks in the breeds that I was looking for, and vaccinated for only Mareks. I ended up going 45 minutes away rather than local place. All the chicks came from Ideal and all looked VERY healthy. I got to pick out of around 50 of each breed. In order to get all 4 on the same day only made one breed change. I am at one week and VERY happy.
I have: 1 Buff Orp, 1 Blk Aust, 1 Ameracauna, and 1 Barred Rock HAVING A BLAST!
In terms of Roos I would be afraid to sell them here in fear they might end up as cock fighters..........

I don't think any cockers would buy an Orpington or Australorp for fighting. If you sell them, they'll most likely be soup within a week. I have sold some on craigslist for breeding. I know they were used for breeding because no one would pay $25 for a soup ingredient.

Last year, I bought all of my pullets from the local feed store. This year, I tried my hand at ordering from McMurray Hatchery.

Their minimum order for this time of year is 25. I only wanted 7 or 8, so I decided to order a variety of pullets and simply sell the extras on Craigslist for a reasonable price. I didn't get rich or lose any money, and I got exactly what I wanted, in regards to breeds. If you care to know more, read on.

I ordered 6 cuckoo marans, 6 silver laced wyandottes, 6 Columbian wyandottes, and 7 araucanas. They sent 1 "exotic" chick of their choice (unsexed), which is typical of this hatchery. They also included 1 extra silver laced Wyandotte for free.

I got an email ahead of time, telling me when to expect my shipment (approximate window). Then I got another email, telling me that they shipped. I already had my makeshift brooder (a wooden crate with newsprint flooring) set up with a heat lamp, water, and some chick starter (feed), so when I got a call from my local post office around 7:00a Monday morning to tell me that I could come pick my chicks up right away, I came running!

I opened the box of chicks there at the post office and could see that all of the chicks arrived safe and sound. Keep in mind that they sent an email to me Saturday to tell me my chicks shipped, and then they arrived on Monday morning! They travelled from Iowa to Florida over two days, and were all alive and well.

I got them home and took time to dip their beaks in the water dish as I placed them in the brooder one by one. McMurray took the time to label the shipping box with the exact numbers of each breed of chick that was shipped with my order. The big downside of ordering a mix of 25 chicks from McMurray is that they don't segregate the chicks for shipping, so you get one box of 25 chicks, all mixed together, and you have to use pictures and videos on their website to determine which breed each chick is. Thankfully, all of the breeds I ordered looked distinctly different from one another.

That first day, I took some pics and posted an craigslist ad to list the extra chicks I wanted to sell. I also posted on the Facebook page of the local chicken swap group here in my area (Santa Rosa Chicken Swap). Within 5 days, I had sold all of the extra chicks. I sold the chicks for between $5 and $6 a piece. It seems that there were lots of people in my area who didn't want "typical" breeds sold by the local feed stores, or that they were, like me, only interested in getting a couple of each kind.

When all was said and done, I ended up paying $119 for the 27 chicks, including Mareck's vaccination and shipping. I sold 19 for $98. I only had one die (on day 3 with me).

What did I get out of all of this? Seven pullets for a net price of $21. That's not much less than I would have paid for 7 pullets from the feed store. However, I got the EXACT breeds and quantities I wanted. I got the satisfaction of seeing my two daughters completely melt as they watched and played with 27 baby chicks. And I got to meet a local sheriff's deputy, a farmer and his wife, a maintenance supervisor, and a banker--all fellow chicken herders!

Be encouraged. Sniff around on here and find out which hatcheries have great reputations for successfully mailing chicks, then decide if it's worth the adventure to order 25 chicks of your choosing, or if nabbing a smaller quantity from a local feed store is more your cup of tea.

A good story.

Many breeds and varieties in one box can take a while to sort out. I once got 54 birds of 18 breeds/varieties. Some I could tell right away, others took a couple months.

I would add to go to your local post office a day or two before they arrive, talk to the manager and get the phone # of the sorting room. They won't answer the business line before business hours. They will answer the sorting room phone though. If they don't call by 6 AM, call them and go pick them up. You don't want the chicks bouncing around in the delivery truck all day. They're usually happy to have that chirping box out of there.
I also recommend taking a camera and open the box there just in case there are fatalities.

For the first couple days, paper towels are better than newspaper. Slick hard surfaces, including newspaper don't provide good footing and can cause splay leg and other leg problems.

 

[BigECarter]

Very interesting to see such a range of experiences and opinions.

Our experiences with local places have not been positive. The only local feed store that carried chicks when we were ready for them had 3 breeds available but no one could tell me much about them (sex, vaccinated or not, where they came from, one of the clerks even tried to tell me you had to have a roo to get eggs, etc). We ended up purchasing 7 chicks from a local breeder who had RIR, EE, BR's and that was not a good experience, especially being 1st time chicken folks like us. 4 of them died within about 4 wks and the breeder wouldn't replace or refund anything. The breeder told us they had all been vaccinated but we don't believe that was true, 3 died exhibiting signs of Mareks and 1 from some mystery illness. Thank goodness the remaining 3 birds seem to be healthy and have grown into beauties. The cost of those 7 local chicks plus all the heartache involved made buying guaranteed and vaccinated chicks from a hatchery worthwhile for us.

After comparing what several hatcheries offer (breeds, vaccinations, support, minimums, shipping costs, customer reviews), we decided to give Murray McMurray a try. Our 15 chicks are due to arrive in April (3 Gold Sex Link, 4 Speckled Sussex, 4 Barred Rock and 4 Black Australorps). Can hardly wait!

Be sure to keep the chicks completely separated from your existing flock for 4 weeks, if you can. Out of curiosity, was your breeder in AL or FL? Wondering if we got from the same breeder - although I will say that mine offered to replace mine, so probably not.

 

[N F C]

Be sure to keep the chicks completely separated from your existing flock for 4 weeks, if you can. Out of curiosity, was your breeder in AL or FL? Wondering if we got from the same breeder - although I will say that mine offered to replace mine, so probably not.

BigECarter, the breeder we got our 7 chicks from was here in FL (outside Jacksonville), we found her through Craig's List. With 4 of the 7 dying within 4 weeks, we just couldn't bring ourselves to going through all that again with an individual we didn't know personally. It sounds like many folks have had good luck going that route, but for us, we feel better about getting our new chicks through a reputable hatchery that has been in the business for many years.

As for integrating the new chicks coming in April, we're working out the game plan now (we'll have them in the house in a brooder for a while). BYC has some really good info on flock integration, we're sorting through all the options and seeing what fits with our set up best. At least by mid-April, the weather will be nicer.

Ah, spring and new chicks at the same time! Does it get much better than that?

 

[clankeyes]

There are so many options for you, depending upon your intentions. When you say "good investment", in MY mind, that means that you want to get lots of EGGS to eat or sell. If that's the case, there are some breeds (like leghorns or production reds and a handful of others) that will begin laying earlier than most other breeds, and will reliably lay one egg a day, for 6 or 7 days a week.

Or you may mean that you want a naturally sustainable flock to save money by not having to purchase new chicks every year or so. In that case, you will want to get at least one rooster (cockerel), and choose at least one or two pullets that have motherly instincts (in chicken terms, we say, "hens that go broody"). These hens will occasionally decide that it's time to sit on and incubate eggs (instead of setting them and forgetting them like production breeds do). These same hens will often raise and care for ALL of the chicks they hatch (even when they came from different mothers)!

Personally, for ME, a good investment means having an all-girl flock that has some variety. That makes it easy to tell them apart (and name them, which my daughters love to do). It also gives me a variety of naturally colored eggs, which makes for a personal touch when I give my neighbors eggs on occasion! Those are the kinds of "investments" that have intangible dividends.

Either way, I encourage you to take the leap and learn as you go. You came to a great place for that!

Good investment .... I guess I should have said.. I hope none of my babies dies on me. We are so new to this adventure. I am not sure why i am so nervous I have hand raised an umbrella cockatoo and African grey. At this point its for pure pleasure and for the joy of fresh eggs. I have 4 of our 5 grown kids... still at home ( LOL ) son leaving for the army anytime now. daughter aka university student home and now back in school but living with mom and dad to save $. 14 year old son who won't stop growing and a daughter just out of high school wondering how to make $ as a full time Nanny. With hubby and me we go through A LOT of eggs every day. This summer i see us getting our feet wet. If all goes well we will expand the flock. One daughter is already talking Ducks... LOL I love this site. I have thought to buy a book about chickens but I seem to get all my questions answered on this site. Everyone is helpful and kind.

 

[limegreenkat]

I got mine from a feed store last year and am very happy with them.

 

[Nuttyz47]

I had a bad time with the hatchery. I lost over half of my gunies and 3 chickens My back yard was beginning to look like a chick grave yard. But I was at the post office and they brought out the wrong order it was for TCS and guess were it came from?? I got all my meat chicks from them .the tractor supply store and did not loose one.

 

[prose15]

Called TSC today, both have pullets and red pullets (separated) what breeds might the red pullets be?

 

[BrannonGale]

A large majority of feed stores receive baby chicks from hatcheries. The feed store is an un-necessary middle man depending on the amount of chicks you are having shipped.