Just thinking about chickens…

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CrazyChickLady7 said:
Murray McMurray Hatchery ships chicks they have australorps.
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Agreed; I've ordered Australorps from Murray McMurray on several occasions as well as Cackle Hatchery and Dunlap Hatchery and have been satisfied with the birds and service of all of them. I suggested Ideal because it's closer to where Scandigal is located and the chicks would have a lot less distance to have to travel from there which is always a good thing.
 
Michael OShay said:
Agreed; I've ordered Australorps from Murray McMurray on several occasions as well as Cackle Hatchery and Dunlap Hatchery and have been satisfied with the birds and service of all of them. I suggested Ideal because it's closer to where Scandigal is located and the chicks would have a lot less distance to have to travel from there which is always a good thing.
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Cackle has them?? I was just on their site (looking for more chickens
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) but I didn't see any.
 
Michael OShay said:
Agreed; I've ordered Australorps from Murray McMurray on several occasions as well as Cackle Hatchery and Dunlap Hatchery and have been satisfied with the birds and service of all of them. I suggested Ideal because it's closer to where Scandigal is located and the chicks would have a lot less distance to have to travel from there which is always a good thing.
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Would you know how much they cost per chick? I called a feed and seed store, With a great reputation in this area, and they wanted to charge me anywhere from $5-10 upwards per chick, with a minimum order of five birds. Is this reasonable? Do the other hatcheries you mentioned have a minimum buy?
 
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Also, I was wondering about the possibility of Australorps flying over our chain link fence? Will I have to clip their wings when they're older, before I let them out to free range?
 
Scandigal said:
Would you know how much they cost per chick? I called a feed and seed store, With a great reputation in this area, and they wanted to charge me anywhere from $5-10 upwards per chick, with a minimum order of five birds. Is this reasonable? Do the other hatcheries you mentioned have a minimum buy?
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Depending on the hatchery, they typically require a minimum of 15 or 25 chicks as more chicks ship better in hatching. I always order 25 pullets at a time, even if I don't need that many. Since I always have the order form showing that I ordered pullets, I've never had any trouble selling off the extras and recouping my money. I you want a rooster in your flock, since most of the hatcheries only guarantee 90% accuracy on pullet orders, I've always gotten a cockerel or two in the pullet order anyway. The cost depends of each chick depends on how many you order (it's less per chick the larger the orders are) but typically the cost for Australorps is somewhere around $2.50 for pullets, $2.00 for straight run chicks, and $1.50 for cockerels. Ideal Poultry's complete chick price list can be found at http://www.idealpoultry.com/pdf/retail_price_list-2014.pdf. Australorp chick prices are in the upper right corner under Brown Egg Layers. Dunlap Hatchery's Australorp chick prices can be found at https://www.dunlaphatchery.net/Birds/Standards/Standards.aspx (my Dunlap Australorps have always been superb layers).
 
Scandigal said:
Also, I was wondering about the possibility of Australorps flying over our chain link fence? Will I have to clip their wings when they're older, before I let them out to free range?
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If you have a standard height 4-6 foot chain link fence, you will need to clip the flight feathers on one wing to keep them from flying over your fence. Just be sure and re-clip them after they molt as the feathers will grow back.
 
Michael OShay said:
Depending on the hatchery, they typically require a minimum of 15 or 25 chicks as more chicks ship better in hatching. I always order 25 pullets at a time, even if I don't need that many. Since I always have the order form showing that I ordered pullets, I've never had any trouble selling off the extras and recouping my money. I you want a rooster in your flock, since most of the hatcheries only guarantee 90% accuracy on pullet orders, I've always gotten a cockerel or two in the pullet order anyway. The cost depends of each chick depends on how many you order (it's less per chick the larger the orders are) but typically the cost for Australorps is somewhere around $2.50 for pullets, $2.00 for straight run chicks, and $1.50 for cockerels. Ideal Poultry's complete chick price list can be found at http://www.idealpoultry.com/pdf/retail_price_list-2014.pdf. Australorp chick prices are in the upper right corner under Brown Egg Layers. Dunlap Hatchery's Australorp chick prices can be found at https://www.dunlaphatchery.net/Birds/Standards/Standards.aspx (my Dunlap Australorps have always been superb layers).
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Don't forget to factor in the shipping cost to see the actual cost per bird - there are advantages/disadvantages to both approaches (ordering direct vs. retailer), with cost being just one factor.
 

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