My husband and I are looking at getting a few chickens next spring, but since we have only a small back yard we'll be well below the minimum order of any of the hatcheries and those with "small order" options for what would be a reasonable number of chicks for us are pretty much out of our price range once you add in the shipping and small order fees to help keep the chicks alive until they reach the post office. There are a lot of local chicken people and I'm sure we could find someone to go in on an order with us (and the local Farm and Fleet has a minimum order of 6), but even so I would really rather buy from a breeder than a hatchery. We're looking into wyandottes (SL, GL, columbian, and maybe blue, splash, or BLR are the varieties we are most interested in) and maybe a BO or two(although if there are other colors I would be interested in those as well) at the moment. Does anyone know of any breeders in central or northern IL or in central IN?
