Looking for hen chicks

[John Knight]

Thanks for adding me. My question is to the breeders out there. I placed an order with a hatchery before I read this forum and found out that breeders such as are found on this website produce genetically superior chickens than hatcheries do. I'm looking for six friendly, quiet hens to start a backyard chicken family with my daughter here in Florida. I've ordered these day old chicks to be delivered from a Hatchery (all female): a silky bantam, a cream legbar, a blue favacauna or easteregger, a black copper or gold cuckoo marans, an olive egger and a welsummer. As you can see we want colored eggs. Is there a breeder out there who has all or most of these that you could deliver in the next two weeks, who takes MasterCard? Thank you for your consideration,
John

 

[John Knight]

Welcome to byc!!

Thanks Frankie

 

[drumstick diva]

You can also post on your state thread. Put "Florida" in the search box and it should come up for you. Welcome to the Backyard chickens flock

 

[blackdust951]

helloand welcome to backyard chickens!thank you for joining us

 

[rebrascora]

Hi John

Your problem will be getting sexed chicks from a local breeder. Hatchery chicks are vent sexed (unless they are sex linked hybrids or an auto sexing breed) which is a very skilled job. Your average breeder, even a top notch one, will probably be unable to sex chicks accurately until they are at least 5 weeks old, so you will miss some of the chick bonding experience that you would have with day old chicks from a hatchery. There is however only a 90% accuracy even with vent sexing, so no absolute guarantee that you will get all females from the hatchery especially with bantams. A single silkie bantam may also struggle to survive/thrive within a mixed large fowl flock. Most people find it is safest to keep silkies with other bantams or in a pen of their own.
There are also risks in sourcing birds from different outlets. Marek's disease being one of the most infectious and heart breaking and the NPIP certification does not cover it, so you could introduce a fatal virus into your flock by obtaining chicks from a breeder. Hatchery chicks are much less likely to have been exposed to Marek's but would be at risk introduced to other birds that have been exposed and are carriers. Most serious breeders specialise in just a few breeds, so you would be struggling to get all the breeds you want from just one breeder and as above that increases your risks of introducing disease...... So there are other considerations than just the genetic background of the birds you want.

Not saying, don't do it, but just to make an informed decision about the pros and cons of hatchery versus private breeder(s)

Regards

Barbara

 

[rjohns39]

Hi John and welcome to BYC I'm sure some of our Florida folks will be along shortly and will better be able to address your question. Again, welcome and so glad you joined us

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Welcome to byc!!

 

[John Knight]

Hi John and welcome to BYC I'm sure some of our Florida folks will be along shortly and will better be able to address your question. Again, welcome and so glad you joined us

Thanks, Tennessee!

 

[John Knight]

You can also post on your state thread. Put "Florida" in the search box and it should come up for you. Welcome to the Backyard chickens flock

Thanks diva. I tried that but only got a couple of posts from recent years. I may have limited it to the bst forum though, so I'll try elsewhere to to

 

[John Knight]

helloand welcome to backyard chickens!thank you for joining us

Thank you black dust!