marans

[ltstrouse12]

looking for some hens but some hatchery's want like $45 for shipping which seams alot . I live near philly and would like some advice on buying chickens like marans throught the mail. Anyone know of a place to get them???

 

[Pyxis]

That's pretty standard for shipping since you are shipping live animals through the mail overnight. Are you looking for adults or chicks? What do you want the marans for? If you want them because of their egg color, hatchery marans really aren't going to do much for you. They don't really select for egg color and a lot of people have been disappointed when their hatchery marans didn't lay the dark chocolate eggs they were expecting.

You're better off finding a breeder. You could check the PA thread here on BYC and see what people have. Or you could see if you can find a breeder that would ship you chicks, but again you're going to spend money on shipping. A cheaper option would be to get eggs from a breeder and hatch your own.

Or if you don't care that the birds you get won't necessarily represent the marans breed well and don't mind that you aren't guaranteed to get nice dark eggs, go for a hatchery. Ideal sells them and their shipping is very reasonable since they don't charge much for it and instead have a minimum amount of birds you must purchase - $25 worth. Meyer carries them as well but their shipping will be more expensive.