Mt Healthy Hatchery

[GotChickens13]

I ordered 21 chickens from Mt Healthy in March after reading reviews for several other hatcheries. They sent one extra (the only rooster), but all 22 arrived alive and healthy and are now beautiful birds. I would definitely order from them again.

 

[mckeesbackyard]

We're very new to raisng chickens & after reading the good reviews, we decided to order 15 Easter Eggers (vaccinated) from Mt. Healthy. We live in Lakeside, AZ (4 hrs away from Phoenix). My birds were shipped on the 26th & I received a call from the post office at 8 am yesterday. All 16 (they gave me 1 extra) arrived alive but 1 died late afternoon. The remaining 15 looks alert & healthy.

 

[AraucanaAnnie]

My feed store orders from Mt. Healthy, and I have a black australorp, an EE, a buff brahma and a speckled sussex from them. I LOVE them! My australorp is HUGE, much bigger than an average hatchery bird, which is good because so much size is being lost these days. She would be really nice quality, but her comb has too many points. :/ My EE is as sweet as can be and lays eggs each days. Sometimes hatcheries can have limited EE colors, but she carries the chocolate gene. The brahma and the sussex are about 8 weeks old, so no reports on quality yet. The brahma is adorable and very gentle, he sussex is a bit of a nut job but very sweet. I originally had 4 other chicks this year, but I was fostering them. 2 EEs, a dark brahma, and another sussex. The other sussex was a rooster, but the feed store ordered 200 plus chicks. One EE was blue and red, the other is in my avatar. The dark brahma was very crazy and had poor feathering, but calmed down when you picked her up. I am very pleased with them!

 

[daniellea2912]

I live a little over an hour from Mt Healthy so this past April I drove there to pick up a custom mix of 10 pullet chicks (3 comets, 2 buff orp, 3 EE's and 2 barred rock). They are 12 weeks old now and I still have all 10 and they are doing very well. I believe at this point they are all pullets but I know its not to late to have a surprise roo. We will see! I would definitely order from them for pickup again in the future.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Does that grayish EE look like a roo to you? Love the color range in your flock, nice choice of breeds. You should be happy with your girls once they start laying. Neighbor has had quite a few of their comets and loves them, super egg layers. I like their Barred Rocks quite a bit, I also have some almost 2 year old EEs from them, they are nice big birds, decent layers, they have those interesting colored black/white/gray EEs like the one you have there.

 

[daniellea2912]

Yes I have wondered about the blue grey ee. I posted her picture in the big ee sexing thread and those who replied seemed to think she was still a 'she' but we will see! I will say that picture of her face looks warped (like her beak isn't nearly that long). Anywho, some days I see her and think girl, and other days I think boy. Right now I am being optimistic she is indeed a girl.

 

[midnightroo]

Beautiful birds. I have a grey/ blue EE, but I bought her from a local person. For some reason when I looked up EE I remember reading they could be sexed by color. Perhaps it is only black, I bought a black chicken who was a roo, so maybe that is what I am remembering.

 

[Kelsie2290]

You'd think if the grayish one was a roo you'd be seeing some red feathers along the shoulders and back by now, but who knows. One thing with the MtH EE colors is that they have mixed something in their flock that gives a silver (black/white) girl. With the other big hatcheries, black/white feathering coming in almost always means a rooster, the brown/black means a girl, at least that has been my experience the last couple of years. The last time I got EEs 2 years ago from MtH, I got 50 of them as sexed pullets and about 15 started coming in black and white, I was not happy, but they actually were all hens, there was only 1 roo in the 50.

 

[daniellea2912]

Wow, only one roo out of 50? thats a good ratio! I originally posted the gray one on the ee sexing thread because one day I walked out and saw red on the wings, and though- oh dear!
However, most people on the thread said the light red like this and/or red that is mixed in with the rest of the patterning is ok. I guess big splotches dark red=roo. Also she has some of this color mixed in on her chest and above her legs so I have my fingers crossed. The only thing I am still worried about is those two long feathers on her tail-it looks much different compared to the other 2 EE's I have now that she molted some of her tail feathers . Guess we will know when I get a crow or an egg!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Oh my, those are sure some tail feathers, the color really looks female in general still, but man that head, that comb, that tail, I wouldn't bet either way on that one. At any rate, that is a really interesting color, I've always liked those pastel tones you get with the blues, and with the red coming in, that is going to be a really pretty bird.
I've been pretty impressed with the sexing job the big hatcheries have been doing the last couple of years, don't think I have had any that were wrong more than 1 or 2 out of 50 at most... interestingly enough, the ones that were wrong have all been EEs. I have ordered the most of them, but out of a couple hundred chicks of other breeds the last couple of years none have been wrong. Straight run has been another story, sometimes I have been really lucky and sometimes all they seem to do is crow... but it really does average out in the end I guess.