Your local feed store gets their chicks from the hatcheries in the mid-west, no doubt. Ask what hatchery the chicks come from. I've noticed many hatcheries are from the mid-west. I've ordered from McMurray in Iowa. I would go based on recommendations from BYCers and impressions from the hatchery website. McMurray has a great site and has been doing it for a while. I've also seen Ideal which is in Texas. Those are the two biggest I've seen here. Oh, and also mypetchicken.com. Home office is in CT but I think the hatchery is in Ohio. I've ordered chicks but set up shipment for the first week in April when it won't be quite so cold. If you order now I'm sure any hatchery will ship them when it gets warmer if you choose to do so (mypetchicken.com will ship a minimum of 3 chicks if you live near a large city).
Feeds store chicks are great but your types/breeds are limited. If you want something specific, you'd need to order from a hatchery. mypetchicken.com has a breed selection tool which is pretty neat and their breed descriptions are good too.
