Olandsk Dwarf Chickens

[Union Chickens]

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These are my 2 little girls

 

[SireniaSolaris]

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These are my 2 little girls

Do you sell chicks?

 

[Union Chickens]

I will be in the spring

 

[uzisuzuki]

I love these little chickens so much! I'm hoping to find a trio/hatching eggs to purchase or at least a breeder I can learn more about this breed from because I think they're just fantastic.

 

[Sylvester017]

I love these little chickens so much! I'm hoping to find a trio/hatching eggs to purchase or at least a breeder I can learn more about this breed from because I think they're just fantastic.

Anderson Gardens in Calif claims to have been in the chicken business for 20 years and claim they sell Olandsk among many other breeds - you might question them to get answers directly from a breeder:
http://www.andersongardenchickens.com/chickens-chicks-and-fertile-eggs.html
In my experience contacting breeders on their websites is about a 25% reply rate. Some breeders have iffy web functions and never receive their web emails and yet others with good websites will reply back instantly. I've had bad experiences with sending emails supplied on websites so I will call as a last resort if a phone number is listed. GL!

 

[uzisuzuki]

Anderson Gardens in Calif claims to have been in the chicken business for 20 years and claim they sell Olandsk among many other breeds - you might question them to get answers directly from a breeder:
http://www.andersongardenchickens.com/chickens-chicks-and-fertile-eggs.html
In my experience contacting breeders on their websites is about a 25% reply rate.  Some breeders have iffy web functions and never receive their web emails and yet others with good websites will reply back instantly.  I've had bad experiences with sending emails supplied on websites so I will call as a last resort if a phone number is listed.  GL!

Thank you so much! I've noticed that recently trying to contact a bantam Phoenix breeder. I'm trying to figure out the line between a determined inquiry & obnoxious in my attempts at making contact.

 

[SouthGaRoo]

Hello all, these little guys are sure cute. I have read some about them, not much out there. I would love to have some of these little chickens. At present I have only five girls,That's not near enough as you guys know

.I live in a small town in South Ga about 2 hours south of Macon Ga,so if anyone has some for sale anytime in 2015 please let me know. I"m new to this site, so glad I found BYC, lots of great info.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you so much! I've noticed that recently trying to contact a bantam Phoenix breeder. I'm trying to figure out the line between a determined inquiry & obnoxious in my attempts at making contact.

Yeah, I used to wonder if I was being obnoxious too -- until I discovered many breeders have changed web hosts or changed email addresses or changed phone contacts. I was looking for a coop manufacturer whose web host had changed to forward the old website to a new web page and it stopped functioning. It was lucky that the phone number was still viable for me to get a direct contact to the manufacturer. Be persistent. Serious breeders in business definitely want to sell their stock. It's even better if you get a good breeder recommendation from someone.

In my limited experience because I want healthy as well as pretty breeds I avoid backyard breeders and have started to look for breeders with poultry club participation as officers, State certifications like NPIP, etc, and who offer vaccination options. Many will say this is not a guarantee that you will get good or healthy stock but the chances are still safer than a backyard breeder IMO. I will pay 2 to 3x more for a juvenile bird through a certified, vaccinating breeder or hatchery because I don't deal with cheaper hatching eggs or chicks. I get only juveniles from 2 to 4 months old -- as juveniles they handle the USPS shipping better than chicks or eggs. The only time I got chicks was from my local feed store where I know which reputable commercial hatchery he orders from.

Many feed stores have customers put their home-bred chicks on consignment for sale and I won't buy birds from unknown origins or unknown health background. I'm not being snobby. I just want to be as responsible as I can be to have my limited zoned 5 hens as healthy and pretty as possible. When you can only have a limited flock you get more selective about what breeds to have and which combative breeds not to mix with gentle breeds and/or not to mix bantams with LF.

 

[uzisuzuki]

Yeah, I used to wonder if I was being obnoxious too -- until I discovered many breeders have changed web hosts or changed email addresses or changed phone contacts.  I was looking for a coop manufacturer whose web host had changed to forward the old website to a new web page and it stopped functioning.  It was lucky that the phone number was still viable for me to get a direct contact to the manufacturer.  Be persistent. Serious breeders in business definitely want to sell their stock.  It's even better if you get a good breeder recommendation from someone. 

In my limited experience because I want healthy as well as pretty breeds I avoid backyard breeders and have started to look for breeders with poultry club participation as officers, State certifications like NPIP, etc, and who offer vaccination options.  Many will say this is not a guarantee that you will get good or healthy stock but the chances are still safer than a backyard breeder IMO.  I will pay 2 to 3x more for a juvenile bird through a certified, vaccinating breeder or hatchery because I don't deal with cheaper hatching eggs or chicks.  I get only juveniles from 2 to 4 months old -- as juveniles they handle the USPS shipping better than chicks or eggs.  The only time I got chicks was from my local feed store where I know which reputable commercial hatchery he orders from. 

Many feed stores have customers put their home-bred chicks on consignment for sale and I won't buy birds from unknown origins or unknown health background.  I'm not being snobby.  I just want to be as responsible as I can be to have my limited zoned 5 hens as healthy and pretty as possible.  When you can only have a limited flock you get more selective about what breeds to have and which combative breeds not to mix with gentle breeds and/or not to mix bantams with LF.

Thank you very much for this info. I'm actually looking into breeding a small number of specific bantam breeds (Dwarf Olandsk is one of them) & knowing what people look for in a breeder, as well as the breed, is definitely good for me to know. I greatly appreciate you sharing your perspective here!

 

[Sylvester017]

Thank you very much for this info. I'm actually looking into breeding a small number of specific bantam breeds (Dwarf Olandsk is one of them) & knowing what people look for in a breeder, as well as the breed, is definitely good for me to know. I greatly appreciate you sharing your perspective here!

Oh my dear! This is just the tip of the learning curve! My folks raised livestock when I was a kid and we've had animals along the way especially when raising our family. And now I'm a senior with a small backyard flock for the last 3 years and I'm still learning so much! It's amazing how someone might share just a little incident about their experience that can change for the better how I do things with my birds. When we had English Budgerigars (before internet popularity) we joined up with Budgerigar show people just to be able to exchange helpful information about raising these birds - English Budgies were unique and rare 30 years ago and befriending breeders and show goers helped us tremendously. Nowadays the internet saves all that physical traveling.

You are doing a wonderful thing researching your project before diving into it. Every chicken breed is unique and have different breeding concerns -- diets, climates, temperaments, etc. I've seen a lot of breeders (just in my 3 years as a backyard flock owner). They come and go. Some owners raise breeds not conducive to the climate or have more birds or breeds than they can handle and lose their flocks to climate disasters, predators, or disease and have to destroy their birds or else they exhaust themselves from overwork and close down their projects.

Caring for livestock of any kind is work. Even the lowly little chicken has so much to learn about it. May I suggest you start with one breed to see how it goes for a season before deciding to add a second breed. I started with 2 little bantams as pets 3 years ago and I've gone through 9 chickens and breeds during that time just to have the 3 hens I have left now. I had to rehome a "pullet" who turned out a cockerel, had to rehome 3 bully LF, and lost 2 as chicks/juvies during quarantine.

It has cost us so much money in vet bills to keep one little Silkie hen treated that we calculated her little Cadbury-sized eggs cost about $5 to $6 apiece. Yes, chickens need immediate vet visits as much as dogs and cats do

because so many chicken diseases manifest the same symptoms and usually only a vet lab test can identify the malady conclusively. Because chickens like most animals will hide their illnesses so that when symptoms finally become apparent the animal has actually been ill quite a few days -- so a vet visit should be immediate. Avian vets are costlier than dog/cat vets -- we were lucky our vet had once worked in the poultry industry and was familiar with chickens. Raising animals is time consuming which is why you see so many breeders waiting until retirement to delve into livestock/poultry. There is also little-to-no money to be made -- rare-breed poultry raising is more of a hobby, homeschool classroom, or done just for the sake of saving a breed. One vet bill can eat up any profits seen previously. This is why I have no qualms about paying the higher price qualified breeders charge for their stock.

You seem to have some ideas in what direction you want to go. Much luck to you and remember to go gradual so that you have fun along the way. Chickens are really a hoot to enjoy.