Ordering Chicks online

[Rich Marshall]

I want to order 3 chickes next spring and wondered if anyone had hachery preferences. I am in Westchester NY. Also I see that some hatcheries offer noculations against desease, can anyone shine any light in that area? Thanks

 

[jtbrown]

Welcome, glad you are here

I am sorry, I cannot help you with the online situation. I know MyPetChickens.com does small orders, and I have heard that they do great with that. Good luck! Also, I have never gotten my with vaccines, so can't help there either. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Around here (no big cities!) you can't order less than 25 chicks. So, due to this, I have gotten over 75 chickens by mail in the last 4 years.
I ordered from Mcmurray twice- the first time they sent me extras (all unsorted, 2 undoccumented. Took me over a week to figure out I had 28!) the second time was just my order (total chicks = 53) all arrived happy, healthy, and vaccinated for Mareks. I lost ONE 3 weeks in from batch one. I think he was smothered but the bigger, rowdier chicks (he was a delicate bantam and almost all the others were dual purpose birds) They also, I found out, have a pretty well deserved rep for mean plymouth rocks.
The las order I got was from IDEAL. I dislike their website, and their order confirmation/contact information system sucks. I had to reorder because they called the wrong number and got no answer then canceled my order. They didn't even tell me. There I was on the chick ship date waiting, and no chicks. When I finally DID get my order (faster shipping then McMurray), my 25 were sorted in a divided box. But 2 days later, one mysteriously expired. The survivors are the friendliest chicks ever. They are so sweet they have convinced my older flock to be nicer. I love them to bits.

Whichever you decide to go with, put your order in as soon as possible and set your ship date for a time when the weather is starting to warm up. If you ship too early, the cold is hard on them. Too late and they don't get to goo out till the heat of summer (by which time you are tired of them in the house-trust me!

 

[mondotomhead]

I ordered from My Pet Chicken also. They say they can send as little as 3 chicks but it all depends on where they are shipping to. The chicks need to stay warm and that determines how many or few they ship. I live in Mass just over the Conn line. I had to buy 6 chicks. I ordered 6 cochins from them. They called and said they had a problem with the hatching and could only send 3 cochins and offered me my choice of 3 other kinds. I had no problem with that. When I got the box 'o chicks there were 7 chicks. (They sent an extra just "in case".) In my opinion, they have great customer service.

I would recommend My Pet Chicken. They did a great job packaging the chicks I got. In fact, I'll be ordering from them next spring. (I want more cochins!!)

 

[justbugged]

Welcome from the soggy side of Washington State.

It's not safe to ship just 3 day old chicks anywhere. They are not able to keep each other warm enough, in order to survive the shipping time. This is why most places require a person to buy a minimum of 25 chicks at a time. There is one or two hatchery that will ship less, but they will not grantee that the chicks will still be alive on arrival. It's better to get 3 chicks from your local feed store this spring. Or you could locate a breeder of the type of chicken you want and buy straight from the breeder. Best wishes on your new chicks.

 

[S&N Livestock]

from Ohio

 

[petejd]

from South Carolina.. I ordered 6 chicks from My Pet Chicken. They were great to order from, and the chicks arrived safe and sound. They are 2 weeks old now, so I received them recently. We had ours vacc. for Mereks.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Welcome!!

Have never ordered from a hatchery so I can't help you there!!

 

[CarolJ]

I've had two orders from Meyer Hatchery - and was very pleased with them. One order was for 4 chicks. They included a heat pad with them and the chicks arrived in great health. I highly recommend Meyer. Other hatcheries do a fine job, too, I"m sure. Meyer just has a low minimum - which is really nice for backyard chicken owners.

 

[happyhensny]

If you can wait until spring there are some local breeders that you could just pick up your own chicks in person.