Ordering chicks

[CowgirlPenny]

I had an order placed a few months ago with ideal poultry. I believe I was getting 10 chicks and it was around $36 including shipping. I have a few chicks in my cart on Mypetchicken.com and holy cow! Shipping alone is $27, why so high? Where is the best place to order chicks without an insane shipping fee?


ETA: had to cancel the Ideal Poultry order because of major delays twice and I just got tired/fed up with waiting.

 

[Momagain1]

yeah; my pet chicken was $$ IMO too...I didnt order from there..

I ordered from welp hatchery...
cackle hatchery is good too!

 

[debid]

It's high because they use heat packs, double box, add extra fill, express shipping, etc. to get small orders of chicks there alive. Ideal just fills the box with unwanted cockerel "packing peanuts". Different strategies, different pricing.

I'm picking up chicks locally to avoid the shipping fees and cockerels.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

So, Welp has a 25 chick minimum. I truly only want about 10 more. What can I do with the others? lol I hate that this falls around Easter time because my fear is that if I sold/gave them away people would gift them as Easter presents and we all know what happens to chicks from easter when they aren't cute little chicks anymore.

 

[catdaddy66]

I have used Ideal in the past with great results. I found the pricing to be good as well. I think it depends on the breeds you want and for what purposes you want them. I wanted eggs so I got common breeds for egg laying. I also have purchased from my local feed and seed store (F & S) with good results. Some places have a minimum order and the ones that allow small orders are generally higher on shipping due to the difficulty in keeping a few chicks warm enough to survive. It is not an exact science (hatching) and Ideal as well as other hatcheries can only ship on the earliest date of the last breed hatched. This is not always on people time. I think you should try the mail order route again.

 

[ginormous chicken]

I placed an order for 7 pullet chicks due in April for mypetchicken 69 dollars. I am not griping b/c I am getting a silver seabright and an appenzeller spitzhauben. I pretty much couldn't find those breeds anymore. They are sold out until like July!

 

[txhomegrown]

I will be ordering from Ideal in a few weeks, when some of the chicks I want become available. They are not to far from me(by Texas standards). so I will just drive there and pick them up. It is a nice drive through the boonies to get there. I don't like to take the Interstate, you miss seeing so much. And, you never know when you will see a sign in front of some house for somebody selling chickens or no telling what else. Plus, there is a lady that I want to buy some hatching eggs from not too much farther down the road. I think I will tend to be more gentle than the USPS shipping box kicking team.
Don't ask me what I will be getting from Ideal, it changes every time I look at their site.

 

[N&MSchroeder]

I have used MyPetChicken and I was very happy. Yes, the shipping is expensive, but they use express shipping, which is faster than priority, and as mentioned previously in this thread, they use the best shipping products available. I LOVED being able to pick out 1 of every breed I wanted, all pullets, all vaccinated and no male "fillers". You can also purchase sexed bantams from them, which is pretty unique. You can order as few as 3 chickens, which is a real service to those who live within city limits. It is a different philosophy from most hatcheries and their customer service is second to none.

 

[CowgirlPenny]

I'm looking for Red Star, Barred Ply. Rock and Australorps...nothing fancy or rare. I guess the search goes on, online. Only way to get chicks around here unless you know someone with a farm, is at the Flea market. Sometimes very early on a Saturday morning, The Co-op will allow farmers to come and sell their chicks there but there is no way I could get there a second before 11am and they are gone by that point so I'm limited!!!

 

[piccolini]

I'm pretty sure mcmurray hatchery is only $15 for shipping but they have a 25 chick limit...