Recieved my 100 Broilers and a pic of their house

[Acre of Blessings]

Which hatchery has the best buy for the best bird. I am ordering this afternoon so I have time for your input.

Pic at the bottom of page

 

[Poler]

I like McMurray the best.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html

 

[miss_jayne]

i did McMurray and also Mt. Healthy. my Mt. Healthy's were cheaper and they sent a ton of free fryers. also, no DOA's from Mt. Healthy and arrived faster.

McMurray's were great too, in a second order, 7 out of 12 meaties were DOA...other breeds fine. it was probably just 'one of those things'. all the others are thriving like crazy.

in the end, i would do Mt. Healthy again, simply because of the freebies. i think they actually even sent some free pullets! have to wait another week or so to find out!

 

[AussieSharon]

Personally I live Privett Hatchery and they are often a little cheaper

 

[UncleHoot]

I ordered a batch from Meyer (www.meyerhatchery.com) and was pretty happy. If you order 100, you can probably get them for less than $1 each, including shipping. It's hard to beat that. However, I'm not sure if it was the time of year, weather, or if it was the birds that I got, but you might want to plan on giving them an extra week. It took mine 8 weeks to dress out at 5 to 5 1/2 lbs average this spring, which is about 1 lb less than my cornishX's from townline hatchery (www.townlinehatchery.com).

 

[Acre of Blessings]

YOu all are making it hard on me to decide. Townline, McMurray and Mt. Healthy all have great prices. I have to wait until morning due to the fact that my husband took the credit card with him and the hatcheries were closed by the time he got hom

Well that gives me more time to shop.

 

[greyfields]

You cannot beat the Colored Range Broilers from JM.

http://www.jmhatchery.com/Colored-Range-Chicks-p5.html

 

[UncleHoot]

Quote:
Sure, make the OP even more confused.

I've got mine scheduled for processing in about 3 more weeks. I'm hoping that the slower growing nature of the Rangers will mean a better tasting bird. Regardless, they sure are a lot more pleasing to look at.

We ate a cornish that I just had processed last week. I swear the chickens are getting tastier every batch.

 

[Acre of Blessings]

Just ordered my Broilers. I ended up going with Meyer Hatchery (thanks Uncle-hoot). They wound up having the best price and the representative was very nice and helpful with the questions I was asking.

100 Srtaight Run Broilers= $86.00
Gro-Gel Packet======== $04.00
Shipping & Handling==== $21.00
------------------------------------------
Total Cost====$ 111.00 Not that bad, if you ask me. I am happy with the total.

I will receive my order on Oct. 1st and hopefully will be processing around the 22nd of November. Just in time for our family's Thanksgiving/Christmas Dinner. WOOHOO! Gonna see the reactions of family members when they bite into a juicy homegrown chicken

Thanks for all the input and I think I am ready for this. PC< I am gonna try and rig up a plucker similar to the one you made to try and make that part easier.

My next question is.....What is the best and easiest way to kill the bird without a bunch of jumping around by the bird?

 

[UncleHoot]

Best way to kill might be putting the bird into a killing cone and slitting its throat. But, that's just what I've heard. I haven't done it myself. Others here can better answer that.

Homegrown chicken is THE BEST, in my opinion*. But depending on who you talk to, some folks don't seem to have a firm grasp of the situation. A friend of mine wanted to raise some turkeys for Thanksgiving, and surprisingly, the reaction she got was, "Well, I guess we could eat one of your turkeys... [but we'd rather have a Butterball]" Some people seem to think that homegrown is inferior to factory-farmed. It boggles my mind, but such is the mindset.

*not just my opinion. I can't seem to raise these buggers fast enough, and my customers want more, MORE, MORE!!! I had one person tell me that they can't stand to eat store-bought anymore. I'm glad to hear it.