We got a disease and had to cull everything on one of our farms. The last time was about two years ago or maybe less and I took a break on chickens. We ordered a small amount of straight run (that's all that they had) about 6 months ago. They are laying great but we only got a few (20) of mostly rare breeds. We got way too many roosters that we had to give away for free. Some breeds have one hen and 3 roosters which was awful. We guesstimate 60% were roosters or maybe 70%. We went to order at the same hatchery and they are not available right now but I really don't want a bunch of roosters again. I noticed several hatcheries not only booked this year which seems odd considering egg prices are low again but also having very high prices. Usually the hatcheries are packed with orders when egg prices are high--not low.
I refuse to buy local cause that's what gave me a disease at least once. Possibly twice. No flea markets. No Craigslist. No Facebook. No local people. No exceptions no matter how pretty or rare or healthy they look. I have had a disease three times in the past 10 years and had to cull every time. Before you judge, just realize you can have a disease even with no symptoms and 60-80% of backyard chicken owners have Mycoplasma in the milder form. You just don't know it because the symptoms are usually mild or not at all. I have a small chicken business and I simply can't ethically run it even with a non-symptom disease. I had to get rid of them all. I need a new hatchery that is not booked or 60-70% roosters calling them straight run.
So far, this is what I have found. Can anyone add recommendations? I would like to add here that the USPS is now forcing a $15.00 live bird fee on all poultry orders. None of the hatcheries can avoid that--even if they offer free shipping.
* Welp Hatchery: has fair prices. $5.95 for barred rocks. $4.85 for white leghorns. $5.95 for Rhode Island Red. All girls. Those are the prices today. Free shipping minus the required fee of $15.00 that USPS forces everyone to pay. 25 minimum to order. I had some in the cart and then went to the reviews. They got horrible reviews with dead chickens and bad customer service. Lots of roosters when people ordered just pullets. 8/25 on one review was roosters and I can't have that. Shipping from several different hatcheries/places. No refunds so I stopped the checkout process. Apparently they were purchased by a new company and it just went downhill from there.
* Ideal Poultry: I have ordered from them over and over. We have had trouble with them in the past. I think they might have given us a disease years ago (we have had a disease several times and had to cull everything). I had started new with them and every bird got sick and had to be culled. That was years ago though and no birds came from anywhere else nor did I go to any poultry shows or places or houses with chickens that I would pick up a disease. I don't see any recent reviews of any diseases with them so I consider them safe now. Sometimes lots of roosters in the pullet mix which was aggravating. They have fair prices. Free shipping as long as you order at least 25. $15.00 flat USPS fee as long as you are ordering over the required 25 amount but they are booked until May or later. If you need less than 25, the shipping is steep. Some breeds are already sold out for the entire year.
* Murray McMurray Hatchery: I could get Black Australorp pullets for $5.21 each if I ordered at least 25. The prices for just 5 is over $7.00 each. However, the shipping seemed steep. It's not added into the birds. It was almost $40 with the required USPS fee. Then, they were booked until July. The vaccination fee is steep: 50 cents verses 25 cents for almost every other hatchery.
* Cackle Hatchery: Cackle Hatchery has fair prices-around $5.99 for most common sexed day old chicks. I have liked them in the past. However, their shipping was almost $60.00 and they are booked for months also. Their customer service sucks also as they ignored my last email to them so I never sent another one.
* Meyers: Meyers had fair prices. Less than $5 on most common female breeds. Shipping was a flat $25.00 fee but they are booked until August. I am very impressed with Meyers.
* Tractor Supply will have baby chickens the end of February but they were pricey last year. I can't imagine this year being any better. $6 and up per pullet.
* Farmer's Association will have babies in March-to April.
* There is no Rural King near me or any other chicken place near me.
Valley Hatchery had the same prices as everyone else. $5.99 for most common pullets but the shipping was almost $60.
* Hoover's Hatchery sells to Tractor Supply and you can order from Tractor Supply's website. They were $6-8 for common pullets which seems steep for common birds. Shipping was free, they had openings in May, but they just seemed so pricey for common birds.
* Freedom Rangers Hatchery: The had AMAZING Prices. Pullets were as low as $3.xx for common ones and available in February for white leghorns. Vaccinations were 8 CENTS per bird. Barred Rock pullets were $4.00 each available in May. However, they had to ship in two separate orders so shipping was $70 total. Even just one order shipped was almost $50.00. When I added a few more chickens, the shipping fees for one order went up to $75.00 which is insane.
Mt Healthy Hatchery: They were charging $9.xx for ONE COMMON PULLET. They are outrageous and out of the question for us.
* There's a few other not know hatcheries that either do not ship in our area (I am in Arkansas) or they got horrible reviews on Yelp with diseases listed by several people. There are also several hatcheries that hatch and ship straight run only. It's hard to pay all that feed just to raise 50-60% roosters to donate to others cause we can't but a few of them.
I refuse to buy local cause that's what gave me a disease at least once. Possibly twice. No flea markets. No Craigslist. No Facebook. No local people. No exceptions no matter how pretty or rare or healthy they look. I have had a disease three times in the past 10 years and had to cull every time. Before you judge, just realize you can have a disease even with no symptoms and 60-80% of backyard chicken owners have Mycoplasma in the milder form. You just don't know it because the symptoms are usually mild or not at all. I have a small chicken business and I simply can't ethically run it even with a non-symptom disease. I had to get rid of them all. I need a new hatchery that is not booked or 60-70% roosters calling them straight run.
So far, this is what I have found. Can anyone add recommendations? I would like to add here that the USPS is now forcing a $15.00 live bird fee on all poultry orders. None of the hatcheries can avoid that--even if they offer free shipping.
* Welp Hatchery: has fair prices. $5.95 for barred rocks. $4.85 for white leghorns. $5.95 for Rhode Island Red. All girls. Those are the prices today. Free shipping minus the required fee of $15.00 that USPS forces everyone to pay. 25 minimum to order. I had some in the cart and then went to the reviews. They got horrible reviews with dead chickens and bad customer service. Lots of roosters when people ordered just pullets. 8/25 on one review was roosters and I can't have that. Shipping from several different hatcheries/places. No refunds so I stopped the checkout process. Apparently they were purchased by a new company and it just went downhill from there.
* Ideal Poultry: I have ordered from them over and over. We have had trouble with them in the past. I think they might have given us a disease years ago (we have had a disease several times and had to cull everything). I had started new with them and every bird got sick and had to be culled. That was years ago though and no birds came from anywhere else nor did I go to any poultry shows or places or houses with chickens that I would pick up a disease. I don't see any recent reviews of any diseases with them so I consider them safe now. Sometimes lots of roosters in the pullet mix which was aggravating. They have fair prices. Free shipping as long as you order at least 25. $15.00 flat USPS fee as long as you are ordering over the required 25 amount but they are booked until May or later. If you need less than 25, the shipping is steep. Some breeds are already sold out for the entire year.
* Murray McMurray Hatchery: I could get Black Australorp pullets for $5.21 each if I ordered at least 25. The prices for just 5 is over $7.00 each. However, the shipping seemed steep. It's not added into the birds. It was almost $40 with the required USPS fee. Then, they were booked until July. The vaccination fee is steep: 50 cents verses 25 cents for almost every other hatchery.
* Cackle Hatchery: Cackle Hatchery has fair prices-around $5.99 for most common sexed day old chicks. I have liked them in the past. However, their shipping was almost $60.00 and they are booked for months also. Their customer service sucks also as they ignored my last email to them so I never sent another one.
* Meyers: Meyers had fair prices. Less than $5 on most common female breeds. Shipping was a flat $25.00 fee but they are booked until August. I am very impressed with Meyers.
* Tractor Supply will have baby chickens the end of February but they were pricey last year. I can't imagine this year being any better. $6 and up per pullet.
* Farmer's Association will have babies in March-to April.
* There is no Rural King near me or any other chicken place near me.
Valley Hatchery had the same prices as everyone else. $5.99 for most common pullets but the shipping was almost $60.
* Hoover's Hatchery sells to Tractor Supply and you can order from Tractor Supply's website. They were $6-8 for common pullets which seems steep for common birds. Shipping was free, they had openings in May, but they just seemed so pricey for common birds.
* Freedom Rangers Hatchery: The had AMAZING Prices. Pullets were as low as $3.xx for common ones and available in February for white leghorns. Vaccinations were 8 CENTS per bird. Barred Rock pullets were $4.00 each available in May. However, they had to ship in two separate orders so shipping was $70 total. Even just one order shipped was almost $50.00. When I added a few more chickens, the shipping fees for one order went up to $75.00 which is insane.
Mt Healthy Hatchery: They were charging $9.xx for ONE COMMON PULLET. They are outrageous and out of the question for us.
* There's a few other not know hatcheries that either do not ship in our area (I am in Arkansas) or they got horrible reviews on Yelp with diseases listed by several people. There are also several hatcheries that hatch and ship straight run only. It's hard to pay all that feed just to raise 50-60% roosters to donate to others cause we can't but a few of them.
