Santa Cruz County?

[Esperella]

hi! We are looking for baby chicks in or around Santa Cruz county/ San Jose area. We are mainly looking for fun colored eggs, and unique breeds that make great pets. We only want 3-4 chicks.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Are you able to deal with roosters? If not you may want to look at feed or farm type stores where they will have sexed chicks available (tractor supply). The nice thing is they will also be disease free.

Fun colored eggs sounds like Easter Eggers (often mislabeled Americana or even Ameraucana). Some have great personalities and no two look exactly the same. Plymouth Barred Rocks are some of my favorite birds. (real Ameraucana will be closer to $20 range and always sold under their color like black, blue, wheaten or so on)

Check out these links for some breed comparisons. Not all will be available at feed stores, but it will give you some nice ideas....
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/pickachicken.pdf

You also might be able to consider mail ordering from a hatchery and splitting the order with another local or simply selling off the extras. One of my local feed stores will add the breeds I want to their order as well.

Good luck on your adventure!

 

[Esperella]

Thank you! These are all great suggestions.