Sortacountrychicken
Songster
I would think this would depend where the hatchery is located. The only hatchery birds that I have had from chicks are the ones that were given to me this spring. They are from Hoover's Hatchery which is roughly 200 miles south of where I am located. I really don't know what to expect with them. They are all large single combed birds. There is one Rhode Island Red and the rest are some kind of high production hatchery mutt. So far they have been fine but it is actually really warm still. We are still getting above freezing during the day. They are all going through a full molt right now. They just turned 9 months old so I'm not really sure what that is about. I have had spring chicks go through a light molt isolated to the head and neck during their first fall but these are full, hard molts. Has anyone else seen this, hatchery birds or otherwise?What about the day-old chicks you get from hatcheries? Does that count enough as being born in that area to acclimate to temps?