"Small order fee"

[Alex S]

Holy cow the BYC community has been so helpful

 

[AllenK RGV]

Can you vaccinate your chickens at Meyer Hatchery?

Meyers in Polk Ohio did offer that option.

 

[Headhen3]

Meyers does offer Mareks at about $1 per chick. I have heard some real horror stories about hundreds of chicks arriving weeks late all dead. Part of slowing down the mail delivery by the “gummint”:
I always pick mine up as I live within an hours drive of Meyers and TSC chicks are not vaccinated. At least the local store told me so. Mateus can only be done within the first 24 hours.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Adding just a tiny bit to the great info @NatJ posted if I may...
A tiny coop is very hard to get adequate ventilation without creating a draft on the birds. Prefab coops are very inadequate when it comes to ventilation, are made of very poor materials, and vastly overstate the number of chickens they can house. If a prefab says it can house 6 it can actually house 2.

 

[Alex S]

There are lots of plans on the internet, but I don't personally have any coop plans.

Do you already have a coop chosen, or plans picked out for one?

I did but it was for 4 chickens

 

[Alex S]

Basic rule of thumb: allow at least 4 square feet of floor space per chicken inside the coop, plus enough more space to put feeder, waterer, nestboxes.

That can help with choosing the correct size coop plans.

I live on a hill so my backyard is a little slanted. I don't want to put the coop on the flatter side of the lawn because I'm afraid when it rains all the water is going to pool up

 

[cmom]

I guess I'll skip the beak trimming. Do you know if the feed stores pre-vaccinate the chicks?

I'm not really sure as someone else posted probably not.

 

[cmom]

You can get nutri-drench or sav a chick separately. Skip the vital pack.

I hatch all of my own chicks. I do give then initially after hatching either Nutri-drench or Sav-A-Chick.

 

[cmom]

Most people only want chickens for eggs. Personally I wouldn't have any fewer than 6 chicks. There is a slim chance that a chick may fail. That happens sometimes. There are so many different avenues for getting chicks, feed stores, hatcheries, breeders, Craigslist, Facebook and people on BYC who sell chicks among others. Vaccinating the chicks does not prevent the diseases but helps them acquire an immunity or resistance. I'm sure all of this has been mentioned in the posts. Again, good luck with your plans and have fun...

 

[springvalley123]

Mid Spring to late spring

You can always call the hatchery of your choice. Regardless of what they show on their web site, they may book your order far in advance. I know Hoover's did that for me so I bet your chosen hatchery will do likewise.