Splitting chick orders

[BreanneRN]

It is harder to raise a lot of chicks if you have no room/facilities, but it can be a good thing to have a few more... Then you can keep the ones you like best and absorb any accident/illness losses that might happen on the way... I have an order coming from My Pet Chicken this week, and yeah, I paid more, but they will sex them and I can order pullets and not wind up with huge numbers of roosters, which is what happened with the spring order I placed through another hatchery. Most places will only sell rarer breeds straight run. I don't know how much I spent raising all those roosters, but they were not very meaty and obnoxious to sort out and take care of and they ate a lot... and took up a lot of room. Fewer chicks are less work, that's for sure. My straight run chicks this year had 2 x's the roosters as hens!

 

[Dona Worry]

So order the pullet chicks that you want and then fill the rest of your order with Red Sex Link cockerel chicks. You can always sell the cockerel chicks or butcher them yourself.

I get this might be great advice for some people, but for me thos just won't work. Free roosters are all over Facebook and craigslist, of all breeds, and since I want to get mine in the fall, who in their right mind would raise a bunch of meat birds in October? Also, I don't have the time, space, or desire to raise and butcher my own.
However I did discover Meyer hatchery has the breeds I want (polish crested) will sex (not everyone does) and has a 3 chick minimum in the warmer months, so I think I have found a solution. . . Now, if is it worth the $35 dollars in shipping is another matter entirely!

 

[Dona Worry]

Also if you have space to brood the chicks, just order the minimum and sell them as started pullets on Craigslist you’ll have NO problem doing that.

I thought about that, but I just don't have the space. I will be keeping them on my porch, probably through much of the winter, in a plastic tote first, then a covered brooder tractor. It will fit 3 or 4 birds fairly well, especially if they can go outside on mild days, but not 10.

 

[jolenesdad]

Did you check your specific minimum for Meyer from your area? it’s likely the same as My Pet Chicken they come from the same spot.

 

[Dona Worry]

Did you check your specific minimum for Meyer from your area? it’s likely the same as My Pet Chicken they come from the same spot.

I asked, and asked again-- they insist the minimum order is 3 chicks until November, when it goes up.

 

[AshleySGM]

I've never split an order but I have bought in more than I wanted and then just sell off the extras once I know who is who and have decided who to keep. A lot of times I've bought the large deals hatcheries offer and that is a minimum of 25 chicks (typically that's the # I get) and then I brood them all for a minimum of 4 weeks and then start making my cuts. People are always anxious to get the extras so I sell them to help offset my shipping and raising costs and it works out excellent each time. If I have the room and spare coop space I have raised them all the way up to almost laying age and then sell down #s. I didn't set out to do that but by the time they got that size the feed costs and such made me rethink keeping them all. So I'd just reduce till I was happy with the #. I bought a production red deal from Ideal poultry once and got 25 chicks. 1 of the 25 wound up being a rooster and I just wanted eggs in a coop and run (no free range) so I sold the rooster with 4 hens. Later 20 hens was still too much feed so I sold down to 14. Then we were happy.

 

[AshleySGM]

As a matter of fact, I wanted to order a few chicks from Hoover recently but they require a minimum of 15 chicks so I threw in 5 production egg pullets. I figured if they sent something I didn't really want or need I could always grow them out to 6 weeks or thereabouts and sell them. It was the only way to get exactly what I was looking for otherwise.

 

[deepbluesea]

Cackle's small order is actually three of any of their standard layers (they exclude some rare ones like marans, etc.). So you can pick three different kinds. As WhiteWyan says, there is an extra $20 fee that they say goes to additional packing materials.

 

[Dona Worry]

I did find a person that sells some polish, finally. . . But at 4 weeks each chick is $20, and it's a 3 hour drive. AND he doesn't have the color I want AND while he is selling them as pullets, he stresses they are hard to sex correctly.

I live in a Polish desert. I guess the best way will be buying them online.