Splitting chick orders

[Dona Worry]

I am thinking of adding some chicks to my flock, and can't find what I want locally, but saw My Pet Chicken has a good selection. The reviews here seem mostly positive, but there are two problems-- the minimum shipping order and the shipping cost.
I was thinking of seeing if anyone local wanted to split an order with me, but wouldn't know the best way to go about it. Anyone ever tried it? How did it work? Did you do it with friends or strangers?

 

[N F C]

You could see if posting on your state thread gets you someone to split with:
Vermont

I've never split an order but if I wanted to, that's the route I'd go.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

Do you have any local FB poultry groups? That may be the best route. I'm a little nervous about trying it, if you do you'll have to let us know how it turns out!
The first thing I would be nervous about is identifying the chicks if they aren't banded, some are really easy to identify but other are tricky. Second, I saw a thread recently where someone ordered with a friend and they ended up with a chick that wasn't actually supposed to be theirs that ended up being a cockerel. What then? I guess if you can find someone that's reasonable enough to say, we'll agree on how we have them separated as 2-3 day old chicks and that's that.

 

[Dona Worry]

Do you have any local FB poultry groups? That may be the best route. I'm a little nervous about trying it, if you do you'll have to let us know how it turns out!
The first thing I would be nervous about is identifying the chicks if they aren't banded, some are really easy to identify but other are tricky. Second, I saw a thread recently where someone ordered with a friend and they ended up with a chick that wasn't actually supposed to be theirs that ended up being a cockerel. What then? I guess if you can find someone that's reasonable enough to say, we'll agree on how we have them separated as 2-3 day old chicks and that's that.

Yes, this is my hang up also, especially because I want blue egg layers, and if I ordered from MPC I would get a Cream Legbar-- a pricey bird.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I'd skip splitting an order and MPC all together myself.
MPC is crazy on their shipping costs and pullet sexing also. For that price I'd find a mainstream hatchery that had what I wanted and order them plus whatever to make 25 or minimum number.
Then keep what you want and sell the rest on CL. I'd have no trouble here selling chicks especially rarer for my area for what they would cost me.

 

[Dona Worry]

I'd skip splitting an order and MPC all together myself.
MPC is crazy on their shipping costs and pullet sexing also. For that price I'd find a mainstream hatchery that had what I wanted and order them plus whatever to make 25 or minimum number.
Then keep what you want and sell the rest on CL. I'd have no trouble here selling chicks especially rarer for my area for what they would cost me.

But I only want 2 or 3 chicks, and most places have a minimum order of 15-25! I don't have the space for that many extras.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

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.

 

[jolenesdad]

Do you have a local feed store you could put an ad up at on the wall? Then they may also know the person so it’s not a complete stranger.

Also have you searched local breeders or even some you may need to drive just a little for? If there’s any chicken clubs or groups that show they can help you find a breeder or maybe someone wanting to split an order.

Ideally you could just choose chicks that don’t look alike. Also, I have heard (read) in the past of my Pet Chicken banding additional birds for someone. I would call and ask if they can do that for your birds in a split order.

 

[jolenesdad]

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.

 

[WhiteWyan]

Cackle hatchery will ship as few as 3 chicks. Small order fee of $20 is extra. On top of ship.
I believe there is a minimum of 3 per variety as well which means those 3 would probably need to be all the same kind. Always could call customer service.