Texas

[Kiki]

My last flock was bought from Blue Star Ranch. I was a bit younger (17) and knew very little about chickens; we went with BlueStar because my parents didn’t know better and we thought that ordering online would end up in a delivery of a box of dead chicks.

I don’t want to totally trash it, but.. the entire experience was very strange. My dad and I took a road trip out there and we were told to just show up any time. The place was a total gross mess (disheveled buildings, torn up road, and an overwhelming chicken poop smell). We were greeted by several locked gates and barking flea ridden dogs (I distinctly remember the fleas as I told my boss, a vet, about it the next day) and we had to wait quite a while for her to answer her phone and come let us in.

The most confusing part was, she doesn’t hatch or breed anything there. All her chicks were ordered from ideal, she just raises them and resells them. I don’t know if that’s normal or what, but we were confused by it. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see the advantage for paying a higher price for hatchery quality chicks that you could order yourself.. maybe she does things differently now, I don’t know.

I don’t remember taking any tour but I have a bad memory. I do remember that she already had our order pulled out and waiting for us with all the chicks sitting in two cardboard boxes. She pulled them all out one by one and held them to her ear, reassuring us that she could 99% tell gender by the pitch of their peep. We didn’t question it as she was an interesting character. She also tried to sell us extras and had little “discounts” that she kept throwing in.

I’m honestly not just trying to bash the woman, she seemed nice, if not a little “eccentric” (if you catch my drift). That was just our experience, and since we didn’t know better we chalked it up to “strange chicken lady” behavior.
All in all, we walked away with 18 healthy 2-3 week old chicks (I don’t think she even sells day-olds?), with 3 ending up being roosters. They were nothing special. We were expecting a quaint little family farm with their own breeding stock and got something vastly different. I can’t really say how I feel as I’m still as confused as I was back then lol. Perhaps she’s changed everything up since then..

I highly doubt anything has changed.
She reminds me of the lady that lives near here that mail orders chicks and tries to pass them off as her own and for much more money too.
I just can't do "not honest" people.

 

[Kiki]

Maybe they "lysol" you before the tour?

I think you should order from Ideal.
Much much safer that way.

 

[janiedoe]

I think you should order from Ideal.
Much much safer that way.

I just can't bring myself to order chicks through the mail. It's not the hatcheries it's the USPS that I worry about. I'd feel a little guilty if I recieved a squashed box. A whole new debate here.
There is someone on Craigslist nearby who has nice looking hens and is pt tested. I'm probably going to check them out next weekend.

 

[Tesumph]

I just can't bring myself to order chicks through the mail. It's not the hatcheries it's the USPS that I worry about. I'd feel a little guilty if I recieved a squashed box. A whole new debate here.
There is someone on Craigslist nearby who has nice looking hens and is pt tested. I'm probably going to check them out next weekend.

I was worried to death too, until I picked up my perfectly intact box of healthy peeping cottonballs. So much easier than going through sketchy resellers!

 

[janiedoe]

I was worried to death too, until I picked up my perfectly intact box of healthy peeping cottonballs. So much easier than going through sketchy resellers!

I suppose they might be better off with USPS than riding with me. I keep the air on "chilly" and the pedal on the floor. I'll think on it.

 

[Kiki]

I just can't bring myself to order chicks through the mail. It's not the hatcheries it's the USPS that I worry about. I'd feel a little guilty if I recieved a squashed box. A whole new debate here.
There is someone on Craigslist nearby who has nice looking hens and is pt tested. I'm probably going to check them out next weekend.

PT tested doesn't mean squat in my book.
PT hasn't been around in ages.

I have a ghetto post office...for real..the people there all hate life it seems.
I have never gotten so much as a dent on any of my my boxes of chicks.

 

[janiedoe]

PT tested doesn't mean squat in my book.
PT hasn't been around in ages.

I have a ghetto post office...for real..the people there all hate life it seems.
I have never gotten so much as a dent on any of my my boxes of chicks.

That's comforting because sooner or later I want to order chicks. I just have to talk myself into it & wait until the temperature is under 101. I'm guessing it's too hot to order in August or early September?

 

[texsuze]

Ideal Poultry in Cameron, TX lets you pick up your chicks from their offices once you've pre-ordered them. From their map, looks like they are SE of Temple, kind of NW of Austin. You could make that a road trip.

 

[dpenning]

I just can't bring myself to order chicks through the mail. It's not the hatcheries it's the USPS that I worry about. I'd feel a little guilty if I recieved a squashed box. A whole new debate here.
There is someone on Craigslist nearby who has nice looking hens and is pt tested. I'm probably going to check them out next weekend.

I was afraid to do it as well but I have never had a bad experience and I have ordered from several different places even though ideal is closest so I do use them most often. I have some ducks and chicks coming from them next week.

My bigger fear now would be from introducing some kind of illness from another flock. I only get new stock from hatcheries now.

 

[janiedoe]

Ideal Poultry in Cameron, TX lets you pick up your chicks from their offices once you've pre-ordered them. From their map, looks like they are SE of Temple, kind of NW of Austin. You could make that a road trip.

They are about 2.5 hrs from me. I thought about it but they dont have many breeds that interest me. I would probably order from Myers if I ordered from a hatchery.