Been watching the thread for a while now and just getting around to posting. I'm interested in getting Buckeyes in the spring (March), but I can't decide if I should order hatching eggs or live chicks. I like the idea of the hatching eggs-I own an incubator and have a decent amount of experience hatching-but I am unsure of how well shipped eggs will hatch and I hate to spend a ton of money on eggs that may or may not hatch. Not to mention it's harder to find hatching eggs for sale than it is chicks. I would prefer to purchase from someone as close to me as possible, to reduce shipping time, but that's not always an option when you live in the middle of nowhere! Any advice is appreciated.
Lots of breeders live in the middle of nowhere. Send out a post listing your maximum driving distance in all directions. You might find that someone is within driving distance to you, or that they would meet you half way with either hatching eggs or chicks, or that arrangements can be made for someone to carry the eggs/chicks with them to your driving radius, or you might be able to arrange to meet some at a chicken show, etc. I ended up getting some eggs because a friend of a friend's husband was in the middle of nowhere on business and noticed a business card in the local market advertising fertile eggs. The husband called his wife, who called my friend, who called me with the information, and the card turned out to be from a top breeder who's line I really wanted. I made all the arrangements, the husband picked up the eggs, drove them 550 miles home, and 23 out of 24 hatched.
If you can't find anyone close enough, and serendipity doesn't strike, then you need to consider the pros and cons of each option for your situation.
What has your incubator hatch rate been with previous (local) hatches? If it's not been great, then you might not want shipped eggs, as the hatch rate will probably be significantly less.
Where would your shipped chicks be coming from, and how long would they take to get to you? Where would your shipped eggs be coming from, and how long would they take to get to you? Anything longer than 2 days for chicks is risky. Anything longer than 3 days is often fatal. So if "out in the middle of nowhere" means an extra day to get your deliveries, then eggs might be a better choice. Also consider that chicks can only be shipped via the US mail, whereas eggs can be shipped in any manner, as long as you're willing to pay the extra shipping fee for next day FedEx (not to say that next day delivery guarantees better hatch rates, since it's more about how they're packed and how they're jostled, but less time being jostled is always good).
Also, you need to consider what is available from your preferred source. Yes, commercial hatcheries ship chicks routinely, but only a few private breeders ship chicks. Hatchery birds are rarely up to breed standard, so if you want really good quality birds you need to use a private breeder. Then you need to decide what features are important to you. Do you want birds from champion show lines? Do you care if your birds are from an NPIP facility? Do you want to order from a breeder that has a long history of successfully shipping eggs, or are you willing to try a breeder without a proven track record? All those considerations might leave you with only a few sources, and possibly only one option regarding chicks vs eggs.
Regarding costs, you need to balance how tight the budget is and how likely you are to end up with live chicks that grow into the adults you want. Just pulling numbers out of the air, with the example chick costing $6 each (and typically being purchased in groups of 25) and the egg costing $3 each (and typically being purchased in groups of 12), you could buy 48 eggs for slightly less than the cost of 25 chicks. Assuming that all the chicks lived (big assumption), you would spend the same amount of money for shipped eggs with only a 50% hatch rate. You could (potentially) get better birds because you would have access to more private breeders (few private breeders ship chicks), and you could order less that 25 chicks (if desired) because there would be no minimum order required to amass enough body heat to keep the shipped chicks alive. But, assuming you have only a 2 day shipping time for chicks, there is more risk of large losses with shipping eggs, since there is no guarantee of at least a 50% hatch rate. Some people get significantly less, some 0%. So, how tight is your budget? Is it worth risking the cost of eggs to potentially get to hatch your own chicks, or would that loss prevent you from later being able to order chicks as a backup?
If I really wanted to incubate eggs, and I could afford to lose the cost of the eggs, then I would order eggs. On the other hand, if the loss of the egg cost would prevent me from later ordering chicks (or more eggs), then I would order chicks, assuming I could receive them in no more than 2 days. If my shipping time was 3 days or more, then I would not consider ordering chicks.
Hope this helps you make the decision that is right for you.
--April
