Meyers if you buy less than 15 chicks, shipping is $50. But buy more than 15, and it drops to $15. So, they pay less money for shipping more birds? I doubt that.
They pay more money for PACKING the small orders. With 15 chicks or more, they can usually put them in a special cardboard box, and the chicks keep each other warm. With a small order, they need to add extra insulation or packing material, and sometimes heat packs. They also need to pay a person to spend time putting that package together, whcih takes longer because it is not the same as all the other packages.
I also hear more stories of small orders arriving dead, while larger orders (15+) seem more likely to arrive alive. So they may be charging extra to cover extra work for customer service and a higher rate of refunds.
And if the higher charge causes the customers to order a larger number of chicks, the hatchery saves time and materials for packing them, the chicks are more likely to arrive alive, the customer is more likely to be happy-- so the yes, the hatchery might be trying to push people in the direction of larger orders because it is actually better for everyone (hatchery, customer, and the chicks themselves.)
This irks me,too. McMurray is free 15+, but $35 under 15. Mt Healthy $30 for 3-9, $15 for 10-24, free for 25.
It limits us small-time owners. Ideal raised their minimum, small order & processing fees for 2023, sadly enough.
Yes, it is limiting, if you cannot deal with extra chicks.
Some people get around it by ordering more, and then selling the extras as started pullets, or butchering the extras.
If you're hardhearted enough, you can order extras of a breed that is easy to recognize (and preferably cheap), and dispatch them as soon as the box arrives, rather than raising them.