My list.... welsummer barnevelder blue laced red wyandottes gold laced wyandottes rhode Island reds silkies bue andalusians speckled sussex more faverolles more orpingtons (any colors) E. Leghorns So i'm planning to get my welsummers from estes hatchery but what about the rest? I like to order from Ideal since its so close but they don't sell BLRWs. I also want some SQ barnevelders and silkies. I was just wondering where you think I should get my birds. I may not end up with all of those, but I just need to plan in advance. Other than BLRWs, Ideal has all of them. What do you think? I really can't hatch because I CAN NOT keep all of the males that end up hatching.
First off you more than likely won't get show quality anything from a hatchery. They breed for quantity, not quality. It's possible, but not likely to happen. There are lots of us here on BYC who sell hatching eggs for most of the breeds you have listed....and some will ship chicks.
thats what i was going to say! But my fav hatchery is Murry McMurray..they have good birds for the home flock!
Just because you ask for pullets does not mean you will get all pullets. I always wind up with about 5 roos in every hatchery order. Better plan on placing some roos when they get older. If you don't mind bantam BLRW, you can get those from a hatchery but standards will have to come from breeders. I think Ideal has the bantams but know I have seen them on other hatchery sites. Breeders really have better quality but if you are just looking at layers then hatchery can work out fine.
I bought BLRW chicks from bluepoultry.com. I'm very happy with the quality, and I think they are members of BYC. They are straight run chicks though.
