What I want from the BIG HATCHERIES-- or ANY HATCHERY!

[arwmommy]

What I really want, and think I can echo most of the urban-chicken owners, is for them to START SEXING BANTAMS !!! I have heard from Ideal and McMurray, and a zillion others that I called that they can't sex bantams because they are so small. Well, that is just not true.

Mypetchicken.com sexes bantams, and has a thriving business catering to the pet-chicken-keeper and urban chicken owner by 1. Sexing Bantams and 2. Shipping small quantities by using heating pads to keep them warm. In the spring I ordered 8 bantam cochin females and got them, all healthy, and 7/8 of them were female! (there was one roo, but that is close to the 90% sexing rate for standards!)

We are willing to pay more! These are pets! I paid $10 a chick for my bantam cochins, and would happily order more from mypetchicken.com (great chicks, great service) but they do not carry some of the cochin varieties that I want!

So, sex those bantams, ship them to us in smaller numbers-- even shipping as few as7 or 8 would be great for a lot of us (thank you Ideal for shipping by minimum price, rather than by 25 chicks!)

For those who are looking and find what they want at mypetchicken.com-- order from them! But for other varieties, why doesn't everyone get on board with sexing bantams??????

 

[Markp1964]

I have emailed the closest commercial hatchery-Meyers, in Polk Ohio and they have told me that if I would pick up an order of chicks there, there would be no minimum order. Other hatcheries might be willing to do the same as far as minimum orders.

No help as far as the sex sorting though-everything I hear is that the proscess is needs a highly skilled operator who can name their price and working conditions-so if they dont want to deal with bantams, they dont have to do it.
It bugs me too-Id order some bantams if I could be sure of getting all hens.

 

[silkiechicken]

It's a good idea but as most big companies are... they are slow at changing their ways if their current way is making them money like they are used to. I have a feeling they make the majority of their monies selling very large orders rather than just in single boxes of 25. I think they are starting to catch on though... just slow.

 

[arwmommy]

Yeah, silkiechicken, I agree. There has just been such a big movement in the last couple of years-- and tons of press-- about urban chicken keeping, and keeping chickens for organic eggs and pets, that you would think more would jump on the bandwagon.

Many of us are unable to order a straight run and then just "cull the roos". That is not our mindset, (and who wants to pluck a bantam cochin for the 3 bites of meat you would get from them anyway?????). They need to realize that it would be totally worth the effort, since you can charge much more for them. For heaven's sake, a cat got my chicken, we took her to the vet and gave her antibiotics twice a day for 10 days!!!! These are the type of crazy people you are dealing with, here!!

There are certainly the people ordering for food, for yearly replacement pullets, and when/if we have a few acres someday, I'm sure we will do that too--- but right now we want sweet, small pets that lay eggs = bantam cochins!! And we can't/won't kill 50% of them just cause they are boys--- (isn't being a boy punishment enough! geez!

!

 

[serendipity22]

Just give the business to My Pet Chicken... They'll be happy to take care of you!

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

I dont know where you guys find all this at mypetchicken.com. I go there and I cant find anything except 12 or 13 different kinds of standards and a bantam assortment where you can even choose the breed let a long the sex.. Am I overlooking something??

 

[silkiechicken]

I'm glad I don't have to worry about the sexing thing... Order 50 and eat half... small bite sized bantams are good for soup bases!

 

[hinkjc]

It is my understanding that most won't sex bantams, first because of size and secondly because vent sexing can cause prolapse issues. While they do vent sex some of their large fowl, many are feather sexed based on their breeding setup. Just a thought.

Jody

 

[arwmommy]

Fluffy chicken mama-- This time of year mypetchicken only has a bantam assortment. In the spring they have the individual bantam breeds-- and quite a few of them.

serendipity--I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to keep ordering from them, but I love our cochins, and would like a huge variety of colors and they only have 3 cochin varieties-- black, mottled and barred.

All of which we already have from them!

hinkjc-- Thanks for the info. So far we have not had any problems, but it seems like the answer I get doesn't involve the birds health (imagine-- a big hatchery actually CARING about the birds health

Don't get me started on that topic!) The answer I repeatedly get is "Nobody sexes bantams! It's impossible!" I would imagine that if some standards could be feather sexed, than the bantam versions could be as well. I happen to believe that they believe that it is "not worth the time and effort" to find/train someone to do that, which is the point of this post, to try to convince them otherwise! Are you listening Ideal Poultry???

 

[silkiechicken]

Maybe the demand for bantams are so high that they are still selling bunches straight run. I'm sure as time goes on and more small time chicken people get into things, it will start.