After loosing my 1 year old BO this week suddenly to what I suspect was a heart attack, I am starting to rethink where I will get my next set of chicks to add to the flock. You see I am a backyard homesteader that has taken poultry classes at Cornell. So I like to think of my self as a savvy chicken keeper. I have a full time job and enjoy my laying hens as a hobby. I once had 6 hens last April, only to be down to three (lost a sexlink last year to EYP, my sussex turned out to be a rooster and now my BO has gone to join my sexlink up in the big chicken coop in the sky.) I have always gotten "sexed" (didn't work for the sussex lol) day old chicks and had fun raising them. As I have been doing this a little over 4 years now I don't want to be losing anymore hens to what I think are genetic and breeding disorders. I would like to ask the question of where do people get their chicks from. My problem is that I am on a 1/4 acre in suburbia so I like to keep my flock at around 6 laying hens. I need to rethink where I am getting the next set of chicks from as I would like three (preferable a Welsummer, a Sussex and another BO as she was lovely) Any help for breeder info, or if there is a good hatchery out there (I have had bad luck with two separate ones) please let me know.
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