Where do you get your chicks?

[teapot10]

So, I have purchased 25 chicks and a guinea from my local feed store. I can already tell I'm going to want more and we have 10 acres and my fiance is building me a huge coop so space isn't an issue.

Just curious as to where everyone gets their chicks and if it's better to get them now while my other chicks are young or to wait a while.

I've also seen lots of posts about "packing peanuts" are these more chicks? and "free mystery chicks" with orders? are these from online orders?

I want to make sure if I order online that they are healthy and from a reputable company...just looking for some advice and recommendations. Thanks in advance everyone

Tia

 

[Serrin]

Well, first things first......

You're in good company here. We speak chicken very fluently!

My best advice to you would be to add while your flock is still young. Integration will be much easier with younger birds than working in young chicks into an adult flock. Even though many of us do it all of the time. For someone just starting out, a lot of the issues one faces with introducing new chicks to an established flock are best avoided until you have more experience.

Now, having said all of that, I'll contradict myself and advocate keeping new additions to a minimum. My reason for this is: There are SO many breeds out there to choose from. Nearly as many breeds as there are breeders and hatcheries to choose from to get them! In retrospect, and if I had it to do all over again, I think my original flock may have contained some entirely different breeds than what I did start with.

Your local feed store is usually a good source for simple pet/egg laying quality birds. When you've had more time to discover some of the harder to find breeds, and know more about what you want your flock to look like, you'll probably find yourself seeking out the breeders for the breeds you want, over the feed store or online hatchery birds. Just as with pedigree cats or dogs, chicken breeders breed for the love of the breed and are constantly selecting for specific traits they want to encourage to improve the breed.

But, it may be that all you want is simple pet and egg layer quality. And this is great too!!! Either direction you choose to go, you can't go wrong when it involves chickens!!

 

[chicmom]

Hello and welcome!

I buy all my chicks from the Meyer Hatchery in Polk Ohio. It's only an hour's drive for me, and I usually get small orders--no more than six at a time, so that's a great place to go.

You can always ask the feed store where their chicks are ordered from. They will probably tell you. I would get the chicks now, while your chicks are still young for an easier transition into one flock.

Good luck!

Sharon

 

[St-Hubert]

Welcome!
My wife and I are first-time chicken owners ourselves. Our first three were purchased at a local store (can I say the name, or do we avoid that here?). They are about four weeks old right now, and will be heading out to the coop in a few weeks. We're picking up two more ten-day-old Wellies this evening and will integrate them into the flock when they get older. We haven't done any online ordering, so I can't help you there. The three we got from the store are healthy and growing quite rapidly. We haven't noticed any defects in them at all. The breeder we are getting the Wellies from is on this board, and from what I can tell has been doing this for awhile. I fully expect those birds to be beautiful and healthy.

 

[LauraCTChick]

We got ours from the eggs. A friend of ours brings us eggs in exchange for milk from the cows. He asked us if we wanted to hatch some and I said sure well now we're up to a dozen hatched and another dozen in lockdown. Since I'm so inexperienced I found this place invaluable.

I hope you have as much fun as I am. Good luck.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I agree with Serrin.

That desire to expand may not ever go away, so save it.

Enjoy your current flock and learn all you can from them.

You'll find that your thoughts and goals about your flock morph over time, so build big so you can expand and then expand a little at a time so you can make adjustments if you want to.

 

[gryeyes]

Welcome to BYC~!!

I got my first chicks last October, after much research which really didn't mean a great deal, although I thought so at the time.

I reviewed the Breeds Index on BYC, checked other online resources, and determined which dual purpose chicks I wanted. I "thought" four should do it. The basic four good layers amongst dual purpose birds: Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Barred Rock, Light Brahma, and one of those green egg layers: "Ameraucana" - really an Easter Egger. All from a local feed store: Bradshaw Feed in Sacramento, CA. The Brahma "failed to thrive" so I had to replace it with... two chicks. (Couldn't just come home with ONE!) That week the feed store had sold out all its Light Brahma pullet chicks, so I got an Australorp and a Silver Laced Wyandotte. Anyway, I eventually ended up with 7 chickens (through some sad "attrition" events.) One pullet chick - the "extra" EE - turned out to be an accidental rooster. Ah well. He's lovely, I'm keeping him.

Then a few months later, I bought two laying pullets from another BYC member who was down-sizing her flock. Lakenvelders. I liked that they are an endangered breed.

When chick season started in February, I bought four more chicks and two ducklings. From Bradshaw Feed, which is the local feed store I adore. There's another, closer one in town, but I prefer Bradshaw Feed, despite the convenience of the other one. Two Welsummer, which they had held for me so I couldn't just take ONE, and a RIR and Plymouth Barred Rock to replace those of my "original flock" killed by my elderly dachshund.

Then I picked up two bantam cochin chicks when they and my four new chicks were six weeks old. Those I got from a breeder about 25 miles away. (Answered a Craigslist ad.)

I know a lot more now, and while I still prefer a colorful and varied flock and am currently maxed out (actually OVER legal limits), I cannot add any more poultry. I am much more interested in the heritage and/or endangered breeds. Pretty ones.

Ones that look like chickens, not poodles. Or buzzards. Had wanted regular sized cochins, but after driving 25 miles and seeing the bantam cochins, I couldn't resist them. Fluffy Midget chickens!

Had my local feed store NOT been able to offer Welsummers, I might have ordered from MyPetChicken. I'd love to get a Buckeye, but see above: over legal limit. *sigh*

I recommend you stick with your current flock for now, and wait til next season before you add to them. You'll make better decisions about what you want to get, then.

 

[abanjaf]

My first time purchasing chickens 9 years ago, I purchased Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, and Barred Rocks from the local feed store. They worked out well for me and the love of chickens began. After my last girl passed at the age of 8 years, I was ready to begin again. I did tons of research (what I thought was tons of research was actually just the tip of the iceberg, but anyway) and finally ordered from McMurray Hatchery on-line. I did get my free rare mystery chick (most of these are roos by the way, he was a red bantam cochin who turned out to be a nasty little roo). I also got two packing peanuts, extra chicks of one of the breeds that I'd selected. My chicks all arrived alive and healthy and totally adorable, no complaints there (Polish, Easter-Eggers, Light Brahma, Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte). They're all beautiful birds, but can not compare to chicks obtained from breeders. Shortly after my chicks arrived in the mail, wouldn't you know I discovered two other breeds that I just could not live without? Found a breeder a few hours away and brought home another 4 chicks (Silkies and Golden Sebrights).

My daughter asked me a couple of months ago if we could hatch some of our eggs (have 2 roos). Well, okay why not? What a disaster that was!!! My third hatch this Spring is almost complete (waiting on one more egg to finish hatching). Total disaster!!! I discovered the joys of hatching and purchasing eggs on-line, oh no!!! My first hatch was my own eggs plus one Booted Bantam from a breeder (5 chicks from that batch). Second hatch eggs came from Pasofino Farm in Texas and wound up with 10 chicks (4 Salmon Faverolles, 3 Black Copper Marans, and 3 Golden Cuckoo Marans!) Can't wait for those chocolate eggs! Third hatch eggs came from Michigan (Mille Fleur Belgian D'Uccle, waiting on the 7th chick to finish hatching) and Silver Sebrights, (3 chicks hatched from a breeder a couple of hours away).

Currently have my flock of 15 adults and now the caretaker of 24 chicks DH says that I'm officially cut off! No more hatching and no more chickens!!! Oh, but there are a few more breeds out there that I would love to have........sniff sniff. Now I think I would have done things differently, but I love all my birds regardless of where they came from

Anyway, welcome to BYC and the wonderful world of chickens!

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

I am not the person you really need to hear from

I begged for chicks for 3 years and finally DH went to the new TSC in our small town and found that they had chicks. He came home with 6 sex links.

I wanted to diversify our flock so he checked with other feed stores 40 miles from us...they had Buff Orpington and Silver Laced Wyandotte coming

Then I realized all the chicks were brown egg layers so checked to see if they had EE's. The day he went to pick them up I said see if they have Barred Rock chicks...they did...instead of 2 EE and 2 BR I requested, he bought 3 of each...came home with 11 chicks that day.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this last batch of 11...know they will be outgrowing their brooder soon the lil devils are already getting up on their waterer and they are not even a week old!

Hoping DH can get some comp/holiday time off and we can get the coop/run ready! My enclosed porch overrunneth with 22 chicks and a bunny who needs a hutch!