Usually I buy from Murray, but they don't have anything available. Can someone give some names of other mail order chicken outfits?
I've ordered from Meyer, they were good to deal with.Generally speaking, the closer the hatchery is the better luck with live arrival you will have.
There's very little available this late in the year; there's a much better selection in spring. Ideal, Meyer, or Cackle are also large hatcheries worth looking up now. Mary
If your schedule is open on Monday mornings, hit up MyPetChicken.com to catch their overhatch updates. That's how I was able to get a lot of the rare and hard-to-get breeds that I have now. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until they post their availability for 2015 since everything is pretty much sold out at this point.
I just got a shipment from meyer. It may look like they don't have much on their website available-but check on a Tuesday morning (shipment day). Their available chickens list gets really big right before shipment-probably because of canceled orders, wrong orders etc. When I initially ordered, there was nothing available until end of October. Then I double checked on a shipment day and there was a ton available (it sent really fast though) so I had my order changed.
I ordered my chicks from Meyer this spring and just wanted to add that we couldn't have been happier with them. Chicks all arrived chirping and healthy, and have all developed nicely. We ended up with some really beautiful birds.
I bought mine from MyPetChicken.com ... I heard nothing but great things about them, checked prices, and they seemed to be the best I could find that carried the breeds I was looking for. I have to say, they were as excellent as advertised. I would highly recommend them.
It's because they never know exactly how many chicks are going to hatch on a given date, so they make a very conservative estimate when they post them for sale. Then, on the hatch day, they (hopefully) have more chicks hatch out than were actually ordered, and the extras get posted for sale on that day.
avoid mt healthy hatchery: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...tbreak-in-backyard-flock-owners-of-salmonella