Where to purchase chicks from?

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I ordered mine from Meyer Hatchery too! They shipped 8 baby chicks to me from Ohio all the way down to here to Florida on December 7th! They put a little warmer pack in there with a nest and some electrolyte type substance. They had soooo many breeds to choose from and I could pick all pullets so I didn't end up getting in trouble with my neigbors since I'm a city girl. They are all healthy and so stinking cute. 3 weeks and 2 days today! Good luck with your baby chickies! They are soooo much fun!

Nice! Yeah Meyer does seem to have a really great variety. It's hard to choose between breeds! I got my chicks in September since it gets way too cold here (Ohio) to order chicks now. We ordered 6 Cornish X meat birds, which came with a free extra "meal maker" chick, as well as a Salmon Faverolle, and a chick I picked out of the bin at the hatchery (Jersey Giant I think). Out of the 9 chicks, we only had 1 die. Around the 3 week mark one of the meat birds was regurgitating uncontrollably and we had to put him out of his misery. But to my understanding, chicks can just be fragile sometimes so losing 1 out of 9 isn't entirely unusual. I would still order from Meyer again because of the overall quality!

Good luck with your chicks.

 

[BriannaG]

I live in Townsend, Massachusetts. I'm a first time chicken owner. I ordered 16x 1-day old chicks from Meyer Hatchery. And didn't have any issues with shipping at all.

I ordered 15x hens, 1x rooster. Like you, I wanted an assortment of breeds. But even hatcheries are limited on breed selection on any given day, depending on what's hatching that day.

I was able to order 10 different breeds that I wanted, I did want more breeds, but they weren't all hatching on the same day. I picked a day that had the most breeds hatching. August 28, 2022.

Unfortunately one of the Frizzled Easter Eggers that I bought, was born with a deformity, and failed to thrive. She passed away at about 6 weeks of age. But the rest of them are doing great at 16 weeks now!

I'll attach some pictures of the day they arrived, as well as what they look like today. Our rooster has just started crowing the past few days.

For hens I have:
1x Blue (BBS) Ameraucana
1x Buff Orpington
1x Cream Legbar
1x Rhode Island Red
1x Black Jersey Giant
1x Frizzled Easter Egger
2x Fibro Easter Eggers
2x Black Copper Marans
2x Buff Brahmas
2x Cookies & Cream
And my rooster is a Blue (BBS) Ameraucana.

I live in Townsend, Massachusetts. I'm a first time chicken owner. I ordered 16x 1-day old chicks from Meyer Hatchery. And didn't have any issues with shipping at all.

I ordered 15x hens, 1x rooster. Like you, I wanted an assortment of breeds. But even hatcheries are limited on breed selection on any given day, depending on what's hatching that day.

I was able to order 10 different breeds that I wanted, I did want more breeds, but they weren't all hatching on the same day. I picked a day that had the most breeds hatching. August 28, 2022.

Unfortunately one of the Frizzled Easter Eggers that I bought, was born with a deformity, and failed to thrive. She passed away at about 6 weeks of age. But the rest of them are doing great at 16 weeks now!

I'll attach some pictures of the day they arrived, as well as what they look like today. Our rooster has just started crowing the past few days.

For hens I have:
1x Blue (BBS) Ameraucana
1x Buff Orpington
1x Cream Legbar
1x Rhode Island Red
1x Black Jersey Giant
1x Frizzled Easter Egger
2x Fibro Easter Eggers
2x Black Copper Marans
2x Buff Brahmas
2x Cookies & Cream
And my rooster is a Blue (BBS) Ameraucana.

I live in Townsend, Massachusetts. I'm a first time chicken owner. I ordered 16x 1-day old chicks from Meyer Hatchery. And didn't have any issues with shipping at all.

I ordered 15x hens, 1x rooster. Like you, I wanted an assortment of breeds. But even hatcheries are limited on breed selection on any given day, depending on what's hatching that day.

I was able to order 10 different breeds that I wanted, I did want more breeds, but they weren't all hatching on the same day. I picked a day that had the most breeds hatching. August 28, 2022.

Unfortunately one of the Frizzled Easter Eggers that I bought, was born with a deformity, and failed to thrive. She passed away at about 6 weeks of age. But the rest of them are doing great at 16 weeks now!

I'll attach some pictures of the day they arrived, as well as what they look like today. Our rooster has just started crowing the past few days.

For hens I have:
1x Blue (BBS) Ameraucana
1x Buff Orpington
1x Cream Legbar
1x Rhode Island Red
1x Black Jersey Giant
1x Frizzled Easter Egger
2x Fibro Easter Eggers
2x Black Copper Marans
2x Buff Brahmas
2x Cookies & Cream
And my rooster is a Blue (BBS) Ameraucana.



This is really helpful, and encouraging since you're also in MA! The blue ameracauna is one of the ones I'm considering, how is their personality?

 

[ShaunJ421]

Our Blue (BBS) Ameraucana rooster is very friendly so far, and doesn't mind being held at all. He's 16 weeks and just started crowing. The Blue (BBS) Ameraucana hen can be a little skittish at times. She's not a big fan of being picked up. But once she's in your arms, she'll just sit there and enjoys being pet.

I've been very lucky with all the chickens so far. They all get along with no bullying. I try to handle them all on a regular basis to get them used to it. But some just aren't having it. The Fibro Easter Eggers are the most skittish of all the breeds I have. They're always the last ones I can wrangle up, when transporting outside.

My friendliest chicken I have, by far, would be the Buff Orpington. She loves being held, she loves attention, and will practically jump in your arms. I wish I would have gotten 2 of them.

 

[knurse1]

Hi all,

This will be my first year with chickens. Planning to have a mixed flock with 1 of each breed of chicken (just trying to narrow down which breeds I'm going to go with!) Lol

Just debating where I should get my chicks from.. my local feed/grain/farm/pet store will be having new chicks every 2-3 weeks, so I wouldn't be getting the chicks all at once. The plus side is that they will all be vaccinated for mareks prior to coming home with me. But I'm concerned about staggering bringing them home, especially if I'm only bringing home 1 chick at a time (sometimes it would be 1 chick sometimes 2, depending on the breeds they have available that weekend and what I'm looking for).

My other thought was to order through My Pet Chicken or Murray McMurray, where it might be easier to have them sent at the same time, I just worry about how the chicks will fare in transport.

Open to other recommendations as well. Im located on Cape Cod, MA if that helps.

Thanks for any feedback!

I like Meyer's Hatchery

 

[IVRN]

Hi all,

This will be my first year with chickens. Planning to have a mixed flock with 1 of each breed of chicken (just trying to narrow down which breeds I'm going to go with!) Lol

Just debating where I should get my chicks from.. my local feed/grain/farm/pet store will be having new chicks every 2-3 weeks, so I wouldn't be getting the chicks all at once. The plus side is that they will all be vaccinated for mareks prior to coming home with me. But I'm concerned about staggering bringing them home, especially if I'm only bringing home 1 chick at a time (sometimes it would be 1 chick sometimes 2, depending on the breeds they have available that weekend and what I'm looking for).

My other thought was to order through My Pet Chicken or Murray McMurray, where it might be easier to have them sent at the same time, I just worry about how the chicks will fare in transport.

Open to other recommendations as well. Im located on Cape Cod, MA if that helps.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[IVRN]

Hi all,

This will be my first year with chickens. Planning to have a mixed flock with 1 of each breed of chicken (just trying to narrow down which breeds I'm going to go with!) Lol

Just debating where I should get my chicks from.. my local feed/grain/farm/pet store will be having new chicks every 2-3 weeks, so I wouldn't be getting the chicks all at once. The plus side is that they will all be vaccinated for mareks prior to coming home with me. But I'm concerned about staggering bringing them home, especially if I'm only bringing home 1 chick at a time (sometimes it would be 1 chick sometimes 2, depending on the breeds they have available that weekend and what I'm looking for).

My other thought was to order through My Pet Chicken or Murray McMurray, where it might be easier to have them sent at the same time, I just worry about how the chicks will fare in transport.

Open to other recommendations as well. Im located on Cape Cod, MA if that helps.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[IVRN]

Hi! Great questions.

1. I would definitely NOT bring them home a couple at a time.

Reasons:

-the flock bonds and they start to establish pecking order very young. Continuously adding new chicks is very stressful to the flock even at a young age.

-they keep each other warm as they are brooding . 1-2 together isn’t enough and you risk one or both drying.

(Also for future reference NEVER introduce one single pullet or hen at a time. If you add to your flock later always add in twos so they have each other. “safety in numbers” is true for chickens. One single hen will get rejected and possibly killed by the others.)

-chicks grow fast. Bringing home a baby chick and putting it in the same brooder as a three week old risks the life of the baby due to size difference. The older chicks have established a pecking order already and they may reject or pick on the younger one-and they are big enough at that age to hurt or kill a new chick.

-the younger ones can’t fight for food against a larger chick. The older chick will always win and sometimes run the younger ones off and the chick could fail to thrive or die. Yes, chickens become territorial at a very young age and will compete for food and water amongst themselves. They don’t always play nice.

2. If you want a huge variety of types probably using a local feed store or Murray McMurrey is a good idea for the reason you stated. I started my flock with a feed store in the spring and they had a dozen varieties from which to choose.
Another idea is to look on Facebook under local chicken groups and join and find out if you have local breeders. You may be able to obtain a variety from around town if you are willing to drive to various places. But they need to be within a week of being hatched all at the same time.

3. If you want some specialty eggs, like dark marans eggs or blue eggs and the feed stores don’t have them, I have in the past found a local breeder who carries the breed I want and planned to go to the feed store when the breeder has their new chicks available. Then I just pick them up the within a day or so of each other.

4. Be sure to read about each breed and think about what you are trying to accomplish:

-If you want pretty eggs, get those types of chicks (like a Welsummer, Marans, Blue egg layers) now as it’s easier than adding pullets later.

-read ahead about what types do well in the cold as I see you are in the northeast. Not all breeds are suited for how cold it gets there. Small combed birds do better in terms of avoiding comb frostbite. A quick google search will inform you.

-some lay in winter and some breeds don’t- just a thing to think about. do you care if you don’t have eggs all winter? Certain breeds are famous for laying in the winter. Do you want daily eggs? Some only lay a couple a week and some are bred for production.

5. Think about predators if it’s going to be an issue. Some birds are definitely considered more predator savvy. If you don’t have a rooster you may but want a bunch of chickens who aren’t as good at predator alertness.

Lastly, there are typically more dominant breeds and more docile breeds. It’s nice to think of having just one n of each kind but docile breeds can be picked on mercilessly by the more assertive types. My neighbor had a Barred Rock completely scalped between breakfast and lunch by the more aggressive Rhode Island Reds in her flock. Examples of docile breeds are Easter eggers, Barred Rock and Orpingtons. Whereas Rhode Island Reds are very assertive. I got around that by making sure I had at least two of the docile breeds. They hang out together and always have each other. It’s true to some extent with chickens “birds of a feather flock together”. When you read about each breed they will often say if it is a docile breed that tends to get picked on. The hatchery may not say so but do a chick google search and you can find it.

 

[bhwms]

I would be careful getting chicks from the feed store. We bought 25 of what was labeled and verbally described as "Layers" - "sexed female chicks" from the local TS. Thirteen of them were roosters, so they were obviously straight run and not just female. Not a total loss because they were a dual use breed, but I was very disappointed with this and TS would do nothing to correct it other than to say "sorry."

Since then, we have bought from Murray McMurray and Meyer and have had no problems with either. Shipping isn't a problem as long as you make sure you are available during hatch week to pick them up when you get the call. Last year the local post office made a special trip to deliver one order to us so I didn't even need to drive there, which was very nice. It's nice living in a rural town.

 

[lori_smith99]

I would not stagger bringing them home. Plus most feed stores have a minimum of 4 chicks since they get very lonely. I would personally do the order through the hatchery. There are risks, but many people I know get chicks shipped and have had great success.

I agree! I have a local hatchery right down the road from me so I am lucky but i do order if there are certain chicks I want from online hatchery's as well

 

[andreacbs]

I've done both. Murray McMurray chicks have all arrived fine to Texas, except when some were shipped in April during an unusually cold week in the nation. Poor babies. Lost two out of eleven that time. All ten arrived fine in the next week. Two hens ended up as roosters out if these. At Tractor Supply, got five last year, and my "Delaware hen" turned out to be a Buff Orpington rooster! I went with mixed breeds, and learned getting them in pairs seems to work best. They know who their match is and hang out ❤ and support each other.