Where to purchase chicks from?

[Chipmunk Chicks]

I know this is an old post, just chiming in to say that we got our first chicks from TSC (Hoover's) and they have been great! They were the last five in the pullet bin, and we got all 5/5 females! So the horror stories about people getting all roosters or whatever are not necessarily always the case. You can actually get what you came for.

Also, here, we can call them during chick days and an employee will usually go and tell us what's in, so even if you "have to" get the minimum four, they might still have four different birds that you want. I have seen such pretty ones in there and specialty chicks, too, you might just need to call around the different stores to see what they have and/or be patient. We also started them on premium feed, so I can't say whether that helped, but they have grown into very healthy, shiny, pretty birds.

We then ordered chicks from Cackle that did great! They were two weeks older but I kept them in separate brooders until they were big enough to integrate, and it went well. But I wouldn't advise bringing different age chicks and put them in the same brooder.

Honestly, if I didn't mind the legwork, I'm sure if I were to call around any given chick day, I know I could go to a couple different ones and get a great little assortment of 6-8 total, and if you told them you were going to hit up the other location that same day, they would mind less fudging the minimum. But I agree that for your sake, all the same age together is 100% preferable. It's for sure much cheaper to go that route for your first chickens, otherwise you will have to pay $$$ shipping. But it does take the guess work out of it if you place an order online, so there's no shame in doing that either, and it will probably be fine.

 

[reaganFF]

Ah! I know the area well! Any basic domestic chicken really is going to do fine. But seriously, have you looked at Australorps? Boom. There's your chicken. . They even lay over the winter when others have stopped.

I will do some more reading (I see from your signature that you are a fan!). I'm pretty basic myself, so I'm happy with basic chickens

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

I’ve got 3 Dominique pullet chicks on order from Murray McMurray for May. Never had them before, but they sound interesting and also from a historical perspective as well.
The term Dominecker is very common around here for any barred bird most usually now a barred Plymouth Rock. Those kinds of chicken were very common here years ago, but likely not the rose comb version of Dominique today as single comb birds have been and are more prominent in this area.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I hate opening boxes of dead chicks. It's happened to me multiple times. I won't order by mail any more. I prefer getting them from breeders or feed stores. I know feed stores get them shipped, but getting them at tsc eliminates me having to open a box of dead chicks.

If I add more chicks, I think I'll go the FB route. I belong to a couple of poultry groups, and folks are always advertising chicks of all different kinds of breeds. Today, I saw posts for d'Uccles, Silkies, Easter Eggers, and Delawares. That was just today. Just recently, I've seen posts for bantam Cochin, Marans, and Orpingtons. There out there, and now that I have relationships with some, they are willing to work with me on numbers and sex of birds.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We've ordered from a couple of different hatcheries, always with good results. The only time it didn't go well was a few years back when we ordered early chicks and they were shipped at the end of February in a blizzard in below-zero temps. The entire shipment was lost, but the hatchery sent out a replacement shipment at no cost and they all arrived alive except one. The best hatchery has been Mt Healthy, which we used last spring. Their chicks arrived not just alive, but lively and robust, and we didn't lose a single one. Only one even had the slightest sign of pasty butt and it resolved immediately after a single cleaning. Will definitely order from them again and confidently recommend them! Oh, and we got exactly what we ordered as to both breed and gender.

 

[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.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What’s funny is my response to you just now shows those three dots. But my original
Post doesn’t have it there.

I believe you can only edit posts during a limited period of time, maybe 12 hrs? 24 hrs?

 

[dreamofwinter]

I'm in rural Maine and have had chicks shipped several times without incident. I highly recommend McMurray for quality birds and great selection!