Where to Start?

[microchick]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Another question:

What hatcheries have y'all done business with and who would you recommend?

 

[Folly's place]

I've ordered several times from MurrayMcMurray, with very good results. I've ordered once each from Meyers and Ideal. I like to get hatchery chicks vaccinated for Marek's disease, just in case it appears here. UGH! I have also bought chicks from two purebred breeders, as those birds are closer to standard than hatchery stock. Mary

 

[pdirt]

We have some silkies. Quite broody. Broodiness of silkies is something I hear is pretty standard. One of the silkies is pretty high on the pecking order, used to be top broad for a while.

We've only dealt with Cackle Hatchery, meaning we've only ordered from a hatchery once. They sent the wrong birds and nearly half died within 2 days of arrival. I think they offered to send more chicks, which we declined because the stress of shipping was boggling to us (read on). They were pretty easy to deal with in getting a refund on the wrong breeds (which we got to keep) and the ones that died, but I don't know if I would order from them again. The dying chicks upon arrival may have been our fault in that we didn't IMMEDIATELY dose their water with vitamins and probiotics. I'm not sure I fully grasped the stress of shipping even though I thought I did. Once we did that, they stopped dying. By saying I'm not sure I'd order from Cackle again, I'm saying I don't know I'd order from a hatchery that far away again. Others have had nothing but good to say about Cackle and perhaps they live closer to the hatchery than we do.

You might also look into purchasing hatching eggs. There are lots of sellers on BYC and ebay or perhaps even Craigslist near you. No stress in shipping live chicks and you get to see the magic of them hatching.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've had chicks from Murray McMurray before, by way of a local hardware store. The first time, my special order pullets were all boys. The second time, the chicks came in fine, but the staff at the hardware store didn't have any idea how to take care of chicks. By the time I got there to pick up my 17 special order chicks, several of them were comatose from not having enough heat, and the ones that weren't comatose were extremely stressed. I vowed then and there that I'd do everything in my power to become independent of hatchery chicks. (as much as possible.)

 

[microchick]

Cackle hatchery is about an 2+ hour drive from us. I'd love to find chicks locally and do plan to talk to one Amish neighbor whom I noted had a huge flock of hens and roosters running all over his place. I'd like to start with pure blooded stock though so I need to find a breeder/hatchery I can trust.

 

[pdirt]

Greenfire Farms is a place that comes with very high regards. I think they sell mostly rare breeds, aka high $ birds. They are small and from the looks of it, do things right.

I don't know if hatcheries like Cackle allow retail sales or if they only do mail order, but if they do, it might be worth your effort to drive 4+ hours to pick them up.

So do the Amish folk near you not selectively breed their chickens? And just have a bunch of mutts? Is that why they are so wild?

 

[Folly's place]

When I order mail order chicks, I PLAN AHEAD and call or visit the post office in person, to make sure that they call me the minute the chicks arrive, so that I can pick them up right away. On my way out the door, the heat lamp goes on in the brooder, and the waterer has been filled the night before, so it's not cold from the well. If possible, I pick up the chicks at the distribution center, so they spend as little time as possible out there. I also order in spring, after the winter cold is over. My worst losses were three years ago, an order from Meyers; 10% losses within ten days. Usually only one or two chicks dies out of 25 to 50. Mary

 

[microchick]

That's a good question pdirt. Chickens I saw recently
didn't look like mutts. In fact they were nice looking birds probably destined for the canner given the sheer number scratching around the place. I've noticed that most of the Amish chickens I've been around are quite wild-strictly live stock. Which is alien to my way of thinking where every animal on our farm is pampered and gentle.

 

[pdirt]

When I order mail order chicks, I PLAN AHEAD and call or visit the post office in person, to make sure that they call me the minute the chicks arrive, so that I can pick them up right away.  On my way out the door, the heat lamp goes on in the brooder, and the waterer has been filled the night before, so it's not cold from the well.  If possible, I pick up the chicks at the distribution center, so they spend as little time as possible out there.  I also order in spring, after the winter cold is over.  My worst losses were three years ago, an order from Meyers;  10% losses within ten days.  Usually only one or two chicks dies out of 25 to 50.  Mary

Our loss was 9 chicks out of 26 in about 3 days. Very sad. We picked them up within a hour of the call from the post office.

 

[Folly's place]

That's really sad, and 30% dying is totally unacceptable, IMO. How did the hatchery people respond? Hope they were helpful, at least. Mary