Which hatchery should I order Barred Rock chicks from?

[J. Jamison]

I was wanting to order some barred rock chicks and was wondering which hatchery had the best chicks. One hatchery may be as good as another but I was wandering which one you guys prefered. I ordered some red and black stars from McMurray a few weeks ago but they are out of barred rocks for the year. Ideal, Meyer, and Welp still have them to my knowledge. Give me your thoughts please.

 

[hatchaholic]

I've ordered mine from Ideal twice now, and I just hatched some eggs that I bought from a BYC member. My chicks from Ideal have always been very healthy. I did have one in my last batch that has some kind of spine deformity, but it didn't really show up until he was a couple of weeks old. But, I guess that can happen with any hatchery.

 

[cmom]

My chicks came from Ideal. I have been very happy with them.

 

[speckledhen]

I have two from Ideal. I'm not impressed with the quality, really. One has the worst ghost-like barring and one is very small for a standard (4.5-5 lb) with too-light barring for a hen. Honestly, I think McMurray has had better BRs in the past, not sure about now. helmstead got hers from MM and hers have better barring than my two from Ideal. In fact, I hatched eggs from her flock to get most of my hens.

 

[hatchaholic]

Cyn,
That's why I want some of your eggs!!! Your birds are so pretty!!

 

[Harley's girl]

Quote:
I second that!!! I have 28 healthy chickies!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you for the compliment. Mine are still considered utility BRs, but they are GOOD utility BRs, LOL. The further from hatchery stock you get, seems the better the quality, as long as you breed the best you have and watch for bad traits to pop up. I'm very worried about buying any hatchery stock now, since four or five of my hatchery hens have had internal laying problems and three of those have passed on already. So far, none of that from my non-hatchery birds, knock on wood. My hatchery girls are excellent producers, which is probably been their downfall.
I'm not saying dont buy from a hatchery ever, but just depends on what you want. Most of the MM BRs I've seen are a bit nicer than the Ideal ones.

 

[Chickenaddict]

If you were in MN and wanted to drive to get mine Ideal sent 9 of them with my order as packing peanuts, I can't have standards with my bantams and have no use for them. BTW they are free but i won't ship them, they have already been thru 2 days of shipping just to get here. All are lively as all heck

 

[swtangel321]

J. Jamison :

I was wanting to order some barred rock chicks and was wondering which hatchery had the best chicks. One hatchery may be as good as another but I was wandering which one you guys prefered. I ordered some red and black stars from McMurray a few weeks ago but they are out of barred rocks for the year. Ideal, Meyer, and Welp still have them to my knowledge. Give me your thoughts please.

What state are you in ??​

 

[jossanne]

I have two McMurray BR hens, and they are pretty gorgeous, as far as I'm concerned. They're big and fluffy, with decent barring, and they are laying a lot of eggs.

I have 14 1wk old BR or BSL cockerels from Ideal (packing peanuts), but I can't tell how good they are yet. They're big and vigorous, though! Way more so than the bantam cochins they came with...

Here's one of my McMurray BR's (4 months old, I think, in this pic):