Which hatchery would you choose?

[vortec]

Imagine this as your situation. You want to get a simple flock of hatchery stock birds. You want a certain amount of roos and hens and you want them to be hearty and shaped right( according to breed ) What hatchery that ships chicks do you use and why?

vortec

 

[elaucht]

I used Ideal poultry. They let you choose how many and what kind of bird roo or pullet they are very helpful if you aren't sure what you are looking for. If any die during shipping they will reimburse you with no problem.
good luck with your new flock.

 

[BarkerChickens]

I heard that Sandhill Preservation has very nice birds if you are wanting hatchery stock that look more like the breed/show stock. I myself was planning to order from them this winter, but they were out of what I wanted.

Great reputation though!

 

[ging3rhoffman]

I like Meyers Hatchery. You can order as few as 3 chicks. Out of 15 chickens they only messed up on sexing one of them. Thats really good. I also like that i had them the next day after they shipped them.

I think its very important to order from a Hatchery that is close to you as possible. Shipping is hard on those little babies. I keep reading that McMurrays chicks arrive with dead chicks so i wouldnt order from them. I will post a picture of one of the EEs that meyers sent me and one of my SLW's.

Meyers Silver Laced Wyandotte, now 12 weeks old.

Here is one of Meyers EE's. A beautiful rumpless. I am so excited about her.

Okay...one more. Here are my 5 day old EE babies that I got from Meyers this week.

 

[ging3rhoffman]

I forgot. You can go to their website and order one of their free catalogs. They have a pretty good selection. I have Buff Orpingtons, Black Aussies, White Rocks, Delawares, Easter Eggers, Rhode Island Reds and silver laced wyandottes. They had cochins and bantams also. www.meyershatchery.com

 

[Pine Acres Peeps]

A couple years ago I ordered from Estes Hatchery, 25 barred rocks, I got 5 extra for free! All were very healthly and running everywhere as soon as I put them in the brooder. At that time they were the best price, I paid COD at the post office to. Anyway they arrived exactly when they said, I was very happy with them.

 

[Paganbird]

I just received an assortment from Meyers in Ohio. They were very nice, excellent customer service, and good looking chicks. The brown layer asst. was to have at least 3 different breeds - I got 6 different breeds. They sent an extra and all arrived the next day alive and well.
Their birds look uniform as well. I had purchased chicks from Mt.Healthy last year and they were difficult to ID the breeds... and I had ordered specific breeds so I knew what I was getting!
I would definitely recommend Meyer.

 

[Mahonri]

Either next year or the year after, I'm ordering the Ornamental Layer Collection from McMurray.

I like variety

 

[ging3rhoffman]

Quote:
I love variety also. so far I have Silver lace wyandottes, rhode island reds, black aussies, white rocks, buff orpingtons, delawares, welsummers and Easter eggers. I am most facinated with the easter eggers. They change so much a they grow and you dont know what color of egg they will give you. Keeps you excited and wondering.

 

[dun chick]

I have dealt with two in the past. Meyers is close to me and they gave me wonderful stock chicks, it got me started. I went with welp the next year only because the selection was better and for some reason or another meyer quit or had problems with their online ordering and frankly for me it's easier for me to pick and choose. This year for my layers I went with my feed store and selected three kinds of chicks from mt healthy and they turned out fine. The problem i had to order 15 each breed. They are nice robust chicks and i think not too hard to identify since i got blk sex links, rir and barred rocks.