Why Do People Buy Live Chicks From Breeders and Farm Stores‭?

[Ridgerunner]

Well, yeah, I understand what brine is and does,
just never saw it on a label where I shop.

I often do.

Saw a great episode of America Test Kitchen where they researched how meat chickens are processed...one was soaking in water(sometimes with salt added) that would be absorbed and increase weight of birds. Another good one was on chicken broth, rarely any chicken at all in those products. SMH.

Probably why my broth is so darn good.

 

[lcwmt]

Thanks for posting.
My OP questions the wisdom of buying live chicks.
Later in the post I stated that I thought incubation of eggs a better option."

In order for me to incubate eggs rather than buying live chicks from a reputable (but not very close) farm store, I would be risking the well being of the eggs as they travel quite a distance in unpredictable weather (April in Montana). Our Postal Service is not as reliable as one might wish. MAYBE the PO would call when the box of eggs was delivered, maybe they would not. I personally am not willing to worry about the state of things with shipping fertile eggs or day old chicks. The prospect of opening a box to dead chicks or dead eggs is not conducive to my sense of how things should be....

Additionally, I'd have to place a minimum order, get to decide what to do with the males (we do not butcher for meat), and then have to invest in a good incubator with all the risks there. The time investment of tending an incubator is not one of my concerns.
My choice has been to make the trek to "town" the first of April or so and choose a handful of chicks, brood them here and integrate them to the others at about 4 weeks (by which time the weather is beginning to settle)..

My flock is smallish. The eleven birds have free range with no neighborhood regulations to worry about. This year I added a cockerel from a very reliable neighbor (15 miles). He's past his adolescent stage now, thank goodness. The two groups of pullets have begun to co-mingle.
Everyone roosts in the coop at night and is out at will during daylight.
Some of the hens do not choose to use the coop for nesting.
I am hoping that as a pullet or two go broody, they will hatch successfully and I will not be buying chicks again for a while. At some point new blood would be important.... there's that neighbor again! He has nice birds...
Male chicks that hatch here will go to a friend who cycles her chickens through egg laying to the freezer.
I have zero interest in selling eggs, chickens, or meat. I may someday decide to start a second flock of "heritage" birds in the interests of helping to keep a strain going. Right now that is of some interest but not a plan.

As for standard of care: These chickens have a ready supply of balanced non-GMO feed, Oyster Shell on the side, grit while they are in the brooder, fresh water at all times. The coop is decent, the runs covered and doors opened at dawn, closed after they have gone to roost.
Their free ranging gleans them a variety of seeds, bugs and whatever they pick out of the veggie compost bin. Their jobs are multiple, eggs are a bonus.
There are no Vets in my region who see chickens, so I have a first aid kit and some good reference material as well as a few local chicken keepers if advice is needed..

As to predators: the dogs alert to hawks and eagles (neither of which are interested in the chickens); we are too far from water to have fox or racoon, the mountain lions here are after bigger prey, coyotes don't like the dogs, bears clean up after the big cats, and the badgers are interested in prairie dogs and voles.
(our bee yard is not fenced FWIW. The commercial apiaries use electric fencing to keep bears off the hives)
There are no dogs at large and our dogs are absolutely reliable with the chickens. Additionally, we are here almost all the time.

Is it "cheap"? no, not at all. There are feed costs, material costs and the biggest of all: time. It is, however, worth it.
Soil amendment, insect control, entertainment and enough excellent eggs. Some of those things would cost me a lot more than the chickens do.


"My and my friends eventual choice was to buy a pullet and a cockerel from someone we knew.
This isn’t an option for many.
Personally I will always prefer to let a hen hatch her eggs. Many people who have posted seem to see some wisdom in this.
I understand for those just starting out this is an impossibility.
I would still favor the incubator route even if it is more inconvenient and more expensive.
Later in this thread the matter of cost arose. My view again is what seems to me to be a view that chickens are cheap to keep is misleading.
A decent level of care for any animals including chickens is quite costly.
Some would probably argue that they spend very little on the care of their chickens. I would be interested to see what their standard of care is.

So, to recap, it’s the buying of live chicks that I have concerns about.
Incubating is fine if you’re prepared to so the work of the hen.

 

[aart]

I ask because the Maran bantam cross cockerels which get killed at 3 months old if they’re going to get killed are still tough when roasted; nice flavour, but a bit tough.

Well, most home grown chicken meat is 'toothsome' for sure.
Key is to rest cleaned carcass in fridge for 48-72 hours before cooking or freezing,
to allow rigor mortise to fully pass,
meat texture will be much improved.

Probably why my broth is so darn good.

Mine too!
I have learned to love a good gelatinous bone broth,
good thing too, cause there's way more of that than meat when harvesting layer birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I ask because the Maran bantam cross cockerels which get killed at 3 months old if they’re going to get killed are still tough when roasted; nice flavour, but a bit tough.
Marinading would seem to be the way to go.
I hate cooking.

I enjoy cooking. At 13 weeks those cockerels shouldn't be that tough but may have been cooked too hot. The trick to cooking an older bird is to cook them slow and with a bit of moisture. Baking should have worked for those though, they were not that old, maybe more basting. The older they are the more flavor and texture they have. If you are used to the 6 to 8 week old chicks from the grocery store the extra texture can put some people off.

Again case where definitions may be confusing. Cornish X and Rangers are usually considered meat birds. Leghorns and the commercial hybrids are considered laying birds, not much meat on them. Other full sized chickens are often considered dual purpose, OK for meat and eggs but not as good as the specialists. Then you have some that might be considered decorative rather than for production. And you can have bantams, not sure where they fit in. Of course you can eat any chicken of any sex or age, but you may have to cook them a special way.

 

[Shadrach]

Going to have to kill a cockerel this weekend. I hate this part of chicken keeping.
I just don't have the hens for him and I can't afford to build another coop at the moment.

 

[Birds of a Feather]

I think people in the U.S. generally buy feed store chicks from hatcheries because it’s convinient and you’re unlikely to bring a disease into an existing flock. Also, then you can pick an assortment of breeds.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Of course it’s cheaper to buy a chicken for dinner. I paid $2.50 for the ones I bought. Okay hubby wanted a EE 4.50 (splurge). Did the breakdown and with the run the coop the predator wire the waterers the feed etc....
we figured our eggs (based on production) cost us 59.99 per egg!
Then hens are too expensive to eat. Gotta keep them laying to work off their debt.
I did not factor in blood sweat and Tears. It’s a labor of love and joy....priceless

 

[lomine]

The organic and factory farm are the same kind of “breeds,” i.e. CX. The higher price of organic not only covers the more expensive feed costs but also the more expensive husbandry costs. To be labeled organic the chickens have to have X amount of space (way more than the factory farm) and X amount of time outside on grass (that’s not treated with any chemicals). They are probably adding a little extra price too just because they can. I think for those that buy organic, it’s not just about what the chicken ate but also about how it was treated. I don’t think there is a difference in taste. That’s just an assumption, I don’t buy organic because I don’t have a problem with gmos and it’s just too expensive for me. Plus I raise my own so I don’t need to buy chicken from the store unless it’s a rotisserie. Yum.

 

[aart]

My layers pay for their feed and some of their bedding with egg sales.
I track these costs pretty carefully as I can't afford to keep 'pet' chickens.
Never calculated the 'cost' of a slaughtered hen,
one of my egg customers buys a couple each fall,
I try to give them but they insist on $5 each.
Cockerel probably costs less than $5 to put on the grill.
Coop, run, incubators, etc are the 'hobby' part.
I'm not in this to turn a profit,
just to be more aware of where my food comes from.

 

[aart]

To be labeled organic the chickens have to have X amount of space (way more than the factory farm) and X amount of time outside on grass (that’s not treated with any chemicals).

Unfortunately those X's are a bit of a sham.