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

[centrarchid]

How often does this happen?

10 to 20 clutches set annually, two this year in locations meeting your criteria. Both of those clutches failed. I have decades of experience and seen successful ground clutches, but pattern holds, on ground outside has much lower success rate through hatch, especially during periods of heavy rainfall. In past the number of clutches set annually much higher.

There is a seasonal factor as well like with wild turkey and quail although hatching during those time frames is not desirable for economic reasons.

 

[aart]

In the US the term breeder is used too loosely. Most anyone that simply hatches eggs seem to call themselves a breeder.

That's for sure!
Same goes for NPIP 'breeders'....illusions of quality and integrity.
Self testing for only one or a few diseases does not ease my mind one bit.
One good thing about NPIP is they are not allowed to have anyone visit their facility,
so that helps with biosecurity, but then you don't get to see the cleanliness of housing etc. It's a Catch22 ....and a crap shoot as to quality and health of birds.



OP's question has been answered well and full I think.

 

[Kiki]

That's for sure!
Same goes for NPIP 'breeders'....illusions of quality and integrity.
Self testing for only one or a few diseases does not ease my mind one bit.
One good thing about NPIP is they are not allowed to have anyone visit their facility,
so that helps with biosecurity, but then you don't get to see the cleanliness of housing etc. It's a Catch22 ....and a crap shoot as to quality and health of birds.



OP's question has been answered well and full I think.

NPIP is another over used phrase. Don't get me started on that one.

 

[Shadrach]

That's for sure!
Same goes for NPIP 'breeders'....illusions of quality and integrity.
Self testing for only one or a few diseases does not ease my mind one bit.
One good thing about NPIP is they are not allowed to have anyone visit their facility,
so that helps with biosecurity, but then you don't get to see the cleanliness of housing etc. It's a Catch22 ....and a crap shoot as to quality and health of birds.



OP's question has been answered well and full I think.

So you're not convinced that the hatcheries and breeders are 'safe 'either?

 

[Shadrach]

As to be expected, lots of conflicting opinions.
I’ll start with the statement from @KikisGirls
Hatcheries are safe.

@Chickassan doesn’t agree. She is writing about genetic disorders though and not diseases.
I can’t find the posts, but somewhere on this forum there are posts from people who have purchased chicks and eggs from hatcheries and had problems. So, it seems KikisGirls statement may not be as straightforward as the statement implies., Of course, how one defines ‘safe’ makes a difference.
I’m inclined to believe Chickassan. The reason for this is her use of the word notorious. This would imply some degree of common knowledge.
Also afaik she has no vested interest.
There are posts on this forum (I’m not going to spend hours searching for them because we all know they exist) from people who have received broken eggs and dead and/or severely traumatized chicks from hatcheries. I don’t call that safe, at least not for the chick. It may be true that you can obtain a refund which may be important to the buyer but is way down on the list of my concerns. I’m interested in the welfare of the chicks and the prevention of diseases spreading to existing flocks and the prevention of genetic problems.

@Centrachid makes an interesting point that would probably require many pages of heated discussion; At what stage is the chick alive.
Given the research into the importance of egg turning and environmental control in the early stages of embryo development, I can’t see that however many days of random shaking involved in the delivery of eggs by mail being good for the embryo and given the research possibly having long term consequences for the chicken should it hatch.

@Mosey2003 makes some points regarding the complexities of incubating eggs. Clutch hatching rate seems to be the concern here.
How many back yard chicken keepers are really concerned about this (?)
I don’t know how many eggs the ‘average’ chicken keeper orders but I suspect there will be a marked difference between those who want a few chickens as egg layers or pets to keep in a back yard situation and those who intend to breed and sell. If a hen sits here and doesn’t hatch every egg she sits on it’s not a major concern.
A good quality incubator takes care of most of Mosey2003 points. If a person is not prepared to invest in their chickens then perhaps they shouldn’t keep them, or better still if possible, let the hen do it; they do it for free and given the right circumstances make a better overall job from incubation to integration than humans.

This post from Mosey2003 would suggest that he/she sells chickens and is possibly a breeder. Apparently not manic about bio security.
I think there may be a significant number of people who fall into the enthusiast/breeder category who are also ‘not manic about bio security’.

@WVduckchick has been refreshingly honest, with regard to her selling of chickens. However, she writes she lets people handle the chicks.
The advice given about quarantine conditions is quite clear. Any contact is a risk.
@Kessel23 mentions the difficulties encountered by first time hatchers from incubators. There seems to be a general concern about cost. The notion that keeping chickens is any less costly, or requires any less learning and responsibility is in my view false and in the long term harmful to chicken welfare. Cheap and easily replaceable if things go wrong is not an attitude I believe responsible chicken enthusiasts should be promoting.
Proper care as recommended by the more responsible contributors on this site and others is time consuming and expensive. I have a chapter in the book I’m writing about the true cost of responsible chicken care based on the amount of money (it includes time) necessary to achieve this. The chickens here, despite being free range are expensive to keep.
The main concern in Kessel23 post is the distress and inconvenience to the human. It’s not a view I have any sympathy with.

 

[Birdinhand]

to the OP, (haven't read all the comments), we live in the burds and can not have a rooster, period, and it seems that more and more of the available farm land is getting eaten up by development so for many of us, the suburban micro farm with city restrictions is the only option. I am able to get fertile eggs from friends on occasion and love nothing more than to treat my kids to the miracle of a broody hen raising her chicks and since I can go pick them up, I don't run into the losses I've had with shipped eggs. for meat birds, I have found a strain of CX that work very well and stay pretty healthy, no broken bones, perky, frolic in the dirt, spar and flap and run, it's the cobb 500 strain of CX. you can not get the eggs, they are propriatary, a cross and can't be bread from their off spring, so relying on mail order is about the only option, sometimes they are available at Tractor Supply. there is no fail safe way for our location, even though shipped chicks tend to be much more suited for shipping, occasionally the shipment gets delayed and losses happen and it's sad. I grow about 70 a year for the family and they arrive mostly healthy, I lose a few initially as some are runts but the rest do great without ever seeing a mom or dad and they are in freezer camp within 8-9 weeks and our family of 4 is good for another 6 months. it accounts for about 90% of the meat we eat and I feel much better about it than store bought meat though I do not take the sacrifice of their life lightly.

 

[Mosey2003]

Oh good lord, it was a turn of phrase. I meant I don't have a foot wash and jumpsuits, not that I'm not aware or concerned at all. Changing shoes going to other farms is a lot more than many do even.

I really don't know what the point of all this is now. Were we supposed to simply agree that breeders are bad and hatcheries are bad so lets all just broody hen it and be happy?

 

[Shadrach]

Oh good lord, it was a turn of phrase. I meant I don't have a foot wash and jumpsuits, not that I'm not aware or concerned at all. Changing shoes going to other farms is a lot more than many do even.

I really don't know what the point of all this is now. Were we supposed to simply agree that breeders are bad and hatcheries are bad so lets all just broody hen it and be happy?

The point of all this is that poor bio security, irresponsible breeders and badly manged hatcheries are spreading diseases and genetic disorders that can effect chickens health and on occasions decimate some peoples much loved flocks.

I can’t really see why anyone would have a problem with such a topic.

 

[aart]

So you're not convinced that the hatcheries and breeders are 'safe 'either?

Hatcheries are the safest, IMO, as far as disease avoidance.
They are large businesses that would fail if they didn't have strict biosecurity procedures.
Shipping has its risks, as does the interim farm store habitat.

'Breeders' have a very wide range of risk, a few will be excellent and most will be trying to make a buck and lying thru their teeth to do so.

Couple of my biggest 'Romance meets Reality' disappointments when beginning with chickens was that many-to-most birds are not pure breeds, no matter what they are called by anyone....and that many-to-most birds carry disease organisms asymptomatically, which can be blindly spread to your most safely procured stock.

 

[Kiki]

In the US it is my opinion that it is safer...disease wise...to buy from a hatchery.
I have never received a retarded or deformed bird from a hatchery.