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

[Shadrach]

I incubate simply due to the fact I like imprinting the chicks to myself rather than a hen. It makes it much easier to manage them at least in my situation. Since save for two of my flock have known me as the hen I can control them like a maestro. This year I also purchased day old female chicks as my own hatching was turning out a riduclous amount of males 4 to 1 ratio. I can use a broody if I so choose but to be quite frank iv'e had less losses and better birds doing it myself.

4:1.....you've been really unlucky if you don't want roosters.
In my situation it's very important that the chicks imprint mum and later, dad imprints the chicks. They just don't survive here without a group (I call them tribes) to belong to.
Also, it's less stress and work for me. If I get too many roosters I have to kill them, but I can cope with eight so lots get to live.

 

[townchicks]

I think this is a good thread, very thought provoking. There are as many answers as there are chicken keepers, and none of them wrong, IMO. I can see why people buy chicks from feed stores, it's quick and easy and you can point out the ones you want. Tiny chicks are cute, and if handled regularly, seem to be friendlier, and is just plain fun. (as long as all goes well) I also see why ordering from a hatchery might be a way to go, you can get rarer breeds, large numbers, and you can order from NPIP hatcheries to protect from importing disease.
I also think it would be fun and interesting to let a hen raise a clutch in front of my eyes. It makes sense that those chicks would be healthy and better suited to the particular environment.
None of those options work for me, however. I can't have roosters here, and I won't cull, (knowing myself here, not judging), and re-homing is very hard, as nobody else around the burbs can have them either. So, I bought started pullets (2 EEs) from a poultry breeder, at a neutral location. I wanted to be sure I had girls. The birds were in a pen, I pointed to the ones I wanted, and they went in the pen and got them out. No one was allowed in the pen but the owners. I was happy with my girls, still am, 2 1/2 years later, but they are not very friendly and don't like handling. Then a friend called and asked me to take a hen that they found and nobody claimed. I said yes, but I am a big believer in quarantine! So I set up a cage in the garage for her, and took her to the vet, as she had multiple wounds on her back. While we were there, the vet ran a blood test for 5 diseases that could be communicable. All negative, and 4 weeks later, I started integration. She's my RIR, and I finally got the super friendly, follow me around, can pick up, kind of chicken that I envisioned. My $250 "free" hen. LOL.
I too, read these threads about multiple losses, and failure to quarantine, and wonder, like you do, if there is a better way. It makes me sad what people go through, and the birds, too. However, just like everything else with chickens, there is no one "correct" answer, it all depends on what people want and expect out of chickens. For every disaster, there are probably way more successes, that we just don't here about on here, because there was no cry for help, or support.

 

[centrarchid]

I incubate about 1/2 and hen-hatch and rear the balance each year. There are advantages to both approaches. I am also able to integrate juveniles into flocks with minimal challenges owing to availability of smaller pens I can use to keep young birds in closed proximity to older birds and adults prior to actual combining. Imprinting is also realized on me here even when hen-rearing used. Key to that is having proper relationship with hens doing the rearing.

 

[snow5164]

@Shadrach

No you don’t get to choose individual chicks just a breed and day old or pullets....

I’m in a farming and every second farmers wife hatches chicks , the problem for me is they don’t follow the basic nutritional requirements from day one and the usually only sell mixed breeds.

I too have a closed flock , I sold the entire flock before I replaced them. I like to know where my birds come from and what they’re being fed, being raised by mom? Not important to me .

http://bergshatchery.com/

 

[Shadrach]

I think this is a good thread, very thought provoking. There are as many answers as there are chicken keepers, and none of them wrong, IMO. I can see why people buy chicks from feed stores, it's quick and easy and you can point out the ones you want. Tiny chicks are cute, and if handled regularly, seem to be friendlier, and is just plain fun. (as long as all goes well) I also see why ordering from a hatchery might be a way to go, you can get rarer breeds, large numbers, and you can order from NPIP hatcheries to protect from importing disease.
I also think it would be fun and interesting to let a hen raise a clutch in front of my eyes. It makes sense that those chicks would be healthy and better suited to the particular environment.
None of those options work for me, however. I can't have roosters here, and I won't cull, (knowing myself here, not judging), and re-homing is very hard, as nobody else around the burbs can have them either. So, I bought started pullets (2 EEs) from a poultry breeder, at a neutral location. I wanted to be sure I had girls. The birds were in a pen, I pointed to the ones I wanted, and they went in the pen and got them out. No one was allowed in the pen but the owners. I was happy with my girls, still am, 2 1/2 years later, but they are not very friendly and don't like handling. Then a friend called and asked me to take a hen that they found and nobody claimed. I said yes, but I am a big believer in quarantine! So I set up a cage in the garage for her, and took her to the vet, as she had multiple wounds on her back. While we were there, the vet ran a blood test for 5 diseases that could be communicable. All negative, and 4 weeks later, I started integration. She's my RIR, and I finally got the super friendly, follow me around, can pick up, kind of chicken that I envisioned. My $250 "free" hen. LOL.
I too, read these threads about multiple losses, and failure to quarantine, and wonder, like you do, if there is a better way. It makes me sad what people go through, and the birds, too. However, just like everything else with chickens, there is no one "correct" answer, it all depends on what people want and expect out of chickens. For every disaster, there are probably way more successes, that we just don't here about on here, because there was no cry for help, or support.

It's absolutely true what you write about reading more of the terrible disasters that happen than the happy results.
I ceratainly had ethical and health concerns about the breeders in the UK. I really don't like the big hatcheries, even if their bio security is good; something about trading in life, but It's a personal thing and I don't expect many to agree with me. Farms do it and I buy farm goods.

 

[Shadrach]

I incubate about 1/2 and hen-hatch and rear the balance each year. There are advantages to both approaches. I am also able to integrate juveniles into flocks with minimal challenges owing to availability of smaller pens I can use to keep young birds in closed proximity to older birds and adults prior to actual combining. Imprinting is also realized on me here even when hen-rearing used. Key to that is having proper relationship with hens doing the rearing.

Do you let any sit and hatch in the open?

 

[Chickassan]

I think people's methods depend alot on environment and needs even sometimes on the breeds they're planning as to how they're brought in and up. When I had gamebirds I never incubated, they were true free range. Mom could do a much better job than I with those. My approach now is strictly geared towards laying hens where the motherly instinct is still present but not always fully intact. @Shadrach yes a 4 to 1 ratio is very unfortunate when you're raising for eggs and you're a vegetarian. No issues giving them away since they were docile as babes.

 

[Mosey2003]

@Shadrach

No you don’t get to choose individual chicks just a breed and day old or pullets....

I’m in a farming and every second farmers wife hatches chicks , the problem for me is they don’t follow the basic nutritional requirements from day one and the usually only sell mixed breeds.

I too have a closed flock , I sold the entire flock before I replaced them. I like to know where my birds come from and what they’re being fed, being raised by mom? Not important to me .

http://bergshatchery.com/

Agreed! I want what I want, and I want it to be done well. If you have the breed and quality I want, yet you set eggs from every hen you have, or set pullet eggs, or hatch in a way I don't like, or feed low protein and/or low quality feed, I'm not interested.

 

[Kiki]

Thank you.
So for the hatcheries you specify the breed you want and you get what they supply? There is no choice of individual chicks?
I'm just curious. I've recently read a number of posts from people who have bought diseased chicks from breeders. It brought to mind the experience in the UK in my first post.

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

 

[Shadrach]

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

I see you posting in some of the hatchalong threads. I believe you keep quail, but chickens as well?
What do you do with all those chicks you hatch?