Why so long to get in chicks?

[midget_farms]

OK - I searched the world for my Buff Orpington hens & roo & though they apparently do exist no one will part with them (a good sign I want the right breed) or shipping is too difficult.

So I ordered 15 baby chicks - straight run (only really want 5 or 6 hens total & 1 roo). They said it would be June 25th before they ship. What gives with that???? I thought these places had eggs in the bater all the time, not set to order. Did I pick the wrong place?

 

[chcknrs]

They are probably sold out on earlier hatches. I noticed a lot of the hatcheries are sold out until June.

 

[Katy]

They're probably already pre-booked up until those dates. Lots of people order their chicks months ahead of time for delivery later.

 

[Tutter]

I always have buff orpingtons in my flock, but when I made my chick order, they couldn't get them to me until a July 5th ship date, so I had to skip getting new ones. This is the first year I've not been able to get them in the spring from this company.

Then our newest feed store/general merchantile had a Mother's Day weekend sale, and there, in the middle of the store, were chicks! Buff orpingtons, black giants, golden laced wyandottes etc.

They said they'd had Ameraucana's, but that they were only allowed 25 of them, with *maybe* one more shipment next month. The Ameraucana's were sold in the first 30 minutes of the store opening, I understand!

 

[LoneCowboy]

The feed stores are taking all the good dates. Our farm store here gets shipments twice a week. On Sunday (from McMurray) and on Wednesday (from Ideal) So, with that many going out right now it's really hard to find any.

Even with them getting all those chicks twice a week, I have people calling me for some all the time. I'll have buff's in about 2 weeks, straight run, but then it's back to the shipping is too difficult problem.

Good luck. Maybe you should order eggs, and hatch them or get somebody to hatch for you.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Buff Orpingtons are one of the more popular breeds, especially around here. Many, many, many people book there orders even before the hatcheries stock start laying. So what you get is a bunch of orders for eggs that aren't laid yet. Hatcheries have bators running all the time, but they can only incubate eggs that have been laid. LOL

Patience. First come first serve. You'll have plenty of time to drool over your ordered little ones by the time they are ready for ya. LOL

Hope they get there safe and healthy. Buff Orps sell really well around here.

-Kim

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

What hatchery did you order from? You could always try ordering from a different one.

 

[fullhouse]

The hatchery I just got chicks from has them ready early May. You may just need to look around more

 

[equine chick]

Try welp hatchery. I only had to wait 2 weeks to get mine but opted for 4 weeks since I will be out of town.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Well actually I think hatcheries mostly DO 'set to order', actually, don't they? Otherwise they would end up with way MORE unwanted going-to-have-bad-things-happen-to-them-after-only-3-days-of-life chicks than they already do. So I don't see that as a bad thing.

Good luck,

Pat