I just received a catalog from one of my favorite baby chick hatcheries, Ideal Poultry, located in Cameron, TX. Their retail chick price catalog showed up in my mail box, along with four different catalogs from various vegetable seed companies. A clear indication that winter will soon be over!
For all you poultry lovers out there, this is the time of year that you sit and ponder the size and genetics of your summer flock. Should you bring in some new blood by buying some new baby chicks? Maybe add a few extremely rare chickens to your flock, like the Buff Wyandotte. The thought of those fluffy little chirping chicks running around the coop yard is simply irresistible!
If you want to know where to buy baby chicks online, bring up your search engine of choice and type in “baby chicks for sale.” This is a good starting point for finding hatcheries with baby chicks for sale. The first thing I would suggest after that is to find one that is in your state, or at the very least, in a nearby state. You see, when you buy baby chicks online, they will show up at your house two to three days after they are born. Hatcheries will hatch your chicks during the night, and then box them up a few hours later for the postman to pick up. Baby chicks are always shipped via Priority Mail, which can take up to three days to reach you. So, buying baby chicks online from a hatchery near you reduces stress on the baby chicks, and supports a much higher survival rate.
I know, for instance, that here in the state of Montana we do not have a poultry hatchery. We ordered our last batch of keets and baby chicks from the closest hatchery we could find: Cackle Hatchery in Missouri. Even so, it still took three days for them to arrive. But when they did, they were all alive and in good condition. I’m not sure if it was just good luck, or the fact that the shipping crate Cackle Hatchery uses, was properly packed and well designed. I just know that we are always so relieved to open the baby chick shipping container and find them alive, active and happily chirping.
Another great hatchery in the Midwest is McMurray Hatchery in Iowa. They claim to be the largest “rare breed” hatchery in the world. I’ve heard really good things about the fellow who owns this hatchery, but I have not ordered baby chicks or keets from him as of yet.
Once you find a baby chick hatchery online that is in or nearby your state, check out their guarantee. Make sure that you are covered if your order shows up and there are some baby chicks inside that didn’t survive the stress of the shipping ordeal. It does happen, even to the very best of hatcheries. Most reputable hatcheries will refund your money or replace your baby chicks. Another worthwhile tip is to go onto some poultry forums and ask questions. Most poultry owners are quick to give you feedback on baby chick hatcheries. Here are a couple of great forums where you can get some honest, quick feedback about where to safely buy baby chicks online.
Guinea Fowl Forum: http://www.guineafowlinternational.org/forum/
BackYard Chickens Forum: http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php
