How to Get Your Chicks
How to Get Your Chicks
There are services that will sell the fertilized eggs of certain breeds to you so that you can place them in an incubator and hatch them yourself. If you are just starting with your backyard chicken project, understand that the incubator is an investment in time and money.
In the beginning, you probably want to stick with just getting live chicks instead of the fertilized eggs. The “guarantees” that the chicks will all hatch are questionable and you never know what kind of breed you are going to get. When you have your incubator up and running, try it out, see what happens.
There are two main ways to get chicks:
First, is through dealing with a local supplier. Farm/feed stores often sell chicks in the Spring and in this way you can see the health, breed and appearance of each chick you purchase. Purchasing from local farms is also an option but you have to be aware that there are some diseases that make their presence known later. Most commercial producers of chicks inoculate the chicks for common diseases while most farms do not.
When you are choosing the chicks at the store, observe them for a few minutes. If a chick appears to be sleepy or is closing its eyes and not moving a whole lot, chances are that that chick will die within a few days. You want chicks that are hopping around, eating, scratching and looking altogether healthy. If several of the chicks have a tired appearance, find another location to purchase them from it may be a diseased batch of birds.
The second way to get chicks is through online services. There are many who will have a guide to breeds along with an order form that you can fill out online and they can ship them to you overnight.
If you choose this option, you have to know for sure that someone will be at home to receive them on the day they are delivered. If no one is home, the postman will have to return back to the post office with a box of hungry chicks. It may be a long time before you get to pick them up.
Another thing to remember before ordering them is have your coop, water trays, and feeding trays ready before they arrive. Of course, they will be too small for the coop; you will more than likely have to keep them inside under a heat lamp until they grow their feathers.
While it is best to start with chicks, it gets you used to them, and them used to you, sometimes you will find people who have to sell, give away or otherwise dispose of their birds. Keep in mind the possibility that there may be some diseased birds in that flock that even the owner isn’t aware of. If you find a good deal, and you don’t have an established flock already, purchasing grown hens from a local farmer is an option.