Farmer Jane

Haha! Good luck with the DH! I wanted chicks this year but they were all spoken for everywhere I went.

You could always order some from http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've never ordered from them personally and I believe the minimum order is 25 chicks but I've heard some good things about them. Maybe if you didn't want 25 you could find someone to split an order with?

Or you could eat the extras... :twisted:

oh, I was just going to mention that too! that's were we always got chicks, won some big pretty ribbons with them too, as did some other kids.
They come in a box and the post office people allways thought it was really funny. :D

You should allways order more than you actually want, you will loose some. they tend to throw in a few extra anyway.

have fun with the aroucanas! I love them. My first chicken (actually my first pets) were two aroucana hens.

I'm not sure if they still do it but they would send an extra rare breed chick if you ordered a certain number. They confused us on the one set though. We had ordered some Silver Polish and had quite a few of quality (one hen was reserve champion) and one wierd looking one. I could never figure out why his crest was so much different from the others. Well, after we moved and gave the chickens away the friend to whom I gave a Polish pair and the funny looking rooster to took him to a show and we found out he was actually something called an Appenzeller Spitzhauben. :laugh1

[img]http://i694.photobucket.com/albums/vv30…]

To Cute!

I love baby chicks. We accually have two hens sitting on eggs so maby we will have some too!

awwwww. I want some! Need to restrain myself from looking at that link!

I raised some Auracanas that I got as an easter present. They definitely acted different than my flock of rhode island red mixes and I sure got a lot of weird looks from the people that would by my eggs when a couple green ones would pop up in a carton.

Well married life is looking up I guess ;) DH barely grunted. :D Then rambled on about his fishing expedition (I acted extremely interested) and is going to go on facebook to check em out. heh.

They sure do have different personalities. The black A. is fearless, the lighter laced one is a freak that runs in circles, and the others are pretty laid back but not showing serious personality issues like the other 2....

I heard someone tell me today (at the fundraiser we had) that you cannot buy just two or four. But you have to buy half a dozen minimum if you buy from a commercial seller (like TSC) ? :shock: Is that true? If I get chicks from my neighbor, I am sure I can get whatever number floats my boat? And how does it help the spread of (birdflu) if I get more in one purchase? :?
A friend of mine always orders from ideal hatchery http://www.ideal-poultry.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; So does TSC here.

I did my chick thing last year, they are all grown up now lol , I get a dozen eggs a day and one green one a day , yippie..

Check craigslist for your local area for eggs or chicks.

I guess I didn't think they'd be giving eggs so soon! When did they start laying Heather?

I think its 21-25 weeks of age if i recall correctly..

I learn all my stuff off the forum on http://www.backyardchickens.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cool! Thanks

I've been raising chicks for like 5 yrs now and have 14 chickens: Ameriucanas (4 hens and 1 rooster), golden lace cochin, millie fluer, Calif. whites, white leghorns, buff orpingtons, dark braham (the only other rooster), black Jersey giant - I just gave away 6 laying hens because I was getting too many eggs - :rofl .

So -- this year we got a whole bunch of bantams: one white crested polish, one white silkie, one old English selfblue, one old English platunim, a light braham and the rest were just cute :love :laugh1 .

Judith - the reason you are required BY LAW (feds have to be involved in EVERYTHING) to buy 6 or more is because they must keep each other warm by huddling and the USDA found that 6 was the minimum to maintain viablility (not sure how they'd study that, but they say they did)...

I think my auracanas are actually americanas! I got 'schooled', but I really don't care what they are! ;)

that makes sense critter.

Oh, and I use either Welp or Privett hatcheries. And for those not schooled in raising chicks - here is a WONDERFUL site http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKB…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This site has helped me successfully raise all my chicks -- only have lost 3 in 5 years and 2 of those were from the other chicks ganging up on the little fellas. :hammer

I also got a few hints from breeders on how to "tell" the males from the females. You turn them on their backs and use your index and middle fingers to hold down their little feets (to their chests). If they lay there quietly, they are pullets :love , if they fight like the dickens to right themselves, they are cockerels. :lol:

Someone saw their photo and said the all looked like pullets. I am still waiting for the answer to how she can tell. Sexlinks are the only ones I can tell apart! ;)

With sexing chicks, I found that generally the ones that develop tails first, and have the biggest tails are hens.

[quote="critterkeeper"]the reason you are required BY LAW (feds have to be involved in EVERYTHING) to buy 6 or more is because they must keep each other warm by huddling and the USDA found that 6 was the minimum to maintain viablility (not sure how they'd study that, but they say they did)...[/quote]

Where is this? My feed store will sell any number. I recently saw an elderly farmer walk out with just two that he was going to bring to his bantam hen who had been nesting to no avail. He wanted her to think she had done something really special. I thought this was so cute -- I would have married him right then and there, grey hair, overalls and everything.

[quote="Sara"]Where is this? My feed store will sell any number. I recently saw an elderly farmer walk out with just two that he was going to bring to his bantam hen who had been nesting to no avail. He wanted her to think she had done something really special. I thought this was so cute -- I would have married him right then and there, grey hair, overalls and everything.[/quote]

I had someone tell me that the minimum order was 6. Critter just confirmed that. :shock:

That farmers banty is going to be quite shocked when her 'babies' turn out to be plymouth rocks or something. :lol: But I agree: what a sweet gesture. (Maybe he's loaded Sara.....go check it out and marry him for love like Anna Nicole Smith did) :rofl

I think he bought her white leghorns.

And... I think he is already married but I have to say I am much cuter than his real wife. ;)

Lol! No fair, you probably have atleast 25 years on his wife. :laugh1

The 6 minimum is if they are going to be shipped out of state I think....I had a friend in my gardening club order 50 and they all froze to death except 2 due to a cold snap. The 2 died not long after. I'll just pay a few cents more and spare myself the pain of opening a dead box and get exactly how many I want!

This man told me that he got them at a local TSC and they could not (legally) sell him less than 6. :roll:
I should try that on my husband concerning.. Hmmmm. Dogs? Horses? :laugh1

How are your babies doing Jenks?

They're good!

So far, I have one named Psycho Chick, one named Red Hawk, one is Snow White (but my DD is thinking of changing it because that's cheesy), and the other two have yet to reveal their names....

Yay so you name your chickens too? Glad to know I'm not the only one :laugh1 .

It's been their defining characteristics when trying to communicate about them to each other! LOL What can you do? " the red headed one, the white one, the PSYCHO one?" LOL

Lol, I name chickens, not all of them but the ones with personality or unique looks.
first chickens: Fatty and Skinny (ameroucanas)
Then had a flock which has a few names ones:
Frenchy (bantam cochin rooster) and three hens. One named Blackie, the other two indistinguishable and so nameless.
Love (brahma rooster)
I know there were a few more names there but I dont remember. Except Sgt. Sparrow, but he died as a chick. :sad he was the exotic extra, some kind of game bird.

they all had to leave when somone (2 blocks away) complained about us having chickens in town :(

few years later we got another flock:
Don Quixote (Polish rooster)
Sancho (bantam cochin rooster)
Dulcie (Polish hen)
Larry, Curly and Mo (a rediculus trio of two polish roosters and the apenzeller rooster that were allways together)
Buster (brahma rooster... BIG brahma rooster and farm boss Lol)
Daisy (a very broody Brahma hen)
and in each flock was a bunch of Plymouth Rocks which are absolutly nuts and all identical.