Whether you’re planning to be a first-time chicken owner or if you’re wanting to add to your existing flock, there are multiple options available for those deciding where to buy chicks.
Perhaps the two most common places to buy chicks are farm supply stores (aka feed stores) and online hatcheries. Both typically offer a variety or chicken breeds and other poultry to suit your needs. But which one is better?
Here are some things to consider when deciding to buy chicks in person at a store or whether going through an online hatchery is the best option.
Local Feed or Farming Supply Stores
Most areas will have some sort of farm supply store, especially if you live in a more rural area where farming is more prevalent, but store locations are beginning to pop up within larger cities as well. In the U.S. we have Tractor Supply (TSC), Rural King, and CountryMax to name a few.
One of the greatest pros about buying chicks in stores is you’re getting instant chicks. There’s no need to wait for days, weeks, or even months for your chicks to arrive. What you see is what you get. You simply walk into the store, pick out what you want from what’s available, and take them home in your little chicken to-go box and pop them in a brooder.
Come spring these stores will start receiving in deliveries of chicks, ducklings, guinea fowl, and other critters from various hatcheries that you can pick up in store while also getting whatever supplies you might need such as feed, waterers, coops, and more.
Considerations:
Selection – Most farm supply stores should have a decent variety of chicks available in store with each shipment they receive.
They generally only sell chicks during certain times of the year, usually from Spring to late Summer for the safety and health of the chicks. If you’re looking to find chicks during the colder months, you’ll most likely have a hard time finding them from a store and will need to get them from somewhere else.
Due to limited of floor space, most stores will only have a couple bins worth of chicks which will also be limited to a couple different breeds at any time. You’re more likely to find the more common varieties such as Rhode Island Reds, Golden Comets, Australorps, Polish, as well as some of the bantam breeds available. However, you might get lucky and find a rare breed or something that isn’t found online very often!
Most of these stores will also only be selling live chicks and will not have hatching eggs available so if you’re wanting to hatch fertile you’ll have to get them from somewhere else as well.
I bought my first chickens in a feed store – The first store I went to only had 2 breeds of chickens in at the time and they weren’t ones that I was particularly interested in. The next store I went to had at least 12 different breeds as well as some other types of poultry (ducks & Guineas), and I went home a happy chicken owner.
Empty Bins – When stores first start getting chick shipments in spring it’s not uncommon to see the brooder bins empty due to having already been picked clean by other poultry owners within just a couple hours of having been stocked.
If you’re wanting to go to a store specifically to pick out some chicks it might be a good idea to call the store ahead of time and ask what they have in stock or when the next delivery is set. (Otherwise, you might end up driving all the way there just to find empty brooder bins).
Can Pick Your Chicks – Going to a physical store you are able to see your chicks up close and in person. Because of this you are able to pick and choose the chicks you want and can make sure you get ones that are healthy and energetic.
While most stores generally won’t let you touch or handle the chicks yourself, they’ll often let you point out which chicks you want. You can then inspect them, look for any obvious health issues, and request a swap if needed before you take them home.
Minimum Buy Amount – Most feed stores have a minimum buy amount for their chicks. Most often I’ve seen a 4 chick or 6 chick minimum buy amount. This could be a higher number or lower depending on where you live and the policies of the particular store you’re at.
If you’re just wanting just 2 or 3 chickens to get you started, then this minimum buy could be more than you were wanting to get (or it could be a great excuse to get more chickens than you were originally planning for).
Store Associates – The associates working in the farm or feed store may or may not have much experience and knowledge with chickens.
The store associates are not generally hired based on their extensive poultry knowledge, so depending on who you encounter in a store they might have very limited knowledge on chick breeds and care or they might accidentally give you incorrect information.
This said, store associates can also provide a wealth of knowledge about chickens as well as your local laws if they happen to know them. They might also be able to provide recommendations on feeds, medications, or possibly information on local avian vets.
Be prepared for a roo or two – Feed stores are a bit notorious for having rooster chicks thrown in with what should be female chicks only – although this can be more attributed to the hatchery the store ordered from and in everyone’s defense, it’s very difficult to be 100% correct when sexing chicks.
On the plus side, many of these stores will allow you to return or exchange your unwanted roosters within a certain amount of time.
Keep in mind that certain breeds come only as straight-run (unsexed) anyways so the store will have no control over their gender.
Sales – On occasion you might find that your local feed store is selling chicks at a discount. This is a great time to stock up on some extra chicks with a very good reason – who can resist a good bargain?
Poor treatment / housing of chicks – The quality of life for chicks in a store can vary depending on multiple variables such as the size of the store, the store’s policies, management, employees etc.
While most sufficiently attend to the birds needs there are stories of certain stores or locations that were not.
In particular, Tractor Supply received some backlash around 2021 on the new brooders they were storing chicks in. The concern for the animal’s welfare was so great there was a petition going around to get the corporation to change their brooders back to what they had been using before (which they did end up doing).
The battery-style cages the company had switched to in an effort to save on space and increase efficiency had multiple issues causing a higher mortality rate for chicks and ducklings.
You’d often see the chicks piled in on top of each other in the middle underneath the single heat bulb in the tanks. Some chickens would get hurt from being smothered by others, or due to being too cold from not being able to get close enough to the heat. The flooring was an uncomfortable mesh not suitable to little chicks’ feet.
The majority of their stores have since changed their brooder setups which has further limited the space they have for different breeds of chicks but has greatly improved the chicks living conditions while at the store.
Other Supplies you need – While purchasing the chicks themselves at a farm supply store might be your main purchase purpose, one of the greatest benefits of shopping at these stores is that they also carry all of the basic supplies you need in order to raise your chicks.
Besides the chicks themselves, they’ll most likely have bins that can be used for a brooder, feeding troughs, waterers, a variety of chick feed, heating/lights, medicine, a couple coops to choose from, and possibly even large pens to use as a run.
Other:
- Beware – It can be difficult to resist buying more chicks every time you visit the store to pick up more feed.
- One thing to note is often these stores are ordering their chicks from the very same online hatcheries that we’re about to discuss next. If you go to the store’s website and chick section they’ll often tell you which hatchery they receive chicks from.
Online Hatcheries
Purchasing chicks through a hatchery website is the option that will most likely give you the greatest variety of options and is one of the most popular methods of purchasing chicks and other poultry.
These hatcheries make buying chickens easy!
You simply go to their website, browse their selection, add them to your cart and voila! Mail-order chicken.
Many of the online hatcheries have been around for decades. The companies often have experienced staff, well-established handling practices that ensure the health of their breeding flocks, and they tend to have exceptional customer service as well. Most of their websites also often come with reviews to help you decide which breeds you might like as well as the dependability of the individual hatchery itself.
After ordering your chicks you simply wait for them to ship via the postal service and then pick them up at your local post office once they have arrived.
Considerations:
Selection – Online hatcheries will almost always have the best selection of different breeds and varieties available. They will also often have other poultry and game birds for sale such as ducks, quail, geese, turkeys, doves, and more!
Some hatcheries even have their own unique breeds they’ve created and sell exclusively through their outlets.
They will also often have other options such as buying hatching eggs or buying pullets which are hens that are less than 1 year old and either already laying eggs or close to it.
Price Variances – Some hatcheries sell the same breeds of chickens, the prices, however, are often not the same. When looking for a specific breed and if on a tight budget make sure to shop around and see what your best options are. While most of these price differences generally aren’t great, you may want to shop around to get the best deal for the breeds you’re wanting to buy.
Breed Information – Most of the online hatcheries do a great job of providing information on the individual breeds they raise and sell. You can find information on average weight as adults, egg color, egg-laying productivity, genetics, comb shape, care information, and more.
Sexed Chickens – Most hatcheries sell chicks as either female (hens), males (roosters), or straight run (mixed / unsexed). They typically employ experts who can identify the gender of the chicks based on certain physical characteristics. While the accuracy is not 100% guaranteed, they’re generally pretty darn close!
Keep in mind certain breeds cannot be sexed at birth, this is usually due to their size which makes it more difficult to determine the gender. Traditionally the smaller bantam breeds were unable to be sexed (and some still aren’t), but some hatcheries do have the capabilities to sex some of their bantams.
Feed stores will mainly sell pullets and then some straight run for the breeds that can’t as easily be sexed. So, if you’re specifically wanting to get a rooster of a particular breed, an online hatchery is the way to go.
Vaccinations – As an extra service, most online hatcheries will offer vaccinations against Marek’s Disease for a little bit extra. Not all want their chickens vaccinated though so it’s generally an add-on you can choose when ordering.
Chicks Not Available – Depending on the specific breed of chicken or the time of the year you may find the availability on hatchery websites to be zero.
Many hatcheries will not have chicks available in cooler months since chickens slow down laying and it’s dangerous to mail chicks in inclement weather (this will be the same for farm supply stores as well).
Other times of the year they might just be sold out of the specific breed that you want due to its popularity, low egg-laying rate, or the hatchery might have had an outbreak or other incident that has caused their supply to be low.
If you’re wanting to buy chicks online, it’s good to plan ahead and order your spring/summer chicks well in advance – sometime in fall or winter.
Extra chicks! – Sometimes online hatcheries will mail you an extra chick or even a couple extras. This can help offset any that arrive in poor shape.
Con…. The extras are sometimes a rooster-to-be when you only ordered hens. Then you’re stuck with having to rehome a rooster you’ve potentially grown attached to as a chick if you live in an area that doesn’t allow for roos.
Depending on where you get your chicks from and their company policies you might be able to get replacements sent if you end up with a rooster when you only ordered hens.
The Post & The Pickup – Live animals like chicks generally cannot be shipped directly to your house so you’ll need to coordinate with your local post office about them receiving your chicks and you picking them up.
Some post offices are used to receiving live animals and they know to call you first thing and let you know so you can go and get them immediately. However, not all post offices will know to do this and your chicks may be left boxed up in the back corner of a post office forgotten (despite the loud peeping).
Health Issues & DOA (Dead on Arrival) – One of the saddest aspects of having a live animal mailed to you is it arriving and not being alive. DOAs usually happen when unsafe conditions or illnesses, etc have affected chicks while in transit to a location.
Mailing live animals can be very detrimental to animals’ health. They get jostled around, can potentially slip and injure themselves, temperatures may be too high or too low, and stress caused by the transportation process can also cause issues.
This is one of the reasons why some companies will only ship during certain times of the year, when it’s not too hot or too cold. Newborn chicks need to be kept at around 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit in order to stay comfortable. They don’t have feathers yet to keep them warm and they don’t have access to fresh water or air circulation to help keep them cooler if it’s too hot.
This is also one of the reasons why online companies will often require you to order a couple chicks at a time, so that they can both insulate each other and keep each other warm and provide some extra cushion so they aren’t falling over everywhere and hurting their legs.
Below are some of the more commonly ordered from online hatcheries (within the U.S.):
- Murray McMurray Hatchery
- My Pet Chicken
- Meyer Hatchery
- Hoover’s Hatchery
- Cackle Hatchery
- Stromberg’s
-Final Thoughts-
You can always use both supply stores and online hatcheries to get your chicks. Or you can use one of the many other options available to you such as online groups, farmers markets, local poultry breeders, and more! And why not use both methods? Order the hard-to-get breeds that you really want from the online hatcheries and buy the rest in stores as you go shopping for supplies and happen to see ones you like.
