How do you get chickens?

If you are totally new to the idea of backyard chicken keeping, then like me, you are probably wondering, where in the world do you buy live chickens? Or perhaps you have seen some at a local feed store. Let me outline some of your options to help you get started.

Sourcing your chickens can be very simple or extremely challenging depending on the quantity and breeds you are interested in. In addition to determining which breeds you are interested in, you’ll need to decide if you want to get chicks or older chickens. Many people will want and will suggest getting chicks since chicks are really really adorable and getting them young can help them bond with you. But there are advantages to getting older chickens too, the two main ones are that you don’t have to have a brooder set up to house the chicks before they are ready to go outside and that gender will be clear. When looking for older chickens you’ll often hear “pullets”, which are chickens that less than a year old and “POL” which means hens that are just about to start laying eggs. 

It is also important to understand sexed versus straight run chicks. Sexing a baby chick is a very difficult task and most people, even many breeders cannot do it. Large hatcheries have professional chicken sexers on staff to determine the gender of new baby chicks and even then, Bantam chicks (which are smaller) usually cannot be sexed at all and are always sold straight run. Straight run means you’ll get baby chicks, gender unknown/specified. If you can order sexed chicks, you’ll have the opportunity to select Male or Female. If you go with a smaller local breeder or person who orders and hatches eggs locally then you’ll probably have to buy straight run. And if like us, you cannot have roosters in your city then it adds a bit of risk and work. We did get 6 straight run chicks because they were breeds we wanted and from a local source. We preferred to deal with the issues of buying straight run chicks rather than getting chicks that had gone through the mail (although we did end up with 2 that we bought locally that had been shipped to the place we bought from). Since odds of getting a hen or a rooster are 50/50, we got 2 chicks of each breed we wanted with hopes that we’ll end up with at least one girl of each. We will then rehome any cockerels and extra hens if we happen to get duplicate hens and don’t have space to keep more girls.

Now sources, you have a bunch of them!

Chicks that have not been shipped – Local small scale breeders and egg hatchers

If you can get connected locally, this is probably the best way to source your chicks for many reasons. You’ll get to meet to people you’re buying your chicks from who will probably be people who love chickens and helping other people get started, they will be a wealth of knowledge for you. You’ll also be supporting your local economy and small businesses. Try online searches and be sure to check out BackYard Chickens, which is a great resource!

Breeders

You may find local breeders who have hand selected their breeding stock and offer up fertilized eggs and young chickens for sale. They will usually focus on a handful of breeds which means not a lot of variety in breed but you’ll usually be getting high quality birds. Their chicks will also likely not be sexed, so you have a 50/50 chance of getting a girl or a boy. That can be a deal breaker for an urban chicken keeper who cannot have roosters and thus would need to re-home them if they got any. And let’s face it, it’d be hard to say goodbye to a chicken you raised since chickhood. But the more I have researched the more I realize it is done all the time, people buy extra chicks in case there is a rooster in the bunch.

Egg Hatchers

I am not sure what the official term is, so I’m calling this category, Egg Hatchers. I’m referring to people who purchase fertile eggs and then hatch them in their homes and sell the chicks (and sometimes older chickens). From what I can tell, the eggs are often hatched with lots of care and the new chicks are given lots of love and attention from the day they hatch till the day you pick them up. These chicks will also be straight run. Very small operations may not give you an option to vaccinate for Marek’s, so be sure to ask if that is important to you. We got some of our chicks from a wonderful Egg Hatcher, Omlet Ranch, who purchases quality eggs to hatch and also breeds some of her own chickens. I have another article, Getting your chicks – go local, with more details about Omlet Ranch and a few other sources for chickens in the Silicon Valley area.

Chicks that have gone through the mail

If you a local breeder or egg hatcher won’t workout for you for whatever reason (availability, only want sexed chicks), then you are likely going to have to get chicks that have gone through the mail. Even in this case, you have a few options.

Local Resale – Individuals

Usually individuals or families who love raising chickens and helping other people get started. They usually get their day old chicks from some of the big hatcheries (see the direct mail order section) or sometimes, from local breeders they know. Chicks will most likely be sexed within 90% accuracy. What is great about buying from someone in this category is that they have taken care of determining what breeds will thrive in your area, getting the chicks from the hatchery to your area, and then giving you a great opportunity to select only as many chicks as you want from the variety of breeds they have at any given time. In addition, you’re supporting a local business and will be be connected with a great source of information for you as you get started. I know one of one local business which holds regular sales of chicks as described above, and then also sometimes orders and hatch eggs of special breeds and sells those chicks straight run. You may also be able to buy older chickens from places like this, perhaps 6-8 week old chicks that would be coop ready or even 5 month old pullets that are close to the point of laying eggs. You will pay a bit more than if you ordered the chicks directly from a hatchery but for those looking for just a few chicks it is 100% worth it. From what I can gather, this can be a very nice experience for families. You get to go and see all the cute chicks and leave with the ones you pick. Very simple.

If you are in the Silicon Valley area, a couple are:

• Little Cluckers in Menlo Park, CA
• Mill Valley Chickens in Mill Valley, CA

To find others or ones closer to you try joining a local backyard chicken group for leads.

Local Resale – Feed Stores

Feed stores will often place large orders for a variety of chicks with large hatcheries to sell through their store. You’ll get to pick the specific ones you want out of all of the chicks they have. They will usually be sexed within 90% accuracy. Ask about vaccinations. I have heard good and bad things about buying from feed stores. I’m sure the care the new chicks get will vary by store. So ask around. If you are in Northern California, I have heard good things about Sam’s Downtown Feed in San Jose and Scott’s Valley Feed in Scott’s Valley. Make sure you inspect the chicks to be sure they seem healthy to you (especially check their bums for what is called pasty butt). I have heard that some feed stores sometimes mix up the breeds so you may get something different than you were expecting. You can help that by getting an idea of what the chicks look like so you can verify. Though it will be hard to be sure since many chicks look very similar. 

To find feed stores that sell chicks try joining a local backyard chicken group for leads, sometimes they will even report on what breeds are available where.

Direct Mail Order – Small scale breeders

Some breeders will hatch their own eggs and sell the chicks, often offering to ship them to you. Nice option to get breeder quality chicks but keep in mind there are probably minimum orders that will be hard to a backyard chicken keeper to meet and they will likely be straight run.

Mail Order – Large scale hatcheries

You’ll be able to find a great variety of breeds, even some rare ones. You’ll usually get to select whether you want female, male or straight run chicks. Advertised accuracy tends to be 90%. They often give you a choice on whether you want them vaccinated for Mareck’s disease. Prices will be good too. The catch is that they often have minimum orders of 25 chicks, though you can often mix and match the breeds. If you are going to keep a small urban flock, that means you’ll either have to find other people to split an order with you or resell the extra chicks locally once you get them. Usually they have to ship them in large groups so the baby chicks keep each other warm on their journey. The exception is My Pet Chicken which will ship as few as 3 chicks depending on where you live. Though I have heard they sometimes hatcheries will low minimums sometimes throw in extra boy chicks to help keep the warmth up during their journey…which for most wouldn’t be a good thing.

Being shipped is stressful for chicks, so if you have an opportunity to get local chicks that don’t need to be shipped, I’d suggest it. But if that isn’t an option, there are many happy people with happy chicks that were mailed from hatcheries.

And even more options

Local chicken meets/swaps and Chicken Shows

I have yet to attend one, but apparently they happen with some regularity. It may be fun to attend one or a few as you’re doing your research to meet some chicken people, especially breeders and see a variety of chickens.

Craig’s List and eBay

Many places and individuals that have chicks or chickens for sale will post on Craig’s List and eBay. Even some of the above sources will. Just be sure to try to verify that you’re buying from someone reputable to ensure you’re getting happy, healthy chicks.