The first time we raised chickens, acquiring them was easy! In fact, we weren’t even looking for chickens. Our son Mel’s Kindergarten teacher called me up one day and said the class had hatched a dozen chicken eggs and she was calling the families to see if anyone wanted any baby chicks. It was that easy.
Chicken Mania
Fast forward to 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. As I mentioned in my initial Diary of A Chicken Mama post, when we were finally ready to get baby chicks again, Chicken Mania had hit Southern California! I spent weeks calling our local feed store inquiring about chickens. Each time I called they told me they had no idea when they would have chicks again but to keep checking back. The last time I called, they informed me they weren’t even starting a waiting list because they were fielding 60 – 80 calls per day from people looking for chickens! The local hatcheries couldn’t even keep up and due to Newcastle disease, there had been a long-standing chicken quarantine that prohibited chickens from being shipped in or out of our area.
My family had been loyal customers of Camarillo Feed for decades. My parents got all their feed for their flocks there when I was growing up. I wanted to continue that long tradition of supporting a local business but now I had to find somewhere else to get our chicks.
Now what? I quickly jumped into my local backyard chicken group on Facebook and asked where everyone had gotten their chicks. Two hatcheries were recommended; Meyer Hatchery & Dare 2 Dream Farm.
Meyer Hatchery
Meyer Hatchery was immediately out. They are located in Ohio so there was no way I could get chicks shipped in from them, plus the idea of shipping chicks through the mail just seems odd to me. I understand a lot of farms do it, but I was only getting 5 chicks. If I were purchasing a larger amount I would. Meyer’s has an AMAZING poultry catalog that you can access online. It has full color photos of all their chicken, duck, and turkey breeds, with great descriptions of egg size & color, chicken temperament, and breed origins. I ended up using it as my reference manual.
Dare 2 Dream Farm
Dare 2 Dream Farm is a short drive up the coast from us. This cute, organic, family farm was started in 2009. I enjoyed taking a little virtual tour of their farm through their photos and blog posts. It looks a lot like the farm Mel & I always envisioned having some day. Personally, I thought their online store was a little tricky to navigate, but when I called to ask questions, their staff was very friendly, extremely helpful, and answered all my questions.
On the Dare 2 Dream Farm’s website, they have their chickens listed in categories of Baby Chicks, Coop Ready Chickens, and Started Pullets (which are close to laying ready). When you click on the Baby Chicks, there is a drop-down menu with the various breeds to choose from. The problem for me was that every breed listed as sold out. In the description, it states that Baby Chicks are “hatched Monday and Tuesday and listed on Thursday for sale.” I checked my calendar and it was Thursday. This was when I called the farm.
The staff member who answered was genuinely nice. She told me to check their hatching schedule so I’d know which breeds would be available each week. I didn’t see a hatching schedule listed on the mobile site, so I switched to my laptop. It was easier to find on there. I’ve since learned that on their mobile site, if you click on “PLEASE READ: SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR ORDERING DURING COVID-19“ it will take you to the landing page where you will find the link to their “Anticipated Baby Chick Calendar”. Once we were finally able to see the list of upcoming breeds, my research began.
Chicken Breeds
There’s a lot to be said about the different chicken breeds and why I chose the ones I did so I’ll save those details for another post.
For now, I’ll just tell you that we decided on three breeds for our chicks, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Easter Eggers. I did have a couple other options written down in case we need a backup or two, but luckily for us, all three of those breeds were going to be available that next week at Dare 2 Dream Farms.
Splitting the Cost
I called my friend Becca, who also wanted chickens and we talked about the different breeds we wanted. She decided to get Barred Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Buff Orphintons. There is a flat delivery fee with Dare 2 Dream, so we decided to split it. She gave me the money for her chicks (all the breeds we both chose were $8 per chick) and half the delivery fee. Then the waiting game began.
Gotcha Day
Dare 2 Dream Farms began posting their available chicks at 5 pm. Everyone had told me they were selling out quickly, but I had NO IDEA just how quickly! As Thursday arrived for our chick purchase, Mel and I poised ourselves on their site ready to order. We had our list of breeds, and Mel was on the mobile site while I was on my laptop. We figured that way, one of us was sure to get what we needed no matter which was syncing up faster, but that still wasn’t good enough!
They had dozens of breeds available. I quickly tossed all the chicks we needed into our cart, and as Mel was getting his card our for me to complete my transaction, a box popped up on my screen that said “An item has been removed from your cart because it is no longer available.” What? I couldn’t believe what just happened! I quickly added the card info and paid for what I had. We had lost half our chicks!
I scanned my confirmation and discovered we had lost both our Easter Eggers and Becca’s Buff Orphingtons. I jumped back into the store and found there were only 5 breeds left! I grabbed a couple Delawares since they were on my back up list, and some Buff Barred Plymouth Rocks for Becca. She had mentioned she wanted the Buff Orphingtons because she had a dog and a cat that were buff color. I didn’t know much about the Orphintons but I did know the Barreds were a good breed and there were just a few left so I grabbed them. I didn’t even have time to call and confirm with her I just did it. So much for splitting the delivery fee! I ended up paying a full fee on both orders, but I didn’t care. We got our chicks and I still only charged Becca for half of one fee.
Chicken Frenzy
In just 16 minutes, they had completely sold out of hundreds of chickens! Every Baby Chick, Coop Ready, and Started Pullet was sold. We couldn’t believe it! I called Becca to let her know and I rambled on a hundred miles an hour! I don’t even know if she’d fully understood everything I was saying but she could tell by the rush of adrenaline I was speaking through it had been a chicken frenzy!
As things settled down, we went back and reviewed our purchases. I did a little more research into the Delaware’s and I was glad I’d had the foresight to have a list of alternate breeds. One of our previous birds was an Easter Egger (they lay eggs that can be brown, light green, light blue, or even pink) and I will have one again in the future, just not today.
The farm delivers to our town every Tuesday, so I knew we had just 5 days to get our brooder supplies ready. A brooder is a safe, warm place for the baby chicks to live until their fully feathered and can handle being outside (about 6 weeks). I will go into more detail about brooders and food in another post. There are many different things you can use as a brooder, but we have always used an extra-large, cardboard box with a heat lamp.
The Stork Arrives
Tuesday came, and our baby chicks arrived! The delivery driver brought them to our door in a box and I transferred them to our brooder.
The only problem was, we had ordered 12 chicks all total but there were only 8 in the box. Apparently out Barred Plymouth Rocks had missed the truck and would be arriving next week.
Becca arrived shortly after to pick up her little fluff balls and we had so much fun watching them adjust to their new home. We agreed it was nice having them split into two deliveries since we were able to enjoy the excitement all over again a week later.
Introducing new chicks to an existing flock can be tricky. Chickens develop their own hierarchy so bringing new chickens into an establish flock can cause problems. Fortunately, these chicks were all the same age and it had only been one week. Even still, there was a little alienation of the Barred’s the first day.
They all worked it out by the second day and one of our Barred’s even became the head hen in the end.
We really love our little flock. Chickens are such great pets for anyone. They are easy to care for and give you eggs for your devotion. What other pet does that?
If you’re thinking about raising chickens for yourself, or if you’ve already jumped into the world of backyard chicken breeding, be sure to follow our chicken journey in my series, Diary of a Chicken Mama by subscribing to my blog. I will be sharing my brooding technique, chicken raising & health information, as well as information about feed, fresh ways to supplement their diets, and fun chicken raising products.
Happy Henning!