Having TSC order chicks for you?!

[Iluveggers]

I would probably go with murray mcmurray hatchery or Ideal, if the chick minimum wasn't 15 because we only want a max of 7 Also I was looking into The Chick Hatchery here in Michigan and I thought the order minimum of 3 chicks was for your entire order, but NO it's 3 minimum per breed, and the order minimum is 25 chicks!! I was so mad lol. That's a good idea adding chicks for other people in your order to fill your order and get the minimum that they ask for. We would do that probably but we don't know anyone who owns chickens. Well, two people actually- 1 is my neighbor, and he is....a nutcase. 2 is my friend and she already has as much chickens as her coop can fit

Mt Healthy has $40 s&h for 3-9 chicks small order fee.
Mc Murray has $50 s&h for 6-14 chicks small order fee.
Ideal is $40 also I believe.

The USPS added a $15 live animal delivery fee this year . So the costs were about $15 less last year.

Maybe join a local Facebook chicken group & see if anyone wants to split an order with you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's a good idea adding chicks for other people in your order to fill your order and get the minimum that they ask for. We would do that probably but we don't know anyone who owns chickens.

Go to the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum and post an add looking for someone to split an order. Put your location in the thread title as well as something about splitting an order.

Go to the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and find your state thread. Chat with your neighbors.

Some hatcheries have different minimums based on the time of the year. They want enough chicks in the shipment to keep them warm from body heat. They need fewer chicks for this in the warmer months. When you get the chicks may make a difference in how many you can order.

Some hatcheries that ship a smaller number of chicks include warmers for the trip to avoid the larger number of chicks. They charge extra for those warmers.

Have you chatted with your feed store to see what their policies about ordering for you are? Different feed stores have different policies. Some feed stores might let you post an advertisement on their bulletin board available to the public about splitting an order. The risk for this is that your phone number or contact info is out in public.

If you ask them to, some hatcheries will mark certain chicks for you, often using a certain food color on the head. That may be a way to tell which chicks are yours if you split an order. The only way I know of to find out if they will do this is to talk to them.

Good luck!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Mt Healthy has $40 s&h for 3-9 chicks small order fee.
Mc Murray has $50 s&h for 6-14 chicks small order fee.
Ideal is $40 also I believe.

The USPS added a $15 live animal delivery fee this year . So the costs were about $15 less last year.

Maybe join a local Facebook chicken group & see if anyone wants to split an order with you!

Thank you so much for all of that info!! That really helps

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Go to the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum and post an add looking for someone to split an order. Put your location in the thread title as well as something about splitting an order.

Go to the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and find your state thread. Chat with your neighbors.

Some hatcheries have different minimums based on the time of the year. They want enough chicks in the shipment to keep them warm from body heat. They need fewer chicks for this in the warmer months. When you get the chicks may make a difference in how many you can order.

Some hatcheries that ship a smaller number of chicks include warmers for the trip to avoid the larger number of chicks. They charge extra for those warmers.

Oh that makes sense, I've never thought of that before!

Have you chatted with your feed store to see what their policies about ordering for you are? Different feed stores have different policies. Some feed stores might let you post an advertisement on their bulletin board available to the public about splitting an order. The risk for this is that your phone number or contact info is out in public.

I've still gotta ask my fam if this could be an option for us instead of buying from the hatchery that we originally were planning to get our chicks from, and then we might go with Meyer if we choose to do so... Not sure how far of a drive that would be for us...Probably at least 2 hours maybe. Not sure if I want them to ship to us because shipping prices are nuts, plus the new fee that USPS puts on live animal orders That would bring us to $65 for shipping I believe NOT including the chick prices.

If you ask them to, some hatcheries will mark certain chicks for you, often using a certain food color on the head. That may be a way to tell which chicks are yours if you split an order. The only way I know of to find out if they will do this is to talk to them.

Oh that's cool!! I'll consider asking them to do so if we decide to split an order, however I would prefer to drive to avoid shipping cost but not sure if family is up for the long drive just to get 7 chicks.

Good luck!

TYSM

 

[paddock36]

Hello!
I remember someone telling me quite a while ago on here that you can have TSC order chicks for you and then you pick them up in-store? Does anyone know how that works and how I can do it next year when I get a few chicks? Has anyone tried this personally? I like going to Tractor Supply to buy their chicks, but their selection is very slim.
The last time I got chicks there, we had to go to several different Tractor Supply's to get the breeds I wanted. They mostly had all the same breeds, sapphire gems and light brahmas and maybe another. I was very excited when I finally arrived at a TSC quite a while from me which had many breeds only to learn that they were SUPER strict on the chick limit. Plus they were absolutely nasty! Our local TSC doesn't apply the 4 chick limit rule even though they have a sign posted...One time I got one single chick from there (don't worry we got buddies for him.)

Thanks so much!

talkinboutchickens

I have never ordered through TSC but have ordered from Murray McMurray and Valley Hatchery. It's more expensive than just going to the feed store but I was able to select what I wanted. The hatchery ships to our local post office and I pick up there. Some people have had issues, just like any time you order on-line for anything, but so far I have not and I'm in Florida, several states away from the hatchery I ordered from.