Where to get orpington/silkie/easter eggers/... in Canada?

[kianoosh]

I live in Southern Ontario. All hatcheries I checked out online only carry a few standard breeds: Rhode Island Red, Leghorn, ... Like www.freyshatchery.com, pretty close to where I live.

I cannot find anywhere to get sexed day old chicks of breeds such as Silkies or Orpingtons or Easter eggers or so. Maybe just the occasional random ad on Kijiji for unsexed chicks several hours away with no shipping.

If you know any hatcheries or farms with those breeds, please share. Thanks!

 

[kianoosh]

Kept looking around. For heritage breeds, I found these so far:
http://www.performancepoultry.com
https://www.dcheritagepoultry.com

 

[Biddybot]

kianoosh: Edited to change...HAD a warning here about the one hatchery you found, but just realized you already took heed...thank goodness! As for the other poultry place you found, don't know them, have nothing to say either way. However, I was personally put off by the website's not listing prices up front...am also wondering, WHO exactly are they outsourcing to...?

As for the breeds you're looking for, they are all popular and should be easy enough to find. The Heritage Livestock Canada site, which I just googled, lists several Ontario sources for Orpingtons alone, for example. Only drawback in dealing with a breeder direct...probably won't be able to get sexed chicks, although they sometimes have older chicks which you can have a go at sexing yourself. The buff Orpingtons and olive-eggers I bought locally myself last year were already well-feathered little chicklets and their sexes were fairly obvious (not that it mattered in the end, since I bought the whole lot). Anyway, I am certain that there are or will be chicks and chicklets out there waiting for you as long as you're willing to do some searching. Good luck! I wish I had more space available for chickens right now because then I'd be out there looking around this spring for some new feathered friends myself. Alas, all I can do is help enable others and vicariously enjoy THEIR search instead!

 

[kianoosh]

For posterity: I cancelled my order with DC heritage Poultry after I researched them on the Web and found out how terrible they are - from cruelty to infection.

I ended up getting some from a local guy from Kijiji and some from Performance Poultry. At least no hard evidence against them as there is with DC.

 

[FarmingforYears]

For posterity: I cancelled my order with DC heritage Poultry after I researched them on the Web and found out how terrible they are - from cruelty to infection.

I ended up getting some from a local guy from Kijiji and some from Performance Poultry. At least no hard evidence against them as there is with DC.

DO NOT order from DC Heritage Poultry!! Believe the negative reviews! Unscrupulous and practicing animal cruelty based on so many sick chicken posts. For me, I ordered 24 Fertilized Jubilee Orpington eggs - ZERO fertility rate - then when I brought this to their attention, they emailed and admitted to using an old rooster with a low fertility rate. ZERO! They replaced eggs with only 16 Jubilee, 2 lavender and 6 chocolate laced Orpington eggs - 20 were unfertilized again and 3 were clearly NOT Orpingtons at all, 2 may be Legbar, 1 is unknown, they admitted putting random egg in by mistake and the other chick, who knows what it is. $12 an egg. Plus knowing they sent unfertilized eggs, they still charged me an additional $72 for shipping. Looks like they switched from a puppy mill to a chicken mill! Anyone having this experience should also report them to the Quebec Government site for ensuring animal safety and welfare. quebec.ca/en/agriculture-environment-and-natural-resources/animal-health/ensuring-animal-safety-welfare
There is an online form for reports or you can call 1-844-264-6289