Since my small flock gets to live out their lives in full, years and years….. and years (oldest I’ve had was 12 years and STILL layed an egg now and then!)…. there comes a time when a few new birds are needed to compensate for the lack of regular eggs and of course, keep the entire production I have going on here worthy of the money spent on them all.
Anyway, with the avian flu situation in 2022 making everyone nervous or cancelling hatches, sales, shows and even eye contact, I thought I would try for the first time ever to get a few hens from Frey’s Hatchery here in Ontario, Canada. If you’ve ever been in an online group for any kind of “fancier” (dogs, guinea pigs, sea shells or chickens), then you know you’ll hear a myriad of issues had by getting birds from a hatchery. I threw caution to the wind because quite frankly, what have I got to lose? Boy… did I understimate the entire hatchery deal…..
I phoned in to my local feedmill to find out timing and availability for my birds. No problem. I could have had them anywhere from a week of ordering. To be honest, I did want a couple of Orpingtons again (unavailable), so went with all Blue Azures because those were all I could get in “ready to lay” and within a reasonable amount of time. Paid for them over the phone, got my pickup date and waited.
Right on time I got the phone call a couple weeks later than my birds were in and ready to pickup, and that we did.
First impressions:
Because I ordered just 4 birds, they came in their own sturdy cardboard box with a lay mat in the bottom. The carrier I brought to pick them up was not needed, hence less stress moving the birds. They were quiet and calm in the box. By the time I got them home, there was already a beautiful blue egg rolling around in the box with them.
The birds were clean, healthy and beautiful. And as a bonus, vaccinated for Marek’s of course as the hatchery makes a practice of this.
I will absolutely do this again in the future and will plan better (earlier) so I can get a couple of breeds I also wanted but were not available until later in the year. Doing good business will do that – sell out early 😎
