FAQ
Do you sell sexed chicks?
The only sexed chicks we offer are Olive Egger pullets, as these are sexed at hatch by color and pattern. All of our other breeds and crosses are sold straight run, and customers have a 50/50 chance of recieving males or females. If you are looking for a certain number of female chicks, we'd suggest adding a few extras to your order.
How does shipping work for hatching eggs?
We ship Monday through Wednesday and on Saturday. Eggs are sent Priority Express through USPS and typically take 1-3 days to arrive. We pack our eggs in insulated foam shippers and they are double boxed to help minimize the damage that can happen during Transit. If Eggs are damaged in Transit the customer is required to file an insurance claim online at USPS.com.
How does shipping work for day old chicks?
Chicks are sent the day of hatch and packed with Grogel and heat packs to ensure they stay hydrated and warm during their trip. Chicks are sent Express through USPS and typically take 1-2 days to arrive.
When are chicks avaliable?
For shipping, chicks are avaliable beginning of Feburary through early October.
Do you vaccinate your flock?
No, we do not vcaccinate our flock. Our birds are healthy and robust. We are tested yearly for disease as NPIP participants and customers can be confident that they are recieving healthy, happy chicks from our farm
How do you house your breeding stock?
All of our birds are kept in mobile chicken tractors that are moved daily. This provides our flocks with grass, bugs, fresh air and sunshine every day. The mobile tractors provide protection from predators and also keep our stock seperate to ensure there is no unintended crossing between breeds.
When are hatching eggs avaliable?
Hatching Eggs ship year round, as long as it is not too cold or too hot in the intended destination. The bulk of our sales begin in January and continue through October. If a later order is desired, we can usually work something out with our customers.
What sets your Farmstead Hatchery apart from other hatcheries?
Male chicks are not killed at hatch or during the grow-out stage for those males that do not make the cut for our breeding program. Many large and small scale hatcheries kill male chicks at hatch. We instead have formed relationships within our community and found families that take our extra males to raise for meat for their families.
Do you have laying hens for sale?
We do not generally have laying hens for sale. If we do, those will be offered locally and will either be hens that are 2 plus years old that are aging out of our breeding programs or extras from our grow outs that may not make the cut for one reason or the other.
Do you have a guarenteed hatch rate on shipped eggs?
No, we do not have a guarentee on shipped eggs. There are too many factors out of our control for us to be able to make a guarentee. In order to help ensure customers have a good hatch rate, we do the following:
What should I do once my hatching eggs arrived?
We recommend allowing the eggs to rest overnight with the fat end up. This gives the eggs a chance to settle, and allow any air cells to move back in place if they had a rough shipment. Once the eggs have rested they are then ready to go in the incubator and begin their hatching journey.
What incubation practices do you suggest?
This is a tricky questions, as some of the specifics such as humidity may need to change based on your altitude. These are some basic guidelines that could help customers get started in the right direction.
Do you recommend a certain incubator?
Yes, anything by GQF. They have everything from the large cabinent incubator that we use to realiable table top incubators that would be more suited for a hobby hatcher. They are easy to use and GQF has great customer service.
When will I receive my order?
Due to high demand, we are currently unable to schedule orders for specific dates. We are currently filling orders on a first come, first served basis. We will reach out to you approximately one week before we anticipate availability to ship your order. If you are unable to receive your order at that time, or if we do not hear back from you, we will push your order back by one week (unless specified otherwise).
We are working with a software engineer and hope to have scheduling software integrated into our website in the near future. This should allow you to schedule your order shipment at the time you place your order.