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Most hatcheries require 15 or 25 baby chicks per order because the chicks need
one another's body heat to survive their 2-day journey. This is a big pain for
lots of people who just want a few chickens! Since our goal in life (yes, our goal in life!)
is to make your life easy, we've partnered with a forward-thinking hatchery that has
developed a brand new way of shipping baby chicks that includes a high-tech, long-
last heating element. This keeps the chicks nice and warm for their journey!
*We ship as few as 3 chicks to major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago,
Miami, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Portland OR, etc. due to the speed with which they can be delivered.
If you live within 30 minutes of a major city, the minimum is 5 chicks. For any town or rural area that is more than 30 minutes
from a major city, our minimum is eight chicks. This is to protect the chicks due
to increased time in transit. If you are ordering Bantams, we strongly recommend that you add two chicks to any of the above quantities.
We love our babies too much to let anything happen to them!
Every day we get calls from customers saying "Thank God I found you!". You're the only place
that offers sexed bantam chicks. Then they ask how we do it. For starters, we tell them,
we listen to our customers! Neighbors and roosters don't mix -- and so many of you
REALLY want your fancy bantam breed female -- that we decided to
offer a solution. That same forward-thinking hatchery that brought us the 3-chick minimum
has allowed My Pet Chicken to be the very first, and only, source in the nation for sexed
bantam chicks. (Can you tell we're excited about this?)
For up to 72 hours after they hatch, baby chicks are still ingesting their
yolk sacs. This provides them all the nourishment they need, which allows us the narrow window
we need to ship them out. After 72 hours, their yolk sacs are gone and they need immediate
access to food and water. Without it, they'll die. If we were to ship chicks at 3 days old or a
week old, they surely wouldn't survive the trip.
Fed Ex, UPS and other private carriers will not mail live baby chicks! That leaves
us with the Post Office. They've been delivering baby chicks reliably and with great care
for decades. Those of you who purchase fewer than 25 chicks will receive yours via
"Express Mail" service, while those that purchase 25 or more will receive yours via
"Priority Mail".
Yes! No matter how many different breeds of chicks you order, they'll always come to you in
just one shipment. We'll figure out the soonest possible date when all the breeds are
available, and book your order for that date.
For the first 72 hours after hatching, chicks are still ingesting their yolk sack. This
gives them the nutrition they need to survive the journey from hatchery to home. As
soon as you pick them up from the post office, though, they'll need some TLC including
access to food, water and an environment that's about 95 degrees. To learn more about baby
chick care, visit Chapter 4 of our free e-book,
The My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care.
We're all used to getting what we want, when we want it. While we try
to accomodate your needs as much as possible, chickens are living, breathing beings --
and we are subject to their schedules. If a cold snap rolls through town,
hens can slow down or stop laying altogether, throwing expected hatch numbers
off track. Alternately, an unexpected demand for one breed or another can
cause a temporary backorder. Also, we can't ship chicks mid-week. We hatch on
Mondays, ship on Tuesdays, and chicks arrive to your local post office by Thursday.
Please keep this all in mind when you order your chicks. And if you do need your babies
RIGHT away (hey, we understand!), just
let us know and we can help you choose breeds that have availability for the
upcoming Monday. Thanks in advance for your patience!
People commonly ask us how male and female chicks can be told apart, and the answer is
quite interesting! Chicken sexing is an art, not a science, and people who do this as
a profession can command up to several thousand dollars per day. Some breeds are easy
to sex: males hatch out a different color than females. For most breeds, sexers look
at the size and shape of their wing feathers or peek inside their "vent" to see barely
visible tell-tale signs.
Our "live chick" rate is extremely high -- there are only problems with about 1 out of every
100 chicks shipped. That said, we offer a 100% "live" guarantee, so if you have any problems
with chicks dying, just let us know within 48 hours of receiving your shipment! We will make good
either with a replacement or credit.
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