21 Best Hatcheries To Buy Chickens Online

Last Updated on May 19, 2023 by Pauline G. Carter

Clucking or crowing, running, or toppling those backyard chickens always throw fun to children and adults alike! With advancements in internet technology, the chicken hatchery is gaining popularity as a platform to buy chickens online easily.

There is a chain of merits and demerits associated with chicken hackery online purchases. However, certain demonstrated attributes as quick comparison among related breeds or door-step delivery still mark hatchery to be the best place to order chickens online. 

Search engines are brimming with thousands of chicken hatchery. With an insight into the crucial features and reviews, here is a useful compilation of 21 Best Hatcheries to Buy Chickens Online:

21 Best Hatcheries To Buy Chickens Online: Our Recommendation

Cackle Hatchery

Cackle’s has been a chicken hatchery in the business of hatching and shipping chicks since 1936. They sell more than 204 varieties of chickens, and around 120 genetically selected breeds are available.

Cackle chicken hatchery is located at the heart of Missouri Ozarks, from where the online orders are shipped all over the United States and South America. Typical chick season dictates from the early spring until summer seasons.

Unique Breeds: Black Jersey Giant, Speckled Sussex, Copper Marans chickens, French Marans.
Min order: 4 chickens
Delivery time: 2-4 days

J&M Hatchery

J&M Hatchery is a renowned domestic chicken hatchery in Pennsylvania. The company is National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) certified to keep their bird’s disease resistant. J&M Hatchery has a prompt customer service facility to answer all your queries and worries.

You can place an order with any of their sister links that are nearest to your home. The hatchery follows a strict routine about hatching and shipping chicks to maintain a healthy environment. 

Unique Breeds: Freedom Ranger, White Bantam Silkies, French Guinea Fowl Keets.

Min order: 20 chickens (mix breed)

Delivery time: 3-5 days

Murray McMurray Hatchery

Murray McMurray Hatchery runs its family-owned poultry farm for the last 100 years and is among the biggest hatcheries in the United States. The company is headquartered in Iowa.

You can pair your order for chickens with well-built coops and grab the best deals. Murray McMurray Hatchery supplies the best automatic equipment like waterers, feeders, etc. Shipping charges are null for a full order and nominal fee on small orders.

Unique Breeds: Buttercups, Collection Cockerels, Dark Cornish

Min order: 15-35 chickens 

Delivery time: 48 hours (guaranteed) 

Meyer Hatchery

Meyer Hatchery is a trusted name for over 50 years to buy chicken online. For those who owe limited area in their backyard to raise the flock of chickens, Meyer Hatchery is the best place to buy chickens online because the minimum acceptable order is three chicks.

They have available good quality all the essential supplies needed to maintain a small chicken farm. Meyer Hatchery assures that all their chickens are vaccinated, beak-trimmed, and cleaned before the dispatch.

Unique Breeds: White Leghorn Started Pullets, Rhode Island Red Started Pullets, Golden Buff Started Pullets

Min order: 4-15 chickens (depending on the selection)

Delivery time: 2-3 days

Stromberg’s Chicks and Game Birds Unlimited

You are an experienced or a neophyte chicken-farm owner; Stromberg’s Chicks and Game Birds Unlimited caters to all your needs- chickens to coops to equipment. This online hatchery emphasises providing free training on caring for the poultry and efficiently using the supplies.

Customers have consistently reviewed them as responsible and the best place to buy chicken online. Stromberg’s Chicks and Game Birds Unlimited is established in Minneapolis and branches stores all over America.

Unique Breeds: Barred Rock Chick, Black Sex Link Chicks, Cuckoo Maran, Silver Laced Wyandotte Chicks

Min order: 15-30 chickens

Delivery time: 36-72 hours

Valley Farms Hatchery

Started in 2012, Valley Farms Hatchery has quickly spanned as the best place to order chickens online in and around Alabama. This online hatchery specializes in day-old chicks and takes a 100% guarantee to deliver live hatches to your nearest mailbox.

Valley Farms Hatchery is much considerate about the return and cancellation policies to maintain a decent alliance with their customers. One can collate with Valley Farms Hatchery on no gender-error figuring to as high as 90%.

Unique Breeds: Polish/Cochin Chicks, Coloured-Egg Layer, Bantam, Broiler Chicks

Min order: 3chicks                       

Delivery time: 1-2 days

Hoover’s Hatchery

The brand holds a name different from another hatchery because they offer free shipping all over the United States. The staff is available 24/7 to assist you with all your questions about the new and old breeds.

Hoover’s hatchery focuses on a one-time visit to their customers’ chicken backyard and takes the assurance that sold chickens are raised on healthy-diet and favorable indoors and outdoors. You can purchase the chickens anywhere between Spring and Fall.

Unique Breeds: Cornish Cross Broilers, Sapphire Gem, Black Australorp, Fry Pan Special 

Min order: 15 chicks (5/sex and breed)

Delivery time: 2-3 days

My Pet Chicken

My Pet Chicken is popular for ingenuity and perfection in the online poultry industry. This chicken is entitled to work for the welfare of rural chicken farms and leaves no stone unturned in training chicken-keepers with the best guide to setting up facilities for the flocks.

My Pet Chicken believes in raising the chicks with nourishment and adorable environment instead of showcases on their website.

Unique Breeds: Salmon Faverolles, Wheaten Ameracaunas, Polish/Cochin Chicks

Min order: 3 chicks (mix breed)

Delivery time: 4-5 days

Happy Feet Hatchery

Happy Feet Hatchery is a certified (by the Department of Agriculture) online chicken hatchery operated by a local chicken-keeper in Eustis, Florida.

Before working on the consumer’s order summary, the hatchery ensures that the buyer is competent enough with the minimum required space to establish a friendly chicken farm and has sufficient feeding and medication facilities.

Happy Feet Hatchery offers customized shipping preferences. However, the availability of the chickens and prices are subjected to change depending on season and demand.

Unique Breeds: Cream Legbar, Red Star, Rhode Island Red, Olive Eggers, Buff Orpingtons

Min order: 5-10 chicks.

Delivery time: 36-48 hours

Ideal Poultry

Twin brothers Leo and Theo Fuchs started small commercial poultry in the year 1937 to cater to domestic needs in Texas. Over the decades, Ideal Poultry opened a number of stores in adjoining states and later several online chicken hatcheries.

This is the fourth generation of industrious yet responsible Ideal Poultry that still regards the chickens and customer satisfaction quality, a prime step to their success. Excellence in hatching and shipping baby chicks has led the company to raise and sell as many as forty-five thousand poultry breeds.

Unique Breeds: Black Stars, California White, New Hampshire Reds

Min order: 25-40 

Delivery time: 4-5 days

Privett Hatchery

You open the website of Privett Hatchery, and the acclaimed line will confine you. “100% assurance to deliver all the ordered chicks alive at your door-step”. Yes, it’s not a fake promise to trap online buyers.

This online hatchery from Mexico is famous far and wide for selling supreme quality day-old chicks and older chickens. Privett Hatchery strictly adheres to the National Laws for permission to maintain a backyard chicken farm and a maximum number of chickens to raise.

Unique Breeds: Ancona, Blue Andalusian, Cuckoo Maran, Indian RedJunglefowl SR

Min order: 25

Delivery time: 7-8 days

Ridgeway Hatchery

Ridgeway Hatchery has completed the journey of 98 golden years, being in the family-owned business of breeding and selling poultry. You can browse the hatchery’s website to research chickens, easily scrolling across the links – range, assortment, size, color, characteristics, etc.

Ridgeway Hatchery had been consistently rated by their customer for their amazing professional integrity and quality assurance. Chicken-keepers outside Ohio confidently make online bulk purchases to expand chicken farms across the United States.

Unique Breeds: White Bantam Silkies, Polish/Cochin Chicks, french Guinea Fowl Keets, Wheaten Ameracaunas

Min order: 15-20 chickens

Delivery time: 6-8 days

Freedom Ranger Hatchery

Do you want to order flocks of chickens grown in a natural green assembly and are NPIP certified? Your search has stopped at the right place- Freedom Ranger Hatchery. It is the best place to order chicken online, ranging from hatched chicks to adult chicken.

Freedom Ranger Hatchery offers an added advantage: they do direct delivery to customers’ homes from their farms. This means away from the possibility of delays in delivery and prime cut in middlemen prices. 

Unique Breeds: Kosher King, Freedom Ranger Color Yield, Blue Plymouth Rock 

Min order: 15-20 chickens

Delivery time: 6-8 days

Welp Hatchery

Welp Hatchery is one of the oldest hatcheries in the United States, located in Iowa and established in 1929. This online hatchery has a wide range of chickens with clear information about the gender and the respective seasons of availability in abundance.

Welp Hatchery guides their valuable customers personally with crucial tips – to produce more eggs and nourished breeding. You are also given a 35 minutes CD that takes you on a virtual tour to Welp Hatchery, illustrating hatching, breeding, sheltering, feeding, and medication of the chickens.

Unique Breeds: Rhode Island – Red – Female (May & June), Cornish Rock Broiler – Straight Run

Min order: 25 chickens

Delivery time: 3-4 days

Purely Poultry

When you look to collectively order chickens to serve tri-purpose: egg, meat, and fun pause your web search at Purely Poultry.

This online hatchery is not huge but is a one-stop solution to cater to the requirements of a chicken-keeper, starting from buying good chicks to setting up their coops in farms or home backyards. The simple and quality assured boutique is a pool of all the essential poultry supplies and chicken food.   

Unique Breeds: Cornish, ISA Brown, Easter Egg, Quick chickens

Min order: 10 chickens

Delivery time: 36-48 hours

Townline Hatchery

Resource your flock of chickens from the online hatchery with 101+ years of quality experience- Townline hatchery. The prices are fixed and reliable all year round and they do Join their forum for kids, where they train children how to raise and care for chickens as early as an egg to a grown-up chicken in the coop.

Unique Breeds: Black Australorp, Freedom Ranger Broiler, French Guinea, Indian Runner Ducks – Fawn & White

Min order: 10 chickens

Delivery time: 36-48 hours 

MT Healthy Hatchery

If you want to add perfect glam to your chicken farm, MT Healthy Hatchery has some of the most beautiful, rarest, and exotic chickens for you to buy online. MT Healthy Hatchery has developed a promising poultry business ever since it was started in 1926.

They have experienced salespeople who can chart all the minute details to their novice customers through toll-free lines or online chats. “Safety-First” has been the motto of MT Healthy Hatchery for the past four generations.

Unique Breeds: Golden Laced Wyandotte, Buff Orpington, Cornish Rocks Cross

Min order: 3-10 chickens

Delivery time: 2-3 days

Frey’s Hatchery

Frey’s hatchery is an online hatchery home to the most colorful, healthiest, and economical breeds of chicken in Ontario since 1946. For the last 70 years, Frey’s Hatchery has always triumphed in customers’ rating, primarily in two aspects- chickens thrive to their best and 100% value for the dollars paid.

They have pasteurized farms and well-trained chicken keepers to maintain a healthy and happy atmosphere for the chickens.

Unique Breeds:  Columbian Rock X, Buff Orpington, Majesty Maran, Cornish Rocks Cross

Min order: 10 chickens

Delivery time: 2-3 business days

Chickens For Backyards

Why not adorn your home backyard with a customized flock of chicken directly from the online hatchery- Chickens for Backyards. Unlike other hatcheries, you enjoy the liberty of ordering one chick per breed of your own choice. An exclusive in-house team will help you in buying supplies specific to each breed.

Unique Breeds: Salmon Faverolle 

Min order: 3 

Delivery time: 24- 48 hours

Sanderson Farm

Sanderson Farm is the best online hatchery to buy chicken online, where they are raised in a sustainable environment surrounded by a team of veterinarians, dieticians, and caretakers.

The huge farm has a separate attentive unit for egg-layered, meat, dual-purpose, and many more chicken varieties.

Unique Breeds: French Black Copper Marans, Blue Laced Red Wyandotte.

Min order: 12 

Delivery time: 2- 4 days

Moyer’s Chicks

Moyer’s Chicks online hatchery in Pennsylvania is a family-operated poultry farm serving commercial and domestic chicken farms in most of America and eastern Canada.

The company holds the two most significant certifications- National Poultry Improvement Plan( NPIP) and Poultry Handling & Transportation (PHT) and assures compliance with the protocols.

Unique Breeds: White leghorn, White Rock female, Rhode Island Red male,

Min order: 12 

Delivery time: 2- 4 days

Things To Consider When Buying Chickens Online 

Before you are edge-prepared to buy chicks online and welcome the new arrivals to join your backyard chicken flocks, certain points are to be understood.

Selecting the breed

 Survey extensively before you click – ‘buy’. There will be plenty of online choices on your gadget screen—for example, egg-laying or duality chickens or the ones that are labeled organic and vegetable-fed. Do not forget to check for the weather conditions – mild to hot -cold climate. Each species survives its climate.

Physical features

Though you cannot closely examine the physical features of the chicken while doing online orders, you must inspect through the live images the important physical features- eyes, legs& feet, nostrils, comb, vent to lay eggs, etc.

Gender selection

Please select the desired gender of the chicken consciously as experiences show that it’s not easy to distinguish male or female chick at early stages. Confirm twice with the online customer care executive before placing the order.

How many chickens to order?  

The capacity of the coop to shelter chickens is a key factor that determines the number of chickens one should order. Do not over-crowd your backyard, and add the numbers wisely.

Price

Online search engines compare and tabulate the prices from other related online hatcheries and show the results to you. Be vigilant about the discounts and deals offered. 

Feedback about the online hatchery 

Spend some time reading the comments & review section of the online hatcheries before confirming your purchase. An entrenched and high-starred hatchery will give you good return policies and trusted services.

How To Buy Chickens Online: What Is The Process? 

When you want to buy chickens through online stores, follow these steps:

Web search on the varieties of chicken available in the market. Select the breed that meets your requirements.

Find the online store that is nearest and convenient to you.

Scan carefully, key features of the chosen chicken on the website. For example, age, eating habits, medical-fit card, appearance in the text should coherent with the image, etc.

Read reviews from the other customers about the chosen online store, such as – delivery time, quality of chicken, price, etc.

Lastly, click on the play button and proceed with the instructions.

The Advantages Of Buying Chicken Online 

Comparison 

Hatchery’s website contains specific web pages that help you tailor your choice to buy chicken online as they show extended attributes, features, and high-resolution images of the chickens.

The customer freely scrolls the pages, compares different stores, breeds and prices by sitting comfortably at their home. There is no hassle to complete your purchase instantly, which gets mandatory with offline shopping.

Save time and physical energy

You get to curtail on the time and energy:

• Spent in waiting in long queues at the billing counter. 
• Required for to-and-fro travel with the store and home.
• Spent on analyzing and comparing different breeds at the time of buying. Because while buying chicken from the traditional market, you have to communicate with each shopkeeper and enquire the details.
• Responses are quick whether or not the preferred stock is available.

Reasonable price

Online hatcheries can give you discounts and good deals. For instance, they may offer you one free chicken of a new breed along with two other chickens of your selection. Get the chicken at lower prices as the middleman is not involved, and you do not fall prey to the hands of sellers asking for implausible prices. 

Flexible operational hours

Most online websites can be accessed 24/7 and serve you with ease of time to place an order. For example, you had a hectic schedule today at the office, and beginning tomorrow, you have three days’ holidays.

What else can be a ripe time to set chicken hatchery over those three days! So, you can log in with the website and place your order in a couple of minutes. Even you have the liberty of opting for the most convenient time for the delivery.

Updates 

Once you are connected to the online store, the latest updates on discounts and new breeds get linked.

Challenges Of Buying Chicks Online 

No direct interaction Before confirming the order, you cannot touch the chicken to gauge its activeness, accurate size, check the comb or the vent. Another important drawback is the lack of face-to-face interaction with the salesperson to enquire about certain features you were unaware of.

Delivery delays

Lack of management or absence of sufficient staff can cause your order to be delivered at a time later than as confirmed in the order summary. There have been instances where delivery delays followed the lame reason of stale inventory or possible late arrival of fresh stocks.

Deceit 

• The website can be unauthentic. Once the purchase is made, customer services may not reply to your questions or if you have claimed a counterfeit delivery.
• Customers may fall victim to cybercrime while using confidential payment options. The unauthorized chicken hatchery can be unfortunately linked to hackers’ links to steal the information related to your bank/ e-card details. 

Quality of the chicken 

One of the primary worries in online purchase is satisfaction with the quality of the chickens. Hatchery salesperson can compromise on the breed you mentioned and mix a lower-grade chicken to complete your order. 

Alternatives To Buying Chicks Online 

The trend to rear chicken for pet, egg, or meat dates back to hundreds of years ago when there was no trace of internet technology. Hence, it implies we have other good offline options to source and do not want to order chicks online. 

Farmer’s market

Farmers hatch a flock of chickens on their land farms along with fruits and vegetables. This helps them cut down on the price of getting chickens from the high-end markets. You can find trusted farmers easily in your locality or through some co-workers.

Local supply store 

The farm store next to you in the community may turn up as the best place to purchase chickens. Baby chicks or grown-up chickens both create a scene of happiness and fun in and around the backyards. Early spring through to late summer is considered a good time to furnish your need of buying chickens. 

You can bring not-days old (newborn) chicks to your home, assuring yourself that those chicks have already survived crucial days post-birth in the vicinity of the store-care. 

Adopt 

 Occasionally, certain factors cause chickens to be available on adoption protocols, and motivation is established from,

Local shelters

To determine whether the chick bought will grow into a female or a male is vague during the initial months. Hence, as they grow up, many males are abandoned into the local shelters over the preference to have more female chickens. 

Human homes 

Easter bunny mimics with chickens are a common source of entertainment, and people buy chickens for this purpose. Once the celebration is over, they realize raising chickens is a dedicated task, and it’s not their cup of tea anymore.

Caring For Chicks After Receiving Them 

Essential, though not tedious steps and precautions, if taken regularly, keep your chicken flock family active and healthy.

Chicken coop

Construct a simple and eco-friendly home for chicks where they can move around freely. The coop should allow proper ventilation both for air and sunlight. The material used to construct the chicken home must cope with fluctuating weather conditions-heavy rains, gushy winds, and snow.

Bedding – soft and clean pine shavings, straws, or sand.

Optimum temperature

Baby chicks need warmth and heat until 6-7 weeks. Protect your chickens against any temperature variations and maintain an environment that is neither too hot nor too cold. Sometimes, during winters, you may have to comfort them with heat pads and lamps.

Food & nutrition 

Like human beings, the chicken diet has to be a perfect amalgam of fruits and green leafy vegetables, proteins and minerals. Include cooked corn, beans, berries and extra supplement of calcium to egg-laying hens, whereas extra protein to heavy-meat breeds.

Feed them fresh water for better digestion.

Veteran consultation & vaccination

Fix an experienced veteran doctor to give a thorough check-up every 2-3 months. Maintain the health card of your chickens, manage a record of specific allergies and remember to get them vaccinated. All these measures, put into practice, make your flock disease-free.

Safety from predators

Secure the backyard environment using wired fences and chicken wires. Roosters, dogs, wild cats, etc. are predominant predators that can sneak into your chicken’s happy colony and kill them in no time. Do not leave any small holes unattended as harmful rodents and reptiles can creep in and eat eggs and tiny chicks.

Leisure time 

Social interactions with caretakers and activities like pebble pecking, dustbathing, grass scratching outdoors during morning and evening hours create an enthusiastic environment for chickens and keep them fit.

FAQ’S

Are we ready with solutions to your distilled Q&A section?

Conclusion 

Merits and demerits always exist. Nevertheless, you have an open option to compare quality and prices and choose the best place to order chickens online. Through online purchases, you can easily customize your order and become a more efficient customer.

Raising chickens is a dedicated task but not exhausting though. Purity of the breed and gender is limited at the local supply store, but not to the extent that it can’t cater to your domestic demand. It is a great amusement to pet and play with mixed breeds with distinct colored feathers and laying eggs.

Demonstrated features always keep an array of chickens in high demand across the globe. Pick your choice online or through conventional markets; commercial and house farming of chickens will grow invariably. Nitty-gritty details about hatcheries buying chicken online are endless. So, choose with an eye on your goal!

About Author (Pauline G. Carter)

Pauline G. Carter is a well-known pet blogger who has written about the world of pets for several years. She is passionate about pets, from cats and dogs to birds, reptiles, and poultry. Her blog, which is updated regularly, is filled with articles and guides on pet care, nutrition, and training. She also shares her experiences and observations on pet ownership, making her blog relatable and informative for pet lovers. She is a true animal advocate and is dedicated to promoting responsible pet ownership. Let’s Go …