The Complete Guide to Choosing a Chicken Hatchery

Your first flock starts with one decision that shapes everything after it: where you get your birds The hatchery you choose determines the health, genetics, and temperament of every chick that arrives at your door Get it right, and you set yourself up for years of fresh eggs and a backyard that hums with life

This guide walks you through every factor that matters when picking a chicken hat

chery, from breed selection and health certifications to shipping policies and livability guarantees Hoover’s Hatchery has been helping Keepers build thriving flocks since

A Diverse Flock’s Joy

Our Rhode Island Red hen reminded us of the joy our flock of diverse breeds gives us

 

Years ago, we’d order a batch of chicks all of the same breed Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Light Brahmas, and Buff Orpington’s were our favorites We’d end up with six or eight pullets that all looked the same By studying them carefully we could sometimes find slight differences in their feathers or combs that helped us tell one bird from the other but it took time

 

Switching to a diverse flock gave us a new joy Since each bird looks strikingly different from

Raising Chicks in the Winter

Years ago, we were newcomers to backyard chickens with a problem Chick catalogs came in the winter They were fun to read as snow drifted outside We’d decide what breeds we wanted and place an order for April delivery That date was a problem April and May were ferociously busy We needed to plant the vegetable garden, mow lawns, and try to find time to go fishing Back then our two small children had many late school year events to attend Squeezing in time to brood chicks was challenging

After a few harried

Predators Love Tasty Chickens

A ruckus from the chicken run startled us As our hens and rooster rushed around in a wild frenzy they voiced a racket of distress calls

 

Running out we discovered a red fox with our Rhode Island Red in his mouth  The fox was heading for a small hole in the run’s fence Fortunately, he made a mistake

 

The gap in the fence was just big enough for the slim fox to enter but too small for the hen to fit through With us approaching, the fox dropped the terrified and wildly flapping and squawking hen, squirted through the hole and

Tiny Yard Chickens

Sometimes our bicycles bring us past magical places That happened one evening as we peddled through urban Cedar Rapids A sideways glance filled our eyes with a yard full of blooming plants Hopping off our bikes to get a better look, we spotted six colorful chickens almost hidden within the flowers

 

We were biking a section of the Great American Rail Trail that spans the United States
The section by the flowery yard passes homes, factories, stores, and parks Hundreds of cyclists, walkers, skateboarders and parents pushing baby carriages pass by the flower-filled yard Some stop to admire its blooms

Rudd Ranger Chickens Helping A New Orchard

As we watched from just beyond a low poultry fence three adolescent Rudd Rangers raced from their coop to chase a grasshopper The fastest one snatched the protein-rich treat and quickly swallowed it

 

We were at Etzel’s Sugar Grove Farm just north of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the home of Rodale Midwest Organic Center Their staff are working to solve an orchardist’s problem

 

“We are learning ways to use chickens to create an income source before tiny trees bear fruit or nuts,” said Research Director Sean Stokes Planting fruit or nut trees is expensive, and they need to be tended for several

Breed, Hybrid: What’s This All About?

Leafing through the Hoover’s Hatchery catalog or clicking through its website is a fun way to discover the amazing diversity of poultry The sheer number of chicken types is fascinating but it can be confusing Just what is a breed? Hybrid?

 

Just What Is a Breed?

 

One thing is certain All chickens belong to the same species, whether they are immense Jersey Giants or diminutive bantams Such useful birds probably were developed from the Red Jungle Fowl, which still lives in the wild in some southern Asian forests Scientifically the modern chicken is Galus galus domesticus  

 

It can get complicated People

The Best Chicken Waterers

An egg sizzling in the frying pan is chock full of protein and vitamins but 76% of it is water With every egg laid a hen loses water from her body She needs plenty of clean drinking water to stay healthy and keep laying those delicious eggs

 

Unlike mammals, Chickens don’t sweat Their urine is a solid coating over droppings  They don’t need as much water as a similar-sized mammal, but they still must drink several times every day no matter what the weather is

 

It’s easy to install a big feeder in the coop that keeps hens happily eating for

A Chick’s First Month

A chick’s first month is tumultuous! Hatched in a Hoover’s Hatchery incubator, as soon as that baby girl chick’s fluff dries off, she’s gently placed into a shipping box The combined body heat of many babies keeps them warm as the box bounces along in a truck heading for the airport Soon she’s zooming through the sky to some place she’s never been to or even heard of It could be New Jersey, Miami, California, or even Canada Then she’s trucked again to a farm store and put into a big brooder awaiting customers A family buys her and

Heat Kills Chickens

Heat kills chickens but flock owners can protect their birds by taking a lesson from Theodore Roosevelt

 

When an intense heat wave descended on New York City in the summer of 1896 millions of people lived crammed together in tenements Around 1500 died from the extreme heat Roosevelt was then a little-known police commissioner who did two things that saved human lives

 

He ordered the fire department to spray water in the streets and on tenement buildings  It lowered the temperature a few degrees And, ice In that era before refrigeration, tenement dwellers couldn’t afford to buy ice Roosevelt gave them