No one knows how many chicken breeds exist, but there are hundreds. Maybe thousands. Hoover’s Hatchery catalog lists at least 100 breeds and every year they add a few more. There are heritage breeds, modern hybrids, specialty egg layers, broilers, and a few unique ones that don’t quite fit into any category.

With so many choices how does a family choose the best breed, or mix of breeds, to buy?  It’s confusing. Choosing can be challenging, but we make it fun.

 

Every year we buy six or seven chicks to replace older hens entering retirement. We need a steady supply of eggs but emotions come into play. We end up with a mix of productive birds that are colorful and fun. We choose them because we like a breed’s color, personality, temperament and even their ancestry. Over the years we’ve enjoyed many breeds and try a few new ones each year. Often, we’ll buy a chick or two more than we really need because sometimes an unfortunate one dies. We don’t want our mature flock to be short. So, here is a typical spring order we might place for seven chicks:

 

• A New Hampshire Red because they are rugged good layers…..and because Marion’s from New Hampshire.
• A Jersey Giant because these king-sized birds are good layers…..and Rich is from New Jersey.
• An exceptionally good layer like an ISA Brown, Australorp, Rhode Island Red or a Hoover’s hybrid like an Amberlink or Black Sex Link. Laying workhorses.
• A Brahma because they are huge, calm, and gorgeous. We love them.
• A Buff Orpington or Buff Cochin because of their elegance. A buff always seems to become the golden centerpiece of our flock.
• A breed new to us like a Sussex or a Buckeye.
• An oddball. A purely fun chicken. We like them because they’re distinctive. It might be a dark egg laying Maran or a silly looking bird like a Salmon Faverolles.

 

When making our purchase plans we eliminate two types of chicks. We don’t order broilers because we don’t want to butcher our precious birds and white egg laying breeds tend to be noisier and more nervous than our placid brown egg layers. But, in some past years we’ve added a California White chick to our mix. They’re industrious white egg layers and are a little calmer than Leghorns.

 

Tips for Buying Chicks from a Farm Store

One of the best places to buy Hoover’s chicks is from a farm store, although that name may be misleading. Hoover’s sends chicks to hundreds of farm stores. Don’t let the name fool you. Many farm stores are in suburbia and cities far from farms. It’s likely there’s a farm store near where everyone lives.

Here are a few reasons why buying from a farm store is a perfect way to start a flock:

• Experienced sales people help customers buy chicks of appropriate breeds.
• Many cities only allow families to keep four or six hens. Hatcheries that ship chicks directly to customers usually have a minimum order size of 15 chicks. In contrast, farm stores will sell just a few peeping babies.
• Customers see the chicks in the store’s brooders and can pick the ones they want.
• Stores sell feed, feeders, grit, and other items that make raising chickens successful. They are a one stop shop.

 

It helps to have some breed knowledge before going to the farm store for a chick purchase. Most farm stores keep different breeds in separate brooders marked with the breed. Sometimes they mix a few breeds in the same brooder…….and the sales person may not be able to tell them apart. There’s a solution. Hoover’s website includes photos of chicks of many breeds, making it easy to find a breed’s photo on your cell phone and match it with chicks in the store’s brooder. 

 

When winter’s snow swirls outside we love viewing seed websites and ordering vegetable seeds we’ll plant in the spring. The Hoover’s Hatchery website is just as much fun. It helps us plan what breeds we’ll buy that year.