Major US Chicken Hatchery Reviews

I have had lots of people ask me about the hatcheries. I do not recommend them often but for new chick parents, I think they are an excellent place to start. Although quality is often poor, the chicks are cheap and if you lose a few, it’s not a huge dent in your pocket. Throughout my time with chickens, I’ve ordered from just about every major hatchery in the US and some smaller ones as well. There is a HUGE difference in quality, health, and overall conformation between the hatcheries. I will try to discuss some of them here. I will only talk about hatcheries that I, myself, have ordered from. These are my experiences and my opinions. Not everyone will have the same experience. I won’t talk about small hobby breeders. I respect them all and they’ve all helped me in one way or another on my breeding journey. I will include information about one of my favorite breeds, the Black Copper Marans, from each of these hatcheries. Some years ago, I started my Marans journey by obtaining birds from each of the major hatcheries, grew them out, and then did side by side comparisons. I will say that the “best” Black Copper Marans is NOT from a hatchery. I spent years working with the hatchery birds to try and darken eggs and fix faults. It got so bad and disheartening that I scratched the entire project and started over with chicks from a few good breeders. The hatchery birds were not “bad” birds. Most grew out to be sweet birds who laid lots and lots of eggs. If you’re just looking for good layers for consumption and don’t care for egg color or breeding, hatchery birds are your best bet. But, the egg color, size, and shell quality may not be the best. We still have hatchery birds in our flocks. They lay well and often. That’s what they were bred to do. But, they stop laying at the smallest sign of stress and stop laying altogether after a few years. So, every year, we have to replace layers who are no longer laying. I mean, that’s my excuse to my husband when I pick up a few chicks from Chick Days. Who can resist chicks when they’re right in front of you? So here are my thoughts. These are my experiences and my opinions so take it with a grain of salt.

Cackle Hatchery, Lebanon, MO

Cackle has one of the largest catalogs of birds of any major hatchery in the US. They offer a lot of breeds that can be hard to find, like Standard Size Old English Game, and heritage varieties of Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes, and Barred Rocks. They price their chicks cheaper than most other hatcheries, BUT, they will make it up plus more on shipping charges. So beware. Their shipping charges are ridiculous. I like their website and how it shows availability for every breed by ship date. However, if you need to change or add more birds to your order, you have to cancel the entire order and place a new order. The chicks you already reserved will go to the next person in line and your order goes to the back of the line. In which case, you may not get any of the original chicks you reserved. If you don’t want to drop the original chicks you reserved, you have to place another order, meet another minimum chick requirement, and pay a whole other full box and ship fee. They have lots of details about their birds in the “description” sections. They seem to be very upfront about the quality and downfalls of their birds. They’re very good at marking all the different breeds with colored markers so you can tell which is which. I will have to say that their sexing ability is poor. For instance, I once ordered 15 blue egg layer females (Ameraucanas) and after growing them out for 4 months, all but one was a rooster. It was a complete waste of 4 months of feed and time. They also only guarantee “live arrival” of chicks, not 48 or 72 hours like other hatcheries. If the chick arrives half-dead but not fully dead, they will not refund it. I had a large order of 50 chicks from them once and they arrived in bad shape. Almost all of them died within the first 2 days but since I was honest about when they died, they only refunded for the 5 that were DOA and I had to eat the cost of the rest. I understand the post office is horrible but the chicks did arrive on time. It was late February so the weather was still cool and they did not add any heat packs or protection (like foam) to the box. They do however, have Black Copper Marans that lay darker eggs. They use their own egg darkness chart, not the one from The Marans Club so the numbering is arbitrary. The eggs are not super dark but fairly dark for being hatchery quality. Many also were speckled. Their chicks had a lot of health issues from twisted legs to poor joints. Of those I grew out, most of the birds had good size to them but were overmelanized (too dark), eye colors too dark, feet over-feathered, and had white feathers on their feet and some in their tails.

Murray McMurray Hatchery, Webster City, IA

If you’ve read my previous post, you already know how I feel about their chick sexing ability. It’s not that great. I don’t expect perfection, 22% wrong sexing is poor considering the higher cost for pullets. In terms of chick health and quality, it was hit and miss. Most orders arrived safely and without issue from them. It’s a long way from Iowa to California. I did have one order where half the chicks were DOA. Again, it was in the cooler months and they didn’t add any heat packs. This is most hatcheries since it is an additional cost. The chickens themselves grew out just fine for the most part. But they all ended up being much smaller than what I’d expect for their respective breeds. They are definitely bred for egg production and maximum feed conversion. Their Black Copper Marans laid the darkest eggs out of all the hatcheries we tried. Still not #7-9 on the Marans Club chart but consistently a #4-6. But, since the hens were small, so were the eggs. It’s common knowledge that smaller eggs tend to be darker because, well, less surface area for the hen to cover with brown. But Marans eggs are supposed to be big and round once the hen is fully mature. This never happened with the ones from McMurray. They stayed relatively small. The coloring was also all over place, the hackle colors on the hens were everywhere from mahogany to gold and was often murky. Not the crisp copper it’s supposed to be. A number of the hens also had yellow eyes instead of the reddish bay that Marans should have. They do send an extra chick with each order.

Meyer Hatchery, Polk, OH

If their photos for the Black Copper Marans say anything, it’s stay away. First off, the Black Copper Marans I ordered arrived with half having fused toes. They grew up to be tiny birds with gold instead of copper, white feathering on their heads and tails, and high tail angles. Egg color wasn’t much better with most eggs barely rivaling those of my Welsummers. Their pricing is much higher than other hatcheries and you still have to pay for shipping on top of that. If you order less than 15 birds, they add an additional small order charge. I don’t like the fact that they give all these fancy names to many of their offerings when they are, at best, Easter Egger mixed chickens. It’s a lot of false advertising. Unlike most of the other hatcheries who are very upfront about the crosses they use, Meyer calls it “proprietary knowledge.” Please, your Sapphire Jewel ($16.31 ea) is just an Ameraucana bred to a White Leghorn. Stop playing. They will send you an extra “meal maker” chick with every order if you ask for it. These are usually male chicks meant to be used for meat. Overall, overpriced and poor quality.

Ideal Poultry, Cameron, TX

If you’re looking for good pricing, this is the hatchery for that. They often run specials where you can get pullet chicks for as low as $2.50. There is no minimum number of chicks that you have to purchase, only that you spend at least $40. They are limited in what they offer but are starting to expand their catalog. I find that their chicks are good but not great. They won’t ever be the best looking or flashiest chicken in the yard and like most hatcheries, they grow to be much smaller chickens. As chicks, they’re smaller in size and also not very hardy. I lost a lot of their chicks just because they failed to thrive. I don’t know if they’re just more stupid… as if someone can have a line of dumber chickens… but where it would usually take me dipping a chick’s beak into the water once for them to figure out where the water is, I had to do it over and over with a lot of the Ideal chicks for them to get it. The website also has lots of incorrect photos for some of the breeds. If the lack of attention to detail is any indication, it may explain why their quality is mediocre. The good thing is, because Texas is closer to us than other hatcheries, the chicks usually arrive alive with minimal DOAs. They do charge shipping and small order fees.

Mt. Healthy Hatcheries, Cincinnati, OH

They have a huge variety of breeds available from rare breeds to the everyday layer. I wouldn’t order anything rare and crazy from them because those breeds need a lot of work and hatcheries don’t spend the time to breed them correctly. But, their chicks are the healthiest, spunkiest chicks I’ve gotten from any hatchery. I rarely had any health or genetic issues with their chicks. They always arrived alert and extra fluffy. However, if you’re looking for those vibrant egg colors, you probably won’t get them from this hatchery. Their Black Copper Marans laid medium brown eggs. They also had a matte finish whereas Marans eggs are supposed to have a shinier semi-glossy finish. Nothing spectacular. They also had sparse feathering on their legs and feet, black coloring was dull, and eyes were too dark. The shanks and feet were also too dark, almost black, rivaling my Hmong Blue-Skin chickens, which is a fibro breed. They should have dark slate shanks with pinkish white bottoms of their feet. If you raise your own chickens for meat, Mt. Healthy is an excellent place to get chicks. If you order 50 regular priced chicks, they will give you 25 bonus heavy-breed rooster chicks for free. These are meant to be used for meat. We loved this option since we process our own birds. They also almost always send extra chicks of the breeds you order just in case one or two don’t make it. They are a little pricier than some of the other hatcheries, but I rarely ever lost a chick from them and they have free shipping if you meet their order minimums.

Hoover’s Hatchery, Rudd, IA

Hoover’s supplies all the chicks for Tractor Supply. If you have TSC chicks, you have Hoover’s chicks. They have a minimum of 5 chicks per breed and sex so you have to order a lot of chicks if you want different breeds. Shipping is free so long as you meet their minimum order requirement of 15 chicks. They are notoriously bad at marking chicks and tell customers to go to their site and look at photos to figure out which chick is which. Ridiculous if you ask me. They don’t even tell the people at Tractor Supply, which is why they’re mislabeled all the time there. I asked the manager of the local store once and she told me they get a box labelled “pullets” and then they look at the photos to figure out what to label them. If your local TSC has a person who knows their poultry, you are golden. If not, who knows what you’re buying. I hate that they purposefully call their Easter Eggers “Americanas”. It’s very deceptive marketing trying to make people think they are buying pure Ameraucanas when they are not. They doubled-down on it by offering another line of “Easter Eggers”. They’re both Easter Eggers! I implore everyone to stop calling these birds “Americanas” because it’s misleading. They are however, one of the only hatcheries out there that sexes smaller breeds like Silkies and Polish. And, I have found that although their birds are “eh”, their customer service is excellent. Every time I sent an email or message, they replied quickly. I also never had an issue getting a refund for chicks that were DOA or died within a few days of arrival. The bad part? Their Black Copper Marans were the worst of all the hatcheries. They barely looked like Black Copper Marans. All the birds grew up to be very, very small. Very dull black feathering. Hackles were gold and muddy. Eyes were yellow. Their tails were so high, they looked like squirrel tails. The eggs they laid were small and light brown, similar to a Barred Rock or Rhode Island Red. Some did occasionally have speckles. They were also flightly. Marans, as a whole, are not a flightly breed. UPDATE 2025: Hoover's has acquired Privett Hatchery and is now only wholesaling to the major feed corporations like Tractor Supply. The customer service is now non-existent to the public as they no longer sell direct.

Privett Hatchery, Portales, NM

UPDATE 2025: Privett was hit with Avian Influenza in 2025 and was bought out by Hoover's Hatchery.

Privett has been around for a long time providing chicks to other hatcheries. They just put up a website with online ordering not too long ago. They have a medium sized catalog of breeds available including Red Jungle Fowl and the Blue Breasted Brown Leghorn. Their prices are fairly affordable. When you’re ordering from them, there is still a small business feel. Because their system is so new, there are still a lot of kinks to work out. Account login sometimes doesn’t work and password reset almost never works. They do have an online chat option that is great if you need help and they always answer their phones. The health and vigor of their chicks is not the best but they’re on par with other hatcheries. However, their Black Copper Marans are a no go. Their birds, although large and fluffy, were overmelanized and some had feathering on their inner toes. As for the eggs, they were large eggs but the color was even worse than Hoover’s. Most were very, very light brown, almost tan colored. Very disappointing.

California Hatchery, Stromberg’s, and Welp Hatchery all drop ship birds from other hatcheries.

Belt Hatchery, Fresno, CA

UPDATE 2025: Belt Hatchery now only sells chicks wholesale to feed stores. They no longer sell chicks to the public.

This is a local hatchery located right here in Fresno. They are more limited on the breeds that they offer. But, the chicks that I have purchased from them have done well in terms of health and vigor. Their Welsummers laid gorgeous dark, speckled eggs. What I don’t like about Belt is that even if you live down the street, they still make you ship the chicks due to biosecurity. As of last year, I think they are now forcing everyone to buy through a feed store only, which defeated the purpose of having a local hatchery. Their website is outdated and they do not have online ordering. You still have to email or fax your order in. They have a minimum order of 25 chicks and a complex boxing and per breed, per sex charge that is added to every order. It’s a much smaller, family-run hatchery and I believe in supporting small businesses. They don’t carry Black Copper Marans.

Greenfire Farms, Havana, FL

People either love Greenfire, or they hate them. The fact of the matter is that if they didn’t do all the hard work of importing a lot of these rare breeds, like the Ayam Cemani and 55 Flowery Hens, we really wouldn’t have many of them in the US. Warning: they are very expensive. You’ll be paying up to 3-6 times more for chicks from Greenfire than anywhere else. Not necessarily because they’re of better quality, they just have better marketing and some of the breeds you just can’t find anywhere else. There are some issues with the hardiness of their chickens as they grow. Most of that I believe, is due to genetic depression caused by the limited gene pool of some of the rare breeds. Also, unlike domestic breeds that were bred to withstand weather conditions and disease here in the US, imported breeds have no natural immunity to the different strains of poultry disease here. So, you will lose birds if you buy rare, imported breeds. Their customer service is top-notch. It better be, considering the amount you pay. But it’s actually a small operation and you’ll speak to the same 2-3 people every time you contact them. For example, I lost my Ayam Ketawa roo a while ago and needed a new one. But, you can’t just go buy another one anywhere. I sent them an email and they actually texted me pictures of all the roosters that they had available so I could pick which one I wanted. Two thumbs up. They have the best packaging of chicks, by far, of any hatchery. Chicks are packed with Grogel for hydration and heat packs if the weather is cool. Occasionally, I received a chick here and there that was DOA but that happens when they’re shipped across the country. They have a 72-hour live guarantee for chicks so they will replace or refund you any chicks that die during the 72 hours after arrival. That’s longer than all the other hatcheries. Their Black Copper Marans lay some of the darkest eggs I’ve seen. I have 2 Greenfire hens in my breeder flock. But, the hens tend to be a little smaller in size than a breeder quality birds should be but were friendly and docile. The roosters were always large in size but had a lot of chest leakage and very high tails. If you’re breeding for egg color, great. If you’re breeding for conformation and show, go somewhere else.

Alchemist Farms, Sebastopol, CA

This is another small hatchery. I hate to say anything negative because the owners seem to be nice people. My order from them consisted of Silverudd’s Blues, Black Copper Marans, and Welsummers. I understand that they are straight run. But of the 20+ chicks I received, I got 90% roosters including all the Welsummers. Welsummers are sexable at hatch and any hobby breeder would be able to easily tell male from female. So, the fact that I was sent all males was a big red flag. Silverudd Blues come in 3 colors: blue, black, and splash. You can easily tell what color the chicks are at hatch even if you can’t sex them. I received 12 chicks. All splash. They didn’t even make an effort to include one or two chicks of other colors. That was disappointing. Only 2 of the 8 Black Copper Marans chicks turned out to be pullets. They both laid a fairly dark egg, somewhere along the lines of a 6. But, one turned out to be mottled. White spots all over. In their second year, that hen molted out and her entire back end grow back in white. The other hen also developed white lacing on her feathers throughout her body after her first big molt. They definitely have recessive genetics in their flock. The roosters were very poor representations of a Marans. Lots of white in the tails, laced feathers, tons of chest leakage, high tails, shall I keep going? The eggs are also very small compared to my other breeder quality birds. All the birds from their line were pulled from my breeding pens. Their website says they replaced their whole flock of Black Copper Marans this year but then go on to say that they’ve been perfecting this line for 10 years, which makes no sense. So, egg color, yes. Conformation or breeding quality Black Coppers, no.

Feather Lover Farms, Rocklin, CA

This “hatchery” is the biggest scam on the market. Stay far, far away from this place. I ordered a group of a dozen or so chicks including 5 Silverudd’s Blues and what showed up was a complete joke. Three had feathered shanks so were obviously olive eggers that they tried to pass off as Silverudd’s. One was brown. They only come in blue, black, and splash. The last one… get this… had black skin. It was a muddy black and white cockerel with black skin that they tried to tell me was a Silverudd’s blue. All of their chicks arrived sickly and most died within the first few days. They shipped overnight from Northern California in warm weather, it wasn’t that hard of a journey. Of the dozen+ chicks I ordered, only 3 survived to adulthood. The one black and white fibro rooster, one “Silverudd’s Blue” pullet that was gray with feathered shanks, and one lavender “olive egger”. The lavender “olive egger” lays a green egg so light that it’s almost blue. Mos def not an olive egger. I am obviously not a novice chick brooder. I called for days and got no answer and no return calls. I emailed multiple times. They finally answered my email acting like they knew nothing about the chicks with feathered shanks or the fibro chick. But, they still refused to refund me any money even after I sent them photos of everything. Their only offer? They would replace the chicks if I paid another $69 for shipping. Why do I have to pay more money when it was your fault??? Never again. Stay far, far away from this place. The chicken forums are littered with posts from people who were scammed in the same way.