Frequently Asked Questions
- Availability/Ordering
“On backorder. Order from next available hatch” This means that while it is not currently in stock, you may place an order to save a spot in line and we will get to you as soon as possible. This can mean a day up to several months depending on how many orders we have or if our girls have slowed down for some reason. We fill orders on a first come first serve basis. If you know what you want and are cool with waiting go ahead and order and we will get you what you want as soon as we can. We do our best to limit backorders to items that can be filled this year. If timing is important and you would like an estimate please reach out by text or email. We will do our best to estimate but timing can change due to many factors outside our control such as laying rate, hatch rate, ratio of males/females etc. We keep small breeding flocks and unexpected events can have a major impact on availability. See estimated availability HERE.
No, For good reason we hardly ever have a large volume of chickens sitting around waiting to be picked up. Most of our breeds are reserved in advance and picked up when ready. See estimated availability HERE.
As soon as possible. Its best to order as soon as you know what you want. If we have them ready early and you are not ready we can always bump you to the next batch. Once your order is in, you will have priority.
We have you covered! We have two breeds we can sex as babies. The Cream Legbar or the Pearl Legbar. Or you can order +6 Week females. These ladies will be 6 weeks or older and no longer require supplemental heat. They are ready for the coop! If we don’t have what you want ready to go you can pre-order and we will happily reserve some girls for you from our next available batch and we can get together as soon as they are ready.
If you purchase chicks and find yourself in this very reasonable dilemma, don’t stress! While we can’t offer a refund or swap for any boys we may be able to assist in rehoming unwanted males and you can just keep the girls. We are sorry but are unable to assist with rehoming boys from egg purchases.
Unfortunately they are unsexed and there is simply NO way to estimate the number of males or females. When we raise females for orders we raise 3 chicks for every female. Again there is no guarantee but this ratio seems to generally work for us. For very large sample sizes (thousands of chicks) Male/female ratios are typically 50/50. In small quantities anything is possible.
If you choose to cancel once payment has been made a 15% fee will be deducted to cover processing fees & time spent behind the scenes preparing for your order. Otherwise we can also hold a credit for future use.
We do not offer shipping. All eggs, chicks or started birds must be picked up in Marietta Georgia. When your order is about ready we will reach out by text or email to schedule an appointment for pickup. We meet just off the highway at 3284 Canton Rd, Marietta, GA 30066. On the right just past an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts. You can see this video to help.
We meet by appointment only. We typically meet on Tuesdays at 2PM, Fridays at 10AM or Sundays at 5PM. We meet just off the highway at 3284 Canton Rd, Marietta, GA 30066. On the right just past an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts. You can see this video to help. Feel free to place an order and we will arrange a time to meet as soon as your birds are ready.
Nope! Just a $20 minimum order value. You’re welcome to get any amount you want. Chickens usually get pretty upset if they are alone so unless you plan to have some friends for them we would recommend at least two. If you are adding birds to an existing flock due to the pecking order is typically best to introduce at least two birds.
- General
We will have a box with holes and shavings for you to transport them home! We will also close it up good so you don’t have any unexpected copilots 🙂
We get asked this ALL the time. We really don’t see a correlation between friendliness and breed. Many will swear by certain breeds as sweet and others as meaner. Some of our sweetest pets have been birds from supposedly “mean” breeds. In general all of our girls are very sweet especially so when raised from babies. If you want the best well socialized sweet girls we recommend raising them from babies. If you cant do this or don’t want to our 6+ Week old girls can also be loving but will take a bit longer to warm up to you. There are not many bridges treats and snuggles cant build.
We would love to keep you updated with pictures of your babies but unfortunately do to the volume of requests and because we are often raising multiple and cant make any promises about specific birds we are not able to send photos 🙁 On our site, we have some example pictures of young birds and adults. The pictures on our site our our actual breeding stock.
Most are able to integrate them without much trouble but It can depend on the personalities of your girls. The best thing to do is observe them when you put them together. There will be some squabbles and a feather pulled here and there. That is expected as they work out the pecking order. What you don’t want is someone getting pinned in the corner and pecked mercilessly. You will also want to make sure that they are moving about and are able to get to the food and water. Most of the time new birds are scared will stick to the run or coop while they get to know the others. We recommend adding extra water so they can access it in either location.
Yes! When you purchase our started +6 week females, Yes, will guarantee females. There are not certainties in nature but we rarely see males sneak through. If that did happen for whatever reason, we will happily offer a refund or swap you if we have another one available.
If you haven’t hatched before it’s worth knowing that not all eggs will hatch. There are always a few that are not fertile, some that start but stop developing and some that fully develop but just don’t hatch for whatever reason. All that to say you are welcome to eggs or get chicks if you want to take the risk out of hatching.
- Care
Yes, It may feel warm to you but for chicks to survive they need access to an area 95 degrees for the first week. This temperature can be reduced by 5 degrees each week by raising the heat lamp. If you need to check your temperature you can use a cooking thermometer to verify. Sometimes brooders are much colder or hotter than expected. If you see them huddled in a pile directly under the lamp that could be an indication they are too cold. If they are against the sides of the brooder as far as they can get away they may be too hot. When they sleep, we typically see they find a comfortable spot somewhere at the perimeter of the heated area.
Squabbles and a feather pulled here and there are to be expected as they work out the pecking order. What you don’t want is someone getting chased and pinned in the corner and pecked mercilessly. You will also want to make sure that they are moving about and are able to get to the food and water. We like to make sure there is water in the coop and the run to make sure they are not too scared to get to it while they get to know each other. We have seen many successful introductions by keeping the new chickens in a pet crate for a few days so they have a chance to get to know their new friends safely. If you see any injuries its a great idea to get some Blu-Kote this is an antiseptic spray that also has a blue dye and a bitter taste to it to prevent further pecking. (Wear gloves when you use it unless you want purple fingers) Depending of the severity of the injury you may need to separate and re-introduce once healed. Here is a LINK to an article by the Chicken Chick. She gives great well researched advice.
For babies until they lay the first egg we feed a starter/grower. Once they lay their first egg switch to a layer pellet. They are basically the same except the layer pellet has extra calcium which is hard for them to process if they are not laying eggs. For mixed age flocks we feed a scoop of both grower and layer until they are all old enough to transition to layer feed.
Chicks are ready for the coop at 5-6 weeks if it is not very cold. You will want to be careful in early spring or late fall to acclimate them. Don’t take them from a 75 degree brooder to 32 degrees nights. It’s best to ease them in during a balmy few days.
Become a professional vent sexer 🙂 Just kidding… That takes years of training which we don’t have either. It takes us 6-8 weeks to be able to reliably sex chicks so sometimes you just have to be patient. The easy ones are the auto sexing breeds. The females with have a nice clear chipmunk stripe and Cleopatra eye liner. The males will have less defined chipmunk stripe, less eye liner and often a white dot on the head. Females can have a faint white dot on the head too. For other breeds, the combs and waddles on the males will get bigger and redder than those of the females. Be sure to take into account comb types because some types are larger than others and that is breed specific. Once the chicks get to be about 10 weeks old you will start to see saddle feathers come in. This is a sure sign as only the males will get pointy saddle feathers at the base of the tail while the hens feathers will be round. When they are first coming in you may have to search for them. Be careful not to get tricked by new feathers not fully out of the feather husk. Otherwise crowing is also good sign of a male. It’s important to know there are all sorts of crazy wives tales about how to tell males from females. People believe them because not matter how far fetched they are all right at least 50% of the time. We are often asked about wing sexing but in short that does not work for any of the breeds we raise. Just a fun fact, Its rare but in all female flocks we have personally seen females start to take on male characteristics and even begin crowing. This may happen to help a wild flock of all females attract a nearby male. Here is a LINK to an article by the Chicken Chick. She gives great well researched advice.
Chickens 5-6 weeks or older at a minimum need a ventilated shelter to protect them from the weather and predators. You will need a roost bar, feeder, waterer and a place for them to lay eggs. Nest boxes don’t have to be fancy. We like to use an old produce box. Make sure the run has access to shade for those hot summer days.
If you are raising babies, you will need a heat lamp or heat plate, a chick waterer, feeder, shavings and a large bin or box to use as a brooder.
You can see a list of specific items we find helpful HERE.
- General Questions
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- Misc
