03/30/2026
I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and do a little educating for people who simply may not know what it cost to purchase chicks from a large hatchery or a small local farm like mine. My name is Jenny Gandee, my husband is Fred. We are the owners and operators of Blue Bird Farm. I have converted him into a chicken farmer and now he sends me videos and all kinds of chicken related ideas for new houses, waterers, feeders, etc. Let’s get to the info I wanted to share with y’all . I’m going to attach pictures that I took from one hatchery today. I sell my multigenerational Olive Egger chicks for $ 1 0 each. I know this is the going rate for any small farms like myself. I have confirmed with several. My pure breeds( Ameraucana that come in splash, blue, black and Ermine, Crested cream legbars) I charge a little more for. I have had locals shy away or cringe when I tell them how much my chicks are. I’ve had people say well I can buy them at the feed store for less. Yes, yes you can but not by much. You’re also buying lesser quality birds from a huge company who are hatching and selling birds by the thousands every day. I’ve had some say I’ll just order from the hatchery, okay sounds good. I don’t mind. My customer base isn’t local although I wish it was. Now I do have some very loyal local buyers and I love them because they want to support local small farms like mine. So back to ordering from your hatcheries, let’s say you only want a handful of chicks because you aren’t like me and don’t want a hundred chickens. When you order a small amount you will be penalized. You’re going to be charged for your chicks( F2 Olive) 10.39 ea, plus your small order fee, plus shipping, plus the fee from USPS. See the attached pictures. This makes your chicks just shy of $30 ea. now that seems a little high compared to my flat rate price and I don’t require a minimum. Also go to all the hatcheries you can find and most of them you can’t get the chicks you want for a few months or several weeks. You needed to have put your order in months ago. Let’s say you go to tractor supply or Atwoods. You can buy some of their chicks for less than 10, some are more. A lot of the time no one knows what breed they are, are they pullets really?? They may not make it home to the brooder. I was at Atwoods last week and several chicks were dead in the brooders. I have people message me every fall and even in the winter wanting laying hens. I don’t sell many adult birds. Why? It cost a lot to raise a chick to a hen. Roughly $75-85 by the time you get your first egg. If I price a hen as low as $25 people dang near have a stroke. That’s cheap and I will be happy to pay $25 for a nice hen. By the way your hatcheries also sell adult birds and started birds. Do yourself a favor and go check out the cost on that. It’s mind blowing! I know a lot of people care nothing about genetics, egg colors, quality or any of the things that I do. They just want a $5 laying hen. Don’t we all. Have y’all been to a feed store? Feed is $20+ per bag and that don’t last long, plus the supplements added and any extras. I digress, now back to why my birds aren’t $5. I started several years ago building my flock, my egg basket. I knew what I wanted and couldn’t really get it local to me, so I ordered hatching eggs from other farms in other states that were over $100 per dozen, and I went further away to buy quality birds to start with that weren’t hatchery stock. I have spent years breeding my flock up to have some of the most beautiful eggs and birds that you just need to see in person. The future of Blue Bird Farm is going NPIP so I can more easily get my eggs and chicks to my customer base. I would love to earn more business from the locals, so for now we will keep trying. As you can see I love to talk birds so please reach out anytime for questions or to visit me about my flock.
