A hatchery is a place that incubates eggs and sells the resulting chicks. In some cases the hatchery doesn’t own the breeder flocks that lay the eggs but contracts with local farmers to obtain eggs from the desired breeds. In other cases the hatchery may own the breeder flocks and contract with local farmers to care for them, giving the hatchery somewhat greater control over the quality of the breeder flocks.
Not many of us live near enough to a hatchery to stop in to pick up a batch of chicks, and some hatcheries don’t allow visitors, to prevent the introduction of poultry diseases into their facility. Those hatcheries that allow visitors are not likely to have birds on display and certainly are not likely to allow visitors into the hatching room. Even though a hatchery is nearby, call ahead to determine if they have what you want. You may have to order your chicks well in advance of when you want them, as hatcheries typically incubate eggs to fill orders rather than hatch eggs and then try to sell the chicks.
Some hatcheries are highly specialized, for example, at producing Leghorn pullets for local egg farms. Other hatcheries may deal solely with waterfowl, or turkeys, or guinea fowl. Unfortunately, a few hatcheries churn out large numbers of low-quality birds. Most hatcheries, however, do participate in NPIP.
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SamFarm 2 years, 3 months ago
These are good info snips
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