Frequently Asked Questions

We do sell chicks most of the year round, but there are a variety of reasons baby chicks aren't available for purchase at all times. Chickens naturally lay fewer eggs in the colder, darker months of winter. Some breeds stop entirely. Fertility is usually lower in the winter, too, so fewer chicks will hatch. In addition, in the fall and winter, our hens will be molting and regrowing new feathers for the coming year, so even those breeds that are good winter layers may lay reduced numbers of eggs, or may briefly stop laying until molting is over. That means...

Yes! Our hatching facilities and all other breeders with whom we contract are NPIP-certified. If you would like NPIP papers to be included with your baby chick order so that you can show your birds, just let us know -- we'll be happy to do it! They arrive by email a few days after your birds arrive. Remember that NPIP papers are only available for 6 months after you have received your birds, so be sure to ask for them in time! Most states in the US require baby chicks and juvenile birds that ship across state lines to originate...

Yes! During the checkout process you will have the opportunity to give us two different phone numbers. If you give us two, we'll make sure both appear on your box. It's fine to have just one phone number appear on your box if you just have one number convenient to receive a call. Don't worry! Our number will appear there, too, so if the post office can't reach you, they can try us!

Good question! First of all, don't forget that our baby chicks can arrive any day from Tuesday through Thursday of the week they are shipped--it just depends on how quickly the post office delivers to your area. So have your brooder and everything prepared by Monday (so you don't have to scramble)...but don't worry if it's a Tuesday or Wednesday and your chicks haven't arrived yet. As to how you'll know they're at the post office, in our experience most POs ask customers to pick up their peeping packages right at the post office on the day of arrival. We...

Yes, we can ship baby chicks to Hawaii. Unfortunately, waterfowl and pullets cannot be shipped at this time There is additional paperwork involved with shipping chicks to Hawaii, so please allow give a lead time of 2-3 weeks. You won't be able to place a last-minute order because your state's Department of Agriculture wants to know exactly what chicks will be arriving and where they are going. After you place an order destined for Hawaii, we'll be in touch to confirm details and ensure that your shipping date provides us with sufficient time for your state's approval. Your state requires...

Your chicks will ship all at once! All of your chicks must ship together for their safety. Alternatively, you can choose to place two or more separate orders, with each one meeting the safe chick shipping minimum. Don't worry--our shopping cart enforces that minimum, so you can't accidentally order too few for shipping safety.  Minimum order requirements for baby chicks:  April - November: 3 baby chicks December - April: 8 baby chicks When you place your virtual chicks in your online basket, you will be given an estimate of the first shipping date they will all be available on the...

We can ship chicks anywhere within the continental U.S. and to locations in Hawaii, Alaska. We can also now ship baby chicks to Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Guam.  3-14 Baby Chicks:  $55.00 (Express Mail & Special Packaging) 15-24 Baby Chicks:  $20.00 (Priority Express Mail & Packaging) 25+ Baby Chicks:  $10.00 (Priority Express Mail & Packaging)  Alaska: (3-14 Baby Chicks): $85.00 up to 14 chicks, 15+ is calculated at checkout (Express Mail & Special Packaging) Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands & Guam: $85.00 up to 14 chicks, 15+ is calculated at checkout (Express Mail & Special Packaging) **Note: Orders to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam require a physical...

Most hatcheries require 15 or 25 baby chicks per order because the chicks need one another's body heat to survive their 2-day journey. This is a big pain for lots of people who just want a few chickens! Since our goal in life (yes, our goal in life!) is to make your life easy, we've partnered with a forward-thinking hatchery that has developed a brand new way of shipping baby chicks that includes a high-tech, long- last heating element. This keeps the chicks nice and warm for their journey! And when you order fewer than 15 chicks we automatically send...

Unlike other hatcheries that may add "males for warmth" to fill out a small order, we will never do that because we understand how important it is for our customers to be able to receive small orders for their urban and suburban locations: that is why they purchase from us in the first place! Even with My Pet Chicken's revolutionary method of shipping tens of thousands of small orders of chicks safely across the country alive and well, the absolute fewest number of chicks that ship safely is three large fowl chicks (or five bantam chicks). Remember, this is the...

They'll be less than 72 hours old. They ship Mondays and Tuesdays as soon as they're hatched and the birds you've reserved have been packed into your shipping box with anything they may need (like custom amounts of nesting material and ventilation as well as heat packs for small orders). They can arrive any day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday, depending on your location and how the Post Office services your area.

Neither Fed Ex nor UPS will ship live baby birds, so we ship all orders of fewer than 15 chicks via the speediest service that the Post Office offers for baby chicks: USPS Express Mail. Orders of 15 chicks or more are shipped by USPS Priority Mail. Your chicks can arrive any day from Tuesday to Thursday of your scheduled shipping week, assuming that they ship on a Monday. (Our chicks almost always ship on Mondays, unless there is a national holiday that Monday, in which case they will ship on a Tuesday!) Exactly which day chicks arrive at your...

Unfortunately, no! Chicks are usually shipped on Monday unless there is a Federal Holiday. Then they are shipped on Tuesdays. Smaller orders of 3-14 chicks automatically ship USPS Express Mail, and larger orders of 15 chicks or more are shipped via Priority Mail service. Why can't I get my chicks shipped on a different day of the week? The short answer is that chicks wouldn't survive.The long answer: Right before the babies hatch, they absorb their yolk sac, which sustains them with hydration and energy for their journey to you. But the yolk sac only provides about 2-3 days' worth...

Right before chicks hatch, they have just absorbed the last of the yolk. This sustains them during their journey, for up to three days, so that's why they need to ship at that time, when the yolk will sustain them. The reason nature works this way is that if they were hatching beneath a mother hen, this would enable the early hatchers to survive without eating and drinking until mother finished hatching the rest of the eggs. She can't get up from the nest until the entire hatching is over, or else the last babies would die in their shells,...

Our chicks are hatched in the wee hours on Monday* of each week during the hatching season, and they're sorted, sexed, vaccinated, packaged, and shipped either Monday or Tuesday. (*Except when a holiday falls on a Monday, in which case they're hatched on a Tuesday.)

Coccidiosis is an infection caused by a protozoan, and it is found in most environments. However, the coccidiosis vaccine administered in the U.S. is unattenuated, meaning it is not weakened in any way, and can actually cause illness and retarded growth. We think it's a bad idea to cause the baby chicks to endure the extra stress of cocci vaccinations, since shipping is already stressful on the babies. It's for that reason we don't offer a vaccination against coccidia. To offer extra protection against cocci, you can offer a medicated chick starter feed--this usually contains amprol, and helps chicks resist...

It's always disappointing when a bird isn't sexed correctly, especially if your "girl" ended up being a "boy" and was the family's favorite chick! Since chicken sexing is an art, not a science, sometimes errors do occur (though our professional chick vent sexers are correct more than 90% of the time). 1. We will refund you for any bird which has been incorrectly sexed, provided you notify us within the correct sexing error reporting time frame. Early or late reports can't be taken. Sexing errors must be reported when the birds are 14 to 22 weeks old. Sexing errors for...

Yes, we're happy to cancel an order provided you let us know by 6:00 PM on the Thursday before your scheduled ship week. As you remember from checkout, baby chick orders cannot be cancelled (or changed) later than that date. Be sure to have your order number at hand so we can find your order to cancel it. The reason we require this notice is that, in many cases, the shipping schedule must be shuffled so the baby chicks we were hatching for you can find new adopters in time to receive them when they hatch. In addition we need...

Yes, in most cases, you can change your baby chick order. Contact us to have your order changed. But before you do, read on because there are some important things you should keep in mind before placing your request!     Let us know by 6:00 p.m. the Thursday before your scheduled ship date We require this notice because we need time to make sure the shipment can been changed or stopped. Obviously, we don't want to send baby chicks out to Post Offices where they will never be picked up, or to send you your original order if you are...

There is no minimum number of chicks per breed or size. Although your total order must meet the minimum number for the time of year that your order is shipped. So you can mix and match to your heart's content: really cherry pick your flock! Minimum Baby Chick Order April - November: 3 Baby Chicks December - March: 8 Baby Chicks The neat thing about having a mixed flock is that it's easy to tell them all apart. It can take longer to schedule a delivery when you have lots of different breeds, however, because they must ALL be available...

Yes! We usually have up to six batches of juvenile 6-week-old chickens available each year at various times. They do sell out very quickly, so keep your eyes peeled for availability. They sell so fast because, unlike other hatcheries, My Pet Chicken often has a selection of several rare and heirloom varieties like Black Copper Marans, Speckled Sussex, Welsummers, Easter Eggers, and so on. Most hatcheries offer started pullets in only a few limited high-production breeds like Red or Black Stars (or other sex-linked varieties), Rhode Island Reds, or Leghorns. We don't know of any other hatchery that offers started...

Please notify us Thursday if your package has not arrived by then--but do not notify us before Thursday. The US postal service is very good about handling baby chick deliveries, and they are rarely late! In fact, we only have losses about 1% of the time. A package is late only if it does not arrive by Thursday afternoon. If your package has not arrived by then, its tracking number will have been associated with the individual orders in the hatching facility's system, so on Thursday we will be able to track down individual packages should there be the rare...

Not yet! The best way to peruse our offerings for right now is to browse the category listings on the left hand side of any page on our website.

You may have heard that hatcheries sometimes include extra "males for warmth" in their baby chick packages, but you can be sure we'll never purposely include extra males in your order. When necessary, we include one or more heating packs to keep your chicks warm, and to prevent jostling we add extra nesting material. We pack them very carefully. Our goal in life --- yes, our goal in life! --- is to make it easy for you to keep chickens, and having a bunch of extra roosters that you don't know what to do with wouldn't be easy, now would...

No, sorry! UPS and Fed Ex will not ship chicks - only the United States Postal Service will -- and they've been doing it since the 1800s! (We ship all orders of fewer than 15 chicks via Express Mail, so they arrive FAST.)

We want to be sure your chicks arrive safely, so we have a special packaging method so your new pets are snug and secure while they travel. In fact, we customize bedding, ventilation, and even provide high-tech, long lasting heat packs so your small order of chicks will be happy and healthy when you pick them up at the post office. All that said, it's still necessary to set minimums to ensure their comfort. So while we don't have required minimums per breed, the total number of birds you order must meet the minimum order. Most of the year, April...

My Pet Chicken absolutely guarantees that the fertile hatching eggs you order from us will arrive intact and ready for incubation. Hatching egg orders may ship any day of your selected shipping week, Monday through Saturday via USPS Priority Mail. If any eggs for which you have paid arrive cracked or broken, contact us within two business days of receiving them with photos of the damage. - IMPORTANT: Receiving unbroken eggs is NOT a guarantee that they will all hatch. Why? Let us tell you BEFORE you make your purchase so you can be informed. Our eggs are gathered daily and stored...

There are a few things you can do together to help ease the frustration of waiting! One thing you can do with a child when waiting something out is to make a construction paper chain with the number of links equalling the number of days you must wait. Take a link off each day. Alternatively, you could simply mark days off on a calendar. Weekly, you can devise some task to do together related to the coming chickens. For instance, one task could be picking out brooder equipment, or finding a good place for it in your home. Another task...

Assortments are often more available than specific breeds are, and sometimes even bargain priced. However, no record is kept of which birds are used to fulfill assortments, I'm afraid. They are fulfilled with the breeds that hatched well that week. To determine what you received, you can compare your chicks to the list of possible breeds and the photos on our site to try to identify them. In some cases, you may know instantly what you have received, and in others you may not be absolutely sure until the birds get their mature plumage, so it can be an exciting...

Losses are rare (we see them happen about 1% of the time), but they do occur. For that reason, we recommend that if you have children, make sure they are not around when you open the package. If you do experience any losses, be sure to let us know within 48 hours of having received your order so your loss will be covered by our live arrival guarantee. If someone else is picking up or caring for your chicks for some reason, be sure to have them contact us within the 48-hour deadline to report any losses. When reporting losses,...

Congratulations! You've received your order of baby chicks or waterfowl from My Pet Chicken and now you want to know which breed is which. No problem! Some babies may have leg bands. You can compare the leg band color on your bird to the charts below to help identify the breeds in your order.  IMPORTANT: The leg bands MUST be removed within about a week (because your chicks, ducks, or geese will be growing while the leg bands won't!). Since these are rubber bands, they are extremely easy to remove. Just grab the band and roll it down over the...

Debeaking or "beak trimming" is what it's called when a baby chick's beak is burnt or seared off. It is painful and cruel. Here we explain more about the practice and why we're against it. Why do some breeders debeak their birds? Most rare breed hatcheries and breeders do not beak trim newly-hatched baby chicks, but often trim beaks of birds they're planning on selling when they're a bit older. The reason they do this is so they can pack the birds into a very small space. Keeping chickens in close confinement naturally causes severe stress, and in response to...

We do understand that other hatcheries may do things differently than we do--did you know that chickens are not protected by the Humane Slaughter Act the way other "food" animals are?--but we wouldn't be able to sleep at night if our hatchery engaged in those practices. The majority of the baby chicks that aren't adopted are offered up for auction near our hatching facility. A portion of the unsold chicks are humanely euthanized and we are continuously looking for better alternatives.

You can check the exact shipping cost to your location by placing the items you want in your shopping basket and clicking the "calculate" link (you'll have to enter your zip code so the cost can be calculated). Small orders of baby chicks, ducklings and goslings need extra attention to ship safely, so they include high tech long lasting heat packs to keep the babies warm, plus custom amounts of nesting material and ventilation to prevent jostling or stifling, based on the prevailing weather. Due to this special attention, very small orders of chicks and waterfowl cost a good deal...

No, most of the time, we do not add extra chicks. Especially with small orders, we are careful not to add chicks (although it may happen occasionally, usually only if we've miscounted!). For larger orders of 25 or more chicks, it is more common to receive an extra. We understand that most of you are ordering very small quantities of birds, and may only be allowed to keep the exact number you have ordered. Since we ship our chicks with heat packs when the weather calls for it, we don't add "extra males for warmth" like other hatcheries do. If...

In most cases, that will be because you are ordering more chicks than are available for your preferred date. When you place virtual chicks in your shopping basket, My Pet Chicken's automated checkout system takes quantity into account, so it could be that you're trying to ordering FOUR chicks when we only have one or two left on your preferred date. When that is the case, obviously, we can't reserve chicks for you that we don't expect to have, so you are offered only the date choices in which your combination of breeds--and at the quantities you want!--will be available....

You pay for your order as soon as it is placed; that is what holds your reservation. We don't keep your payment information on file---this helps protect you from identity theft. But for that reason, we have no way of charging your card weeks or months later when your birds have hatched---or your juveniles are grown---and are ready to ship. In addition, when ordering baby chicks in particular, if we did keep your payment information and wait to charge you on hatch day, if there were some problem with the transaction, it would create a BIG problem for the baby...

No, we're sorry. If you want specific breeds or colors, you'll need to purchase each breed you want and construct your order that way. The assortments are hatchery choice, and are not sorted by breed or color.

Well, the truth is that it simply depends on how you want us to handle any problems with your order. Some customers will wait many months for just the right breed, because the breed they get is the most important consideration for them. Others may not care so much what breed they receive, so long as they get the shipping date they need. So, take a few moments to consider your needs before making this choice. When you choose "no substitutions," that has to do with what day you are originally scheduled to receive your birds. Our website is updated...

You're right that some breeds like Polish and silkies can come bearded or nonbearded, but there is no way to choose which because they are not sorted that way. The same goes for ordering "blue" breeds. As you can see in the descriptions, blues usually come in a mix of blue, black and splash. When that's the case, you cannot choose which you receive. Similarly, you can't choose what color Easter Egger you get, or which birds come in a hatchery or breeder choice assortment. All your buying options are always right on the pages.

No. If you want to purchase live birds or fertile eggs, you will need to find a local supplier to help you; we do not ship internationally. (We don't even ship non-live items internationally.) If there is no local supplier and you want to go to the effort of importing chickens or fertile eggs into your country, you should be aware that it's not an easy process. Plus, we still can't help you--we don't export or ship internationally. We get asked often enough that we can provide some advice, though. First, you will need to check to see what customs...

Breeds that are not available individually may still be used to fulfill assortments, since the assortments consist of breeds that have hatched better than we predicted on a given hatch day. In other words, assortments can certainly be (and often are) fulfilled with otherwise sold out breeds, because once we've provided for the orders reserved for that week, we can use the remaining birds for assortments. This is a function of having to literally count our chickens before they've hatched: when making our availability estimates, we are conservative so we can avoid disappointing anyone who has reserved a specific breed....

Well, that's a more complex question than you may think. If there should be a problem on hatch day, of course we will contact you just as soon as we are aware, so you'll know to expect an altered shipment, or not to expect birds that week (depending on what you've asked us to do in the case of a hatch day issue). However, keep in mind that it wouldn't be before the Monday of hatch week, since we wouldn't know that there was a shortage of females hatching (for example) until after the babies had hatched and had been...

No, I'm sorry. We're not a breeder registry. We don't keep lists of independent breeders for any location. To find a list of breeders, you'll normally want to contact a breed club for the breed you are interested in, not a hatchery. To find a breed club, try a Google search: key in "breed club + [breed I'm interested in]." So, for example, you might key in "breed club Japanese Bantam." Breed clubs normally keep a registry of breeders, so contact the breed clubs you find in the Google search for a list of breeders. Hopefully you can find a...

My Pet Chicken is geared toward backyard flocks People who keep small numbers of chickens as a hobby often prefer to buy from My Pet Chicken because we are geared to small backyard keepers of just a few birds at a time. Our minimum order is just three (rather than 25 most other hatcheries). Even other "small order" hatcheries may allow you to order just a few birds, but then add "extra males for warmth," meaning you are saddled with 15 extra roosters to rehome. This is something most keepers of pet chickens are just not interested in. My Pet...

We know you're dying to start keeping chickens--but you don't want to get a flock of beauties only to find out later that they're illegal and have to give them up! That said, determining if it's legal to keep chickens in your area can sometimes be a little complex. Here's our best advice to determine if you are permitted to keep chickens in your neighborhood: First, we recommend you contact both your local health and zoning boards to see if there are any regulations relating to keeping chickens in your area. In addition to local regulations, if there is a...

We can't accept email orders for various reasons, the most important being that email is not a safe way for you to share your payment information. Email is not secure the way online ordering is. In addition, availability changes so quickly that by the time we receive payment to confirm your reservation, availability dates will have changed as other customers place their orders directly online. When that happens, it means we can't make the reservation for you that you wanted. Regular mail takes even longer. We can't accept orders by mail, either. The online ordering system is easy to use....

I'm afraid not. The minimums are based on how many chicks are safe to ship, not how many we would like to sell. You can't give us extra money to send fewer chicks than would be safe to send you. Also, My Pet Chicken never send extra males for warmth. If you don't want to rehome extra roosters, please be careful when ordering from other hatcheries--be sure to check, first, and find out if you will be receiving extra roosters with you small order!

Normally you want to order the number of chickens you want to end up with---don't order extras with the expectation that some will die. But there are a few considerations you may want to take into account. Whether you lose any over the course of bringing them to laying age will also depend in part on the conditions you provide for them at your home. For instance, if your brooder isn't hot enough---or if it's too hot!---you may lose some chicks. Baby chicks can drown in waterers that are too deep, and if waterers or feeders are not securely seated,...

My Pet Chicken's breeders and hatcheries handle all the state-level permits required to get the chicks safe and sound to you. So when you order from My Pet Chicken, there is usually nothing you will need to do with regard to state permits. Most states in the US require baby chicks and juvenile birds that ship across state lines to originate from clean hatcheries like ours, hatcheries that participate in NPIP (the National Poultry Improvement Plan). This is so that the birds will have been imported from flocks whose health is monitored. That's why My Pet Chicken's hatchery handles this...

And if there is a risk that some chicks die on the way, then how can you justify staying in business?|Of course we hate it when chicks die along the way; every bird is an individual, and every loss is a tragedy. However, when it comes to shipping baby chicks, the risk of loss is small; in fact, it tends to be less than the risk of losing baby chicks you hatched at home in your home incubator. Even broody hens lose chicks. The truth is that we see more chicks die due to a lack of adequate care at...

In almost every case, starting a laying flock with baby chicks will be easier and less expensive than starting one by hatching fertile eggs at home. Don't get us wrong, home hatching is great! But remember that fertile eggs (supplied from any source) are not guaranteed to hatch, because shipping can be so rough on the eggs. With shipped eggs, the average hatch rate is about 50%. That's just the average, though! That means sometimes you will have higher, and sometimes lower. In fact, with eggs, it is possible to do everything right and still not have any hatch. Plus,...

We're sorry the breed you want is currently sold out, but yes---there is hope if you're diligent! It's the MUST HAVE white Silkie! Our website always has up to date availability information, because as orders are placed, our inventory of chicks is updated automatically every five minutes. Sometimes more availability dates can be added throughout the year due to updates to our flocks' expected egg production, or due to cancellations by other customers. This additional availability is usually added on Mondays and Tuesdays, so those are the best days to check for new dates. So, if out of stock status...

Unfortunately, no. USPS does NOT guarantee overnight Express delivery for live animals, as much as we would like them to. We agree: it seems a little crazy that the MOST important packages aren't subject to the same guarantees that much less sensitive packages have... but that is their policy. Even though the Post Office won't refund your postage, as a part of My Pet Chicken's 100% Live Arrival Guarantee, in addition to refunding the cost of lost chicks, we do cover shipping costs in some circumstances (out of our own pockets). Read details of our 100% Live Arrival Guarantee here...

We do not use sexed birds as straight run. (No hatchery we know of does that--how dishonest would THAT be?!.) It does not pay us to sex all our baby chicks--the services of a chicken sexer are expensive because it is such a specialized skill and takes so many years to learn. We sex enough baby chicks to fulfill orders for the sexed birds that week, and only those that are NOT sexed are used as straight run birds. Any extra sexed chicks will be used to substitute for the same sex of another breed that had a bad hatch...

We want to make sure your chicks arrive safe and sound. Most of the year, your smallest minimum order could be as low as only three chicks (based on your location and on how quickly the post office tells us your package will arrive), but during the winter months, your minimum order will be significantly higher in order to make sure the chicks stay warm and safe. The minimums in winter is just 8 chicks.

Yes, we're happy to cancel or change an order of fertile hatching eggs provided you let us know by the week before your scheduled ship week. Since we ship eggs any day from Monday to Saturday, if you want to cancel or change your order for fertile hatching eggs, that must be done by the previous Monday. As you remember from checkout, your order cannot be cancelled (or changed) later than that date. Be sure to have your order number at hand so we can find your order to cancel it. In addition, you should be aware that you may...

Yes, we're happy to cancel or change an order of juvenile chickens provided you let us know by the week before your scheduled ship week. For juvenile chickens, if you want to cancel or change your order, that must be done by the Thursday before the shipping week. As you remember from checkout, your order cannot be cancelled (or changed) later than that date. Be sure to have your order number at hand so we can find your order to cancel it. In addition, you should be aware that you may be charged a $5 order cancellation fee. If you've...

Well, let's start with the idea that we literally count our chickens before they've hatched. :) The exhortation against doing that is pretty good advice... unless you're a hatchery or breeder! Then it's your business to predict how many eggs your chickens will lay and how many of those will hatch, AND how many of each sex you'll get. So because these are all estimates, we're pretty conservative in our predictions, because we don't want to disappoint our customers if possible. It's understandably disappointing if you've ordered some Silkies, for instance, and after the long wait when hatch day comes,...

Since shipping little ones can be so expensive, our minimum order for waterfowl is usually 10. However, if you are ok higher shipping costs, we can ship as few as two ducklings or goslings (or one of each--we can ship ducklings and goslings together!) any time of year. Depending on anticipated shipping conditions, we may add a heat pack or extra bedding, or modify ventilation. It is our goal that all our baby birds arrive happy and healthy! Please note that we are unable to ship waterfowl and baby chicks together. There is no minimum amount per waterfowl breed; you...

No worries! We do our best to make sure that you're "in the loop" throughout the process. Waterfowl are hatched and shipped on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. As soon as we have the tracking number for your order, we will email it to you so that you can follow your birds' progress. It's important to know that the USPS does not guarantee overnight shipping on live animals, no matter what your local post office agent may say. Bear in mind that sometimes the shipments are not scanned frequently during shipping, so it may seem like they aren't making progress to your...

We cannot ship any of our products to Canada, Mexico, or any other country. We also cannot ship to American territories, including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Marianas, or the Virgin Islands. That includes hatching eggs, day-old chicks, juveniles, waterfowl, and all non-live products as well. If you live in Canada, you might try Rochester Hatchery, which is located in Alberta.

Our chicks and waterfowl are hatched in different facilities and therefore, cannot be shipped together. If you would like for your waterfowl and chicks to arrive the same week, be sure to choose the same shipping week for your waterfowl and baby chick orders when you checkout.

Yes, in most cases you can call us at 908-795-1007 to have your order changed, but before you do, read on because there are three important things you should keep in mind before placing your request! You will also remember from checkout that you may be charged a $5 nonrefundable fee to make any changes to an order after it has been placed. Let us know by the Thursday before your scheduled ship date We require this notice because we need time to make sure the shipment can been changed or stopped. Obviously, we don't want to send baby ducks...

Because of our special packaging methods, we are able to ship smaller orders of chicks to meet the needs of our awesome small-flock backyard chicken enthusiasts. But for the safety of the chicks in shipping, we do have a minimum order which is based on time of year (our minimum orders go up in winter to protect the chicks from the cold).  We are not able to make exceptions to our minimum order amounts, as this is the fewest number of chicks we can safely ship to your zip code. We want to make sure your chicks arrive happy and...