Though I have had chickens since 2007, in the Spring of 2019, I wanted some chicks that I could not pick up at my local feed store, so I did what I thought to be my only alternative, I ordered them from a hatchery. The Post Office called and I dashed in to pick up my floofballs. When I opened my box, one third of them were dead. In the next few days more died, leaving me with about half of what I had ordered, and to each of the tiny survivors clung the stench of death.

I was appalled and the next time I was at the feed store, I voiced my indignation.

“Yes,” said feed store lady, “that sounds about right.”

“Whaaat?”

“That’s about the mortality rate we get here at the store as well. Shipping is hard on them.”

I had no idea. For every one of those adorable little peepers in the feed store brooder, there is a little dead one somewhere. This became even more appalling after I started hatching and learned how hard the chicks work to get out of their shells. But I get ahead of myself.

I resolved to never buy a shipped chick again, which meant not buying from a hatchery or a feed store. With the help of my local Facebook chicken enthusiast group, I found a network of local breeders. One — Kristy Thom of Feather & Bloom PNW — had an incubator to loan and the willingness to answer all my newbie questions. I hatched my first batch in August of 2019 and haven’t stopped since.

Four hundred chicks (at time of post, 5,000 now in January of 2024) later and I am still enthralled. How could I have kept chickens for nearly a decade and not have know about hatching? It is so fun. The magic of the little chick crawling out of its shell never gets old for me.

Since then I have become a crusader for the unshipped chicks. I post the following blurb on chicken groups across the country, hoping that people will seek out local farms instead of participate in the chick-killing practice of shipping.

“May I recommend buying your fluffballs from local chicken enthusiasts?

You will get a better variety than the feed stores can offer and healthier chicks as they don't have to endure being shipped. Plus you will support local farmers who will in turn, I hope, be a resource for you should you have questions.

On my website — Flower Feather Farm — I maintain a list of who has what around Whatcom and Skagit counties to help you find the chicks you want.”

And I keep hatching. I try to avoid working with breeds that are already well-represented in my county as I build up my own breeding flocks by ordering hatching eggs from around the country. Each hatch is celebrated and each chick is nurtured and cuddled and sent off to new homes with care.

And as a happy bonus I get to play with chicks and talk chickens every day. Best job ever.