The various breeds of poultry vary in their hatching size and robustness, especially at the chick stage. This means that some breeds can be easier to have shipped to you and display in your store, while others can be more of a challenge.
Generally, the standard size egg laying chicken breeds like the Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, and Buff Orpington breeds are going to be a bit less of a hassle for you to receive and care for in your brooder environment. The more challenging breeds that hatch smaller, can experience less shipping success, and require more precise brooder conditions, are going to be more of a challenge.
In summary, the easier breeds will create less problems for you than the more challenging breeds.
While we cannot instruct you on exactly what to buy for your store, we want to ensure that you have clear expectations regarding what to expect from various breeds. The more delicate and challenging breeds may require a more advanced care that can result in losses for less experienced or less equipped chicken owners.
Which poultry breeds will offer me the easiest experience for both my store and my customers?
The popular egg laying breeds such as the Barred Plymouth Rock are easier to care for.
The breeds that hatch at a larger size are generally going to be hardier and more robust at the chick and brooder stages. This means that you will have an easy time setting up a standard brooder environment and ensuring that the chicks are thriving while they are in your store, and when the customers take them home. Breeds that do well are generally the common egg layer breeds for chickens.. In the Cackle Hatchery Wholesale Portal, we label these easier, hardier breeds.
Some examples of Hardy Breeds include -
Which poultry breeds are more challenging for my store and my customers? Which breeds should I avoid to minimize problems?
Bantam Breeds such as the Blue Silkie Chicken are more of a challenge to care for.
Many breeds hatch smaller, and may be bred not for hardiness and robustness, but rather for ornamental or aesthetic features. Often times, these breeds are less suitable for a feed store environment as they may experience losses during or after shipment. They stand to create difficulties for both your and your customers.
These breeds can be hard to ship,, and they can be a challenge to get started in the brooder. It is important that both you and your customers have clear expectations when purchasing and raising the more challenging breeds.
The challenging breeds need to be in separate brooders, have a higher temperature from their supplemental heat source, and have feeders and waterers that are lower to the ground for the smaller chicks to reach easily.
We mark these more challenging and delicate breeds on the Wholesale Portal. Some of the examples of more challenging breeds include -