CURIOUS ABOUT CHICKENS? THIS IS HOW WE CHOSE OUR BREEDS!

I ordered our first chickens on a whim - it was an impulsive decision that was brewing in my head for a few months after we bought our homestead. Who knew you could order chicks online with the click of a button?. My goal was simple - I wanted farm fresh eggs and this was the first step to accomplish that goal, right? I've always heard of Tractor Supply and chick days, but until that April day, I've never really thought about purchasing anything from Tractor Supply - I never needed to [this has changed, SO much].

 I scrolled through the breed varieties that they offer on their website, the chicks were sold from Hoover's Hatchery, I had a lot to learn and I'm grateful they offered a lot of info. When you search for "chicks" on their website [www.tractorsupply.com], you can filter options by "purpose, sex, bird breed, life stage, price". Most chicks come in quantities of 10 per order and they vary by price depending on the breed. There is an assortment of chicks that are considered egg layers, meat chickens or dual purpose. You can also select a few varieties and compare them amongst each other. When you decide on the breed that works best for your family needs and climate, you will be asked to select a sex. Most of the time, the slightly cheaper option is to order them "unsexed", however this can be risky because you can end up with an uneven ratio of males + females, the sex of the chick is not guaranteed. If you have the option of selecting females, which you would need for eggs, you have about a 90% chance that they will all be females. 

​After going back and forth between comparing the breeds - we decided that we would order 10 FEMALE White Leghorns and 10 UNSEXED Cinnamon Queens. ​

The above graphic gives you an idea of the reasons we decided to start our chicken journey with the two breeds. Both of them are laying big and beautiful eggs and I'm very happy with my decision to get them. At the time of purchasing the female White Leghorns cost us $3.49 each and the unsexed Cinnamon Queens cost us $2.69 each, we lucked out and all 20 were female! I'll be sharing our journey with our chickens in the near future! Do you have chickens? What breeds do you have?