Notice - There are 2 steps to figure your shipping. Use this chart when figuring
your shipping charges and then add charges from zone chart below. IMPORTANT:
This is only necessary if you are ordering by mail, if ordering over the
Internet, charges are figured automatically. There is a minimum of $15.00
shipping charge on all orders over the Internet, this applies to POULTRY.
To print out an order form, Click Here . Using the instructions below (print
instructions here) you can figure your shipping charges. Complete
the order form, enclose full purchase price and mail to: Cackle Hatchery, PO Box
529, Lebanon MO 65536. We will contact you by phone or e-mail when to expect
your chicks
|
| Zone 1 thru 3
| Zone 4
| Zone 5
| Zone 6
| Zone 7
| 8 |
| Extra charges for each baby chick
| 12 cents
| 19 cents
| 22 cents
| 24 cents
| 26 cents
| 27 cents |
| Extra for each guinea, bantam, quail, or pheasant
| 11 cents
| 19 cents
| 22 cents
| 24 cents
| 26 cents
| 27 cents |
| Extra for each duckling or turkey
| 14 cents
| 23 cents
| 26 cents
| 28 cents
| 30 cents
| 32 cents |
| Extra for each gosling
| 22 cents
| 34 cents
| 39 cents
| 43 cents
| 47 cents
| 53 cents |
U.S. Postal Service Official Zone Chart
To print out steps and US Postal Service Zone Chart Click
Here
For
ordering by internet, select the "blue tabs" to the left, make
breed/variety selection, select quantity and USE the shopping cart check out
process for electronic ordering process, which will also figure the shipping
charge for you.
|
|
Guarantees and Policies
100% Live Delivery Guaranteed
We guarantee that you will receive full count of live, healthy poultry
according to this guarantee. We place extra chicks in each box to help
fulfill this guarantee. However, if losses should occur in shipment and you
do receive less live chicks than you ordered, we will make an adjustment either
by replacing poultry, (we are not able to ship just a few chicks for
replacement) or process a refund for the chick price or a credit to another
order you are placing for the current year. Please open chick boxes immediately and inspect poultry. If your shipment is
INSURED and you do not have a full count that you paid for (don't count any
extras we may have sent), please ask the delivery agent to sign your Statement
of Loss (PS form 1000) and send to us immediately. If your shipment was NOT
INSURED and you have a loss, then call us ASAP for an adjustment. This guarantee
is only for the safe and live delivery of your poultry.
Any loss must be reported to the hatchery within 3 days of receipt for any
adjustment to be made. We DO NOT offer any
guarantee/replacements/refunds on shipments of peafowl.
Quality Guaranteed. All Cackle poultry are guaranteed to be of the
grade, quality, sex and breed as represented. Should any error occur we will
make prompt adjustment. In producing these chicks the seller has followed
approved and recommended methods of flock control and egg selection and has
established sanitary and disease control standards in the Hatchery
operation. Seller does not warrant poultry to be free from any disease which
could not be ascertained at the time of sale. Liability is limited in all
cases to replacement of damaged chicks and extra chicks must apply.
Replacement good for 1 time only. Under no circumstances shall our
liability, on claims of any kind, exceed the total price paid for poultry.
We participate in the United States Department of Agriculture Animal Health inspection
service "National Poultry Improvement Plan".
Our photos of the different pure
breed birds are representations of the pure breed poultry named and may or may
not be of our bloodlines. Our goal at Cackle Hatchery is to mate parent
stock that will produce chicks that will mature into similar representations
of each breed that is photographed. We have numerous flock owners and
customers who show their birds at poultry shows throughout the United States.
Of course, the birds shown at poultry shows are usually the best marked bird
of their entire flock. Most flocks of a pure breed will have some kind or
degree of variance from one bird to another. A large percentage of the photos
on our site are of our bloodlines.
Privacy
Policy - Your mailing address and e-mail address is NOT sold and is
only used for Cackle Hatchery to use to communicate with you.
Website/Catalog Pricing:
While we have taken every precaution to ensure accurate prices, we
cannot guarantee the website/catalog to be free of pricing and description errors.
Also, prices may change without notice. The merchandise prices on this
website supersede all prior prices.
10% discount for Qualified Youth Organizations is for pre-ordered
sales only. Discount does not apply to in-store sales from the brooder or
any sales of assortments or specials. This discount is only good at
the time of ordering and is void for any added or changed orders or
retroactive request for the discounts. The discount also only applies
to orders of 30 birds or less. You will be requested to furnish your
group name and/or leaders.
Sexing guaranteed 95%. We guarantee on a 100 paid pullet order that you will receive
at least 95 pullets. If we make an error and did not live up to our stated
guarantee, we will refund the difference between pullet and cockerel
prices. Claims must be sent directly to us when chicks are not more
than 12 weeks old. Does not apply to assorted chicks.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
to you as a customer is to provide healthy good
quality chicks that arrive to you alive and in good condition.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITY is to provide an environment with proper heat,
food and water as given in our care sheet. The care sheet is to be
read at the time of ordering your birds (preparation information) and read again
at time of delivery of birds. To report any unsafe delivery to
us as instructed in the above "Live Delivery Guarantee" section.
"Care Sheet - information found on the home page of www.
cacklehatchery.com/page14.html and a hard copy enclosed with your shipment
of birds.
10% CANCELED ORDER
FEE (RESTOCKING FEE) – Any orders placed and then cancelled will have 10%
of the total price deducted from the total purchase and shipping price and
the difference refunded by check if paid by check and if paid by credit card
will have the credit card credited back the difference. Rationale for the
fee: Orders paid for/booked are taken off the market for sale and are marked sold
and we potentially could have a lost opportunity for a buyer if cancelled .
Cancelled orders create book keeping and labor cost to process the cancelled
order, labor to recalculate deletions and adding back on the sell sheets,
along with postage or credit card fees to process credits. Our chicks pricing
is not formulated for cancelled order cost. We do make exceptions for
the 10% fee for emergencies and will move a ship date to another date;
however, every effort should be made to be prepared to receive your chicks on
your given date. Refunds are processed ASAP, but on busy rare occasions
can take up to 3 weeks to be completed. It is common practice for
customers to order their poultry 2-8 weeks in advance of the time they would
like them delivered. Because live new chicks become perishable the day
they hatch, it is necessary to have them all sold well before their hatch
date. Newly hatched chicks have their 3 day supply of yolk still in
their system to sustain them for their trip to your home. We ship every
Monday and Wednesday and your birds should arrive at your post office or
mailing address within 2 days. Your confirmation notice will give you
your hatch/ship date. You should be very flexible around your delivery
date so you can take your birds immediately to your brooder to be warmed up so
they will go to eating and drinking. See our care sheet and preparation.
We NO longer accept
orders booked WITHOUT payment. Orders must be paid at time of booking the
order.
Returned Check Charge - $25.00
Boxing: All poultry will be boxed according to the weather, so the poultry will have the best chance of survival. Because of this, breeds and sexes must be mixed.
Unless
indicated by you, breeds and sexes will not be marked.
Can I make
changes to my order or add more birds to my order? We are
NO longer accepting additions to orders or changes to orders. REASON:
It has created too many mistakes to orders, caused double shipments, caused
our bird counts to not be right for selling birds and caused shorting other
customer's orders. OPTIONS: The best option is to make a
new order for the added birds (we can ship as little as 15 birds including
bantams and the overall postage cost is not that much for the added
order). The other option is to cancel the order with a 10% cancel fee
(fee explained above) and start all over with a new order on a new available
shipping date. Cackle Hatchery will look at solving this issue
(additions and changes without causing problems) for the 2010 hatch season.
At
no time will our guarantee exceed the original purchase price.
RETURN POLICY
At NO time will Cackle Hatchery accept any returns of
live poultry, sick poultry or dead poultry. If you have encountered a
problem please call our customer service department at 417-532-4581.
Cackle
Hatchery's Return Policy on all products other than live birds.
If,
within 30 days, you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase. We
will replace the item or provide a credit for the full merchandise: shipping
and handling charges are not refundable. Special and custom orders are
not refundable, but any defective parts will be replaced. Returns cannot
be shipped C.O.D.
If outside of 30 days, we will inspect the
defective product and will, if applicable, issue a credit for future
purchases from our company. The customer is responsible for all return
shipping costs until the product is declared defective. If the product
is declared defective, the customer will be credited the cost of the product
and the return shipping cost. If a replacement item is desired, we will
not ship the new item until we have received the defective goods.
If
the product is unused, and still in its original packaging, we will review the
product upon receipt and may issue a credit, minus 20% restocking fee.
The customer is responsible for return shipping cost. Special and custom
orders are not returnable.
| Please send all returns to: |
Postal Service |
UPS - Fed X |
|
Cackle Hatchery
Return Department
P.O. Box 529
Lebanon, MO 65536 |
Cackle Hatchery
Return Department
411 W. Commercial St.
Lebanon, MO 65536 |
Please be sure to include at least one of the following with the product:
invoice number, order number, and/or account number.
If you have any questions concerning your defective product or return, please
contact our customer service department at 1-417-532-4581 between the hours of
8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. CST.
If you received a defective product and are within 30 days of purchase. We
will issue a refund or exchange for the defective item. The customer is
responsible for all return shipping costs until the product is declared
defective. If the product is declared defective, we will credit the
customer for the cost of the product and the return shipping cost. If a
replacement item is desired, we will not ship the new item until we receive the
defective goods.
CACKLE HATCHERY POULTRY PHOTO CONTEST
(CONTEST RULES)
Take photos of your funniest chicken doing crazy stuff or just strutting
around the chicken coop. We will accept photos of geese, ducks, chickens,
guineas, turkeys and peafowl. We are looking for Photo Quality and Clarity in
each photo submitted. Each household is limited to 10 photos submitted each
contest year. There is no purchase requirement for submitting entry or winning.
The Photo must have been taken by the person submitting the entry and not have
any copyrights or pending ownership of the photos being submitted. The photos
will NOT be returned and become the property of "Cackle Hatchery". We
suggest you make duplicate copies so you have one to keep and send the other
photo in with the entry form. Do not write on the back of the photo because the
writing will indent or bled through to the finished side. We accept only color 4 x 6 inch hard copy prints
or a CD. Photos and entry form need to be delivered to Cackle Hatchery by
December 20, 2010.
Entry form and photos submission process. Mail to: Photo Contest, Cackle
Hatchery, P.O. Box 529, Lebanon, MO. 65536
Photos judged by Cackle Hatchery Staff. Cash Prize awarded January 15th of
2011.
(Total of $300.00 cash prizes)
$100.00 cash prize for (Best of Breed) photo. (Photo that best shows the pure
breed.)
$100.00 cash prize for (Funniest Chicken) photo. (funny, cute, originality or
artistic)
$100.00 cash prize for (Poultry show prize or ribbon) photo (Photo of bird
with ribbon or prize in the photo and may or may not include persons). Include
name of show date and award won on the entry form.
(Complete entry form, attach photos or CD and mail entry form)
Printable version Click
Here.
2008 CONTEST WINNERS
| 2008 $100 Prize Winner for Best of Breed
|
$100 Prize Winner for Poultry
Show Ribbon
|
$100 Prize Winner for
Funny, Cute, Originality or Artistic Photo
|
|
GUTHRIE COUNTY FAIR, 2007
DEAR CACKLE HATCHERY,
THIS IS
ONE OF THE AWARDS THAT I WON WITH YOUR BLACK ROSE COMBS THAT I ORDERED
LAST YEAR. THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT CHICKS.
DANNIELLE MCCORKEL
|
Here is a picture of my daughter Lauren with her Quail Antwerp Belgium
that we bought from you in March of 2007. Last year they were the
grand champion poultry project at the Defiance (OH) county fair.
This year they were the champion bantams and were the reserve champion
poultry project. Thanks! Paul Payne Hicksville, OH |
Dear Cackle; The ducks we ordered from you love our
water slide we made for them.
Delores,
Norman, IN. |
 |
 |
 |
2009 CONTEST WINNERS
| 2009 $100 Prize Winner for Best of Breed
|
2009
$100 Prize Winner for Poultry
Show Ribbon
|
2009
$100 Prize Winner for Funny, Cute, Originality or Artistic Photo
|
| Thank you Cackle! I won Best of Breed and Grand
Champion of Cass County Jr. Livestock Association Show 2009. Sawyer,
Cass County, MO. |
I showed many chickens I purchased from Cackle
Hatchery at the Oconto Falls County Fair on Aug. 29, 2009. I won many
blue ribbons, Best of Breed ribbons and "Best Chicken in the Barn
Award" with a blue Cochin. Thanks for a great year! Kayle, Oconto
Falls, WI |
Thank you Cackle Hatchery for the chicks you
sent us. A photo shot caught a crumb in mid-air while my son was feeding his
rooster. Karen, Fairfield, MT |
|
|
|
Watch Virtual Tour of Cackle Hatchery Photo Contest
Winners and Runners Up Click
Here
(Best viewed using high speed or DSL is slow to load)
Frequently Asked
Questions
Do we pay for shipping?
Yes, internet
orders automatically figure your shipping for you with online orders.
Mail in orders or phone orders use our shipping chart. We do NOT charge
small order fees or box fees like some suppliers.
How far in advance should I book my order of
chicks? As soon as you know when and how many you want to order you should
go ahead and book your order. We start taking orders January 2nd for
that current year to be booked and shipped for anytime between Feb.-Sept.
You can pick the month you would like your poultry shipped to you or note
ASAP. It is common practice to order 2-6 weeks prior to the date you
want for delivery. For rush orders, we recommend to note as a comment
that it is ok to substitute similar kinds in the event we are short on one or
two of your requested breeds. When we receive your order, we look for
the earliest possible date for ALL of your breeds requested and are available
together. Some breeds (rare turkey, guineas, ducks, geese, and game
birds) are not available for later in the year. Customers can consider
ordering the chicken orders on a separate order for a possible earlier
delivery time. We then secure that date and take those birds off the market
for sale and send you a confirmation of your hatch/ship date. Because
live newly hatched chicks become perishable the day they hatch, it is
necessary to have them all sold well before their hatch date. Newly
hatched chicks have their three day supply of yolk still in their system to
sustain them for their trip to your home. Cackle
hatches 110,000 -140,000 poultry per week and we do a pretty good job of
counting our chicks before they hatch when we secure your order.
For RUSH orders, we recommend to "note as
a comment" that it is OK to substitute similar kinds in the event we are
short on one or two of your requested breeds rather than postponing to another
ship/hatch date. When we receive your order, we look for the earliest
possible date for ALL of your breeds requested and are available.
When
will my supplies arrive? Supplies sometime come in separate
boxes or from separate shipped locations and you may receive your supplies over
a number of days and not all on the same delivery date. Normally your
supplies order from Cackle Hatchery arrive to your delivery address with 6-16
days of the time we receive your paid order. All supplies to be used with
your new chicks purchased from Cackle Hatchery need to be ordered well in
advance (3-4 weeks) of your chick ship date.
How do you ship
your chickens? We ONLY ship through the US Postal Service.
Other carriers do NOT handle baby chick shipments.
Can I make
changes to my order or add more birds to my order? We are
NO longer accepting additions to orders or changes to orders. REASON:
It has created too many mistakes to orders, caused double shipments, caused
our bird counts to not be right for selling birds and caused shorting other
customer's orders. OPTIONS: The best option is to make a
new order for the added birds (we can ship as little as 15 birds including
bantams and the overall postage cost is not that much for the added
order). The other option is to cancel the order with a 10% cancel fee
(fee explained above) and start all over with a new order on a new available
shipping date. Cackle Hatchery will look at solving this issue
(additions and changes without causing problems) for the 2011 hatch season.
10%
CANCELED ORDER FEE (RESTOCKING FEE) – Any orders placed and then
cancelled will have 10% of the total price deducted from the total purchase
and shipping price and the difference refunded by check if paid by check and
if paid by credit card will have the credit card credited back the difference.
Rationale for the fee: Orders paid for/booked are taken off the market
for sale and are marked sold and we potentially could have a lost opportunity
for a buyer if cancelled . Cancelled orders create book keeping and labor cost
to process the cancelled order, labor to recalculate deletions and adding back
on the sell sheets, along with postage or credit card fees to process credits.
Our chicks pricing is not formulated for cancelled order cost. We do
make exceptions for the 10% fee for emergencies and will move a ship date to
another date; however, every effect should be made to be prepared to receive
your chicks on your given date. Refunds are processed ASAP, but on busy
rare occasions can take up to 3 weeks to be completed. It is common
practice for customers to order their poultry 2-8 weeks in advance of the time
they would like them delivered. Because live new chicks become
perishable the day they hatch, it is necessary to have them all sold well
before their hatch date. Newly hatched chicks have their 3 day supply of
yolk still in their system to sustain them for their trip to your home.
We ship every Monday and Wednesday and your birds should arrive at your post
office or mailing address within 2 days. Your confirmation notice will
give you your hatch/ship date. You should be very flexible around your
delivery date so you can take your birds immediately to your brooder to be
warmed up so they will go to eating and drinking. See our care sheet and
preparation
How do the birds survive being shipped by
mail? Newly hatched poultry have a 3 day supply of yolk left in their
system to provide for them the first 3 days of life. Mail travel is
usually 2-3 day delivery. Also the first 3 days of life the chicks have
a great immune system to adapt to the changing temperature during
travel. We also pack the chicks differently depending on the time of
year and current travel conditions..
Where
do you ship to? We ship through out 48 of United States including
Alaska, and Puerto Rico. We currently do not ship to the
Commonwealth of Virginia and the state of Hawaii. Cackle Hatchery tests our breeder flocks for
several different things, Virginia is requiring a test that the State of
Missouri state labs do not have the manpower or facilities need to do the
blood work that Virginia is requiring. The White Pekin duck is the only
duck that the state of Florida will allow us to ship into that state.
The state of Florida does not want any other ducks that are similar to wild
ducks shipped into the state. We do not ship anywhere else outside the
USA,
What
days are chicks shipped from Cackle Hatchery and what is your minimum order?
We ship on every Monday and Wednesday from Feb. - Sept. Cackle has a
minimum order of a total of 15 chicks (for warmth purposes). Bantam
minimum order is 25 chicks for Feb. - March. Bantam minimum order is 15 chicks
for the balance of the year. There is a minimum order per breed/variety
of 5 chicks for entire year. Bobwhite Quail and Coturnix Quail have a
minimum order of 50 chicks to ship. All Pheasant have a minimum of 15
chicks to ship. The Chukar Partridge has a minimum of 30 chicks to
ship. No minimum on turkeys, ducks, or geese if shipped with other birds
to make the 15 total minimum chicks ordered.
Will the post office deliver our chicks to
us at our home or do we need to go to the post office to pick them up?
Each
post office has their own policy. We put on your box all the phone
numbers you gave to us and we instruct the post office to call you. You
should call the post office on the day you expect the delivery of the chicks.
Delivery can be 1-3 days.
My hens are not laying yet, why is this? Most
breeds will start to lay at 5-8 months of age. If not you can check
several things; You need to feed them at this age with "egg pellets or
crumble", it has everything they need. Maybe throw a hand full of
scratch a day for a treat and make them scratch for exercise. Stay away
from corn, there is already the right amount of corn in the egg pellets.
There is not enough nutrition within corn to keep chickens healthy. Make
sure the chickens are not sick, light weight, pale faced, wormy, lice and mite
infested. Make sure the hens get some sun light and some fresh air each
day. Make sure they have dry ground, wind breaks and a place to roost at
night. Hens need full water and feed available all day to produce eggs. If it
is fall, winter or early spring you can put one light on the birds at night
with an automatic timer to turn on at 5:00 a.m. and go off at 10:00 a.m.
Do not keep the light on all night, it will stress the birds and they will
pick feathers, stress and get sick. Have their nest in the darker area of
the coop so the hens feel good about laying in the nest. Make sure the
hens are not too crowded in the pen or coop and if you have roosters with the
hens don't have more than 1 rooster to every 10 hens. Sometimes the hens are
laying, except you may have a black snake eating your eggs. Also, you
may have a hen that is eating eggs and the shell. If you think this is
happening watch for hens peaking at eggs. If you find one hen that you
suspect, put her up and see if your egg numbers increase. Once a hen
starts to eat eggs you very seldom can break her and it is best to get rid
of her. She will also teach the other hens to break eggs and it is best to get rid of her.
What is the difference between cockerel,
cock, stag, pullet, hen and straight run? Cockerels are males age 1
day to 12 months of age, cock is a male over 1 year old, stag is a male 5-11
months of age, pullets are females age 1 day to 12 months of age, hen is over
1 years old and straight run is a term for males and females mixed as they
hatch and not separated. Generally 100 straight run chicks will give you
50 pullets and 50 cockerels as an average.
Will hens lay without a rooster with them? Yes,
hens lay without a rooster. The eggs will not be fertilized and will not
hatch.
What birds should only be bought for
butchering? The Cornish Cross, White Turkey and our Bronze Turkey will not
survive long if not butchered. They grow too fast and too big and will
have heart attacks and /or leg problems.
What breeds/varieties make the best pets for
kids? Cackle offers several but here is a list of better ones: Light
Brahma, all of the Cochin STD varieties and Cochin Bantam varieties.
I have a small incubator, what is the range
for Humidity? Incubations set at 84 1/2 for a wet bulb reading and hatching
stage 87 wet bulb reading.
Why should we buy from Cackle? Cackle
specializes in shipping and hatching pure bred poultry since 1936. We
offer the most competitive pricing along with the quality of the breeding
bloodlines and health. We are located in the central USA for best over
all mail order distribution.
When my birds are grown how much space do I
need for their pen or coop? We recommend about 4 square feet for every
standard or large fowl chicken and 2-3 square feet for every bantam or smaller
breed chicken.
I want to purchase breeds/varieties that the
hens will be good setters and mothers for raising their own chicks or eggs
placed under them, which are the best? Silkie varieties and the bantam
Cochin varieties are real good brood mothers.
My chickens are sick, where do I find
information about common poultry diseases? Check our link page for links
to poultry disease information.
How do I care for baby chicks? We send
along a care sheet with each shipment of birds. You can also look on
Cackle's home page for care instructions.
What do I feed my new little chicks? Feed
only chick starter. It is formulated for all the right nutrition the
birds need and it's made the right size for the birds to eat the feed.
Can I mix different size chicks with each
other? Not recommended because they will peck each other or be too much of
bullies. We recommend to wait until full grown to mix the birds so they
can defend themselves better.
How does Cackle know what are pullets or
cockerels? Some of our breeds are color sexable, some of our breeds are
bred so the males and females produce as chicks a long wing feather or a short
wing feather for male or female and then some of our breeds are vent sexed by
a professional chick sexer.
When will my credit cared be charged out? The
day the order is taken by phone, internet, or mail ordered received. In
order for us to book birds in advance and take them off the market we must
have the birds paid for.
What would happen if some of my birds
perished during shipment? Refer to the "guarantee" question.
Is it safe to handle Poultry?
Live
animals and pets can be a source of potentially harmful micro-organisms;
therefore, precautions must be taken when handling and caring for them to
prevent fecal/oral transmission among people. Children should be
supervised as they handle animals and pets to make sure they don't put their
hands or fingers in their mouth. Always wash your hands with soap and
warm water after handling any animal or pet. You should always hold or
handle a chicken in a proper way to prevent an accidental flogging/spurring,
accidental pecking in the eye or wing flapping that scratches your eye.
Do I need a permit for poultry?
Check
your town (in city limits) for any restriction. Generally no
restrictions for counties. It is always good to be a good neighbor and
make sure you do not have a noisy crowing rooster bothering a neighbor or a
coop that needs cleaned as the smell may bother your neighbor.
What size pen or coop should I have for
grown birds? Standard size birds 3-4 square feet per bird and bantam size
2-3 square feet.
Why do my birds peck each other? By
nature chickens peek each other and some is normal. However, when they
pick all the feather off or kill each other it could be brought on by a number
of reasons, some are: They may be to crowded, they may be too hot, you may
have too much light on them or light on too long in the night, be sure you are
feeding them chicken feed (if they are not getting the right nutrients they
will pick each other) or not enough roost.
Why is the Commonwealth of Virginia not
allowing baby chicks shipped into their state by several hatcheries?
Cackle Hatchery tests our breeder flocks for several different things,
Virginia is requiring a test that the State of Missouri state labs do not have
the manpower or facilities needs to do the blood work that Virginia is
requiring.
What
states have restrictions on mail order poultry orders? Common
Wealth of Virginia (see FAQ about Virginia), Hawaii only allows chickens, NOT
duck, turkey or geese. For Hawaii orders Cackle needs your order,
payment, mailing address, physical address for permit, additional $10.00 fee
for permit/processing and you need to order 4-5 weeks before your desired
delivery date. Florida restricts duck mail ordered into their
state. Of the duck breeds we offer, Florida only allows the White Pekin
to be mailed into their state. Missouri Residents need a permit for Bob
White Quail and Pheasant orders for pick-up or mail ordered. Your permit
number must be on your order form.
What discounts does Cackle Hatchery offer?
Discounts
for 4_H, FFA and junior poultry clubs (write the name of Chapter club,
location/membership number. We offer specials and surplus deals on the
catalog and website. We sometimes offer weekly specials on the web
site. Feed dealers/farm and ranch stores can set up a wholesale
account. Pick up sales for Surplus dealers from June-July
(arrangements made with Clifton or Jeff).
How do I prepare for the arrival of my chicks?
ARRIVAL
DATE - FIRST DAY instructions. Be sure you have some flexible time to pick up
your birds from the post office. Sometimes they do not arrive when
expected. Be sure to have your brooder area set up and heating source
tested out so the birds can go straight into the brooder as soon as they
arrive. Refrain from handling or playing with the birds the first 24
hours. We recommend for the first day to have the drinking water at 98
degrees F. This is because the birds are small with little weight to
them on arrival. They will drink a lot of water which if too cool can
rapidly decrease their body temperature and put them into shock or make them
sick. Take each chick, one at a time and with your fingers hold the
chick's head and do a quick dip of the chick's beak into the water and then
let go of the chick. You can add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar to 1 quart of 98
degree water and shake well. Use this mixture for the first 8 hours and
then change to regular water. Normally the chicks will not start drinking or
eating until they have first warmed up. The heat source needs to be
at least 98-100 degrees, measured 1 inch off the brooder floor directly under the heat
source. Make plenty of room so the birds can walk away from the heat source
when they get too hot. A guide is one brooder lamp per 25 chicks using a
100 watt regular light bulb. The bottom of the bulb should be about 18
inches above the floor (check for 98-100 degrees at floor level). Make
sure the chicks have a big area to move away from the heat as needed.
Lay down several layers of tissue paper all around the brooder floor and
sprinkle chick starter on the tissue paper. Their feet will not slip on
the tissue paper and they will pick at all the sprinkled chick starter.
Change the tissue paper out as needed. Then the next day remove the
tissue paper and/or sprinkled feed and use your normal feeder. You can
also order a "Starter Kit" from Cackle Hatchery. It should be
ordered and shipped in advance of your chicks.
Does Cackle Hatchery guarantee live delivery of my
order? We guarantee that you will receive full count of live,
healthy poultry according to this guarantee. We place extra chicks in
each box to help fulfill this guarantee. However, if losses should occur
in shipment and you do receive less live chicks than you ordered and paid for,
we will make an adjustment either by replacing poultry or by cash refund at
the discretion of the hatchery. Please open chick boxes immediately and
inspect poultry. If your shipment is INSURED and you do not have a full
count of live chicks that you paid for (don't county any extras we may have
sent), please ask the delivery agent to sign your statement of loss (PS form
1000) and send to us immediately. If your shipment was NOT INSURED and
you have a loss, then call us ASAP for an adjustment. This guarantee is
only for the safe and live delivery of your poultry. Any loss must be
reported to the hatchery within 3 days of receipt for any adjustment to be
made.
What is Cackle Hatchery's quality guarantee? All
Cackle poultry are guarantee to be of the grade, quality, sex and breed as
represented. Should any error occur we will make prompt
adjustment. In producing these chicks the seller has followed approved
and recommended methods of flock control and egg selection and has established
sanitary and disease control standards in the Hatchery operation. Seller does
not warrant poultry to be free from any disease which could not be ascertained
at the time of sale. Liability is limited in all cases to replacement of
damaged chicks and extra chicks must apply. Replacement good for 1 time
only. Under no circumstances shall our liability, on claims of any kind,
exceed the total price paid for poultry. We participate in the United
States Department of Agriculture Animal Health inspection service
"National Poultry Improvement Plan".
Why do some of my chicks have dried droppings stuck to
their bottoms (Pasty butt)? It is best to wash it off with warm
soapy water. It blocks the chick's vent and the chick can not eliminate
itself. It it persists you may need to consider medications, cleaning
the waters, feeders and the floor area. Chicks that have been chilled or
overheated can cause pasty butts.
What do you mean by a clean-legged chicken? The
chicken does not have any feathers on the shanks or legs. Booted or
feather-legged are chicken with feathers on their shanks or legs.
I have a hen that died and her butt bottom is bulging or
hemorrhage? Could be the hen had a "blow out". Vent damaged
caused by laying a huge egg, or could be damage caused by the pullet laying at
too young of an age.
I have several hens that are not laying and are broody
wanting to stay on the nest? You need to break them up if you want
them to continue to lay. It is hard to break up a hen but you could try
to keep her in a separate wire cage in light. In other words, make it
uncomfortable for her and do this for 3-5 days.
My chickens seem to fight each other?
Most chicken
will peck or fight a little to establish a pecking order within a flock and
this is common. If you add new birds to a pen they will fight or peck a
little to establish a new pecking order and it is recommended to keep a watch
on them for the first 1-2 days.
What is molting? Chicken annually go through a
molt in late summer or fall and begin growing new feathers and plumage.
Sometimes a lot of new feathers are grown and some just a few feathers.
Keep in mind in the spring and summer your ugliest hens (a lot of feathers
off) are most times your best layers. Molting hens usually will not lay eggs
during their molting time.
What is "green" or "blood
filled"? Terms that mean that the chicken's feathers are still
growing and the feathers still have blood in the feather shaft.
What should I do about sharp spurs that might harm
someone? Hold the bird's leg and use a hack saw to saw off the
spur. Saw 1/2 inch away from the leg so there is a blunt 1/2 inch spur
left on the bird.
How do I know if my pullets are ready to lay? Generally
if they are 5-8 months of age, they have red combs and they are singing you
should have eggs. You can pick the hen up and feel between the 2 bones
of their bottom. If 3 fingers will fit between the bones they should be
laying. If only 2 fingers fit between the bones then the hen will usually
start
to lay with 3-6 weeks.
How many hens do I need to keep my family with
eggs? As a guide 10 hens age 8 months to 2 years old will provide
about 7 eggs a day. Most females will go into a molt for 2-3 months each
year around late summer/early fall. This is a time they stop laying and grow
new feathers. Our brown egg layers after 5-8 months of age should
provide 200 - 300 eggs over 365 days per hen.
Why should I buy chicks from a hatchery rather than
buying grown fowl from swap meets, neighbors or other places? We recommend
buying hatchery chicks because they are disease free. When buying grown
birds that appear healthy at the time, they could have a number of viral respiratory
diseases that are not symptomatic at the time and may be immune but can pass
the disease to your healthy birds.
Do my chicks
need a roost pole? Most chickens are more comfortable to
sleep on a roost rather than the floor. As young chicks they stay on
the floor, but soon start looking for a place to jump to or roost. We
recommend for chicks to set up some poles about 12 inches off the floor and
periodically raise the poles after all the chicks have master that
height. Depending of the breed at 8 months of age you can keep the
pole height about 4-7 feet high. One inch diameter round poles work
good and you can use PVC or wooded poles. Metal poles are not good
(metal conducts the cold too much in winter).
How do I tell
if my eggs are fresh to eat? Refrigerate eggs up to 7-10
days old and use. You can test an egg by putting the egg in a dish of
cold water and fresh eggs sink and older eggs will float. Also older
eggs when broken into a pan and the white and yellow yolk will latten or run
; these are old eggs. Fresh eggs are firm when broken into a pan.
How do I treat my
chickens for lice? To see if your poultry has lice, pick up the chicken
holding both legs with one hand and tip the chicken upside down. Pull the
feathers back around the butt area to look for lice. The lice stay around
the butt area for moisture and if you see any running around the base of the
feathers then you need to treat them. One easy way is to buy some
"Seven" garden/pet dusting powder at your local farm store. Use
about a tablespoon of the dusting powder and cover the base of the feathers and
skin in about a 2 inch radius of the butt area. Do this every 30 days for
3 months. Extreme cases you will find parasites in the ears and under the
wings. In this case treat these areas also. It is also a good idea to treat the
roost poles and ground area to maintain control of the parasites. Chicken
lice will not want to stay on humans and are different from human lice.
After treating your fowl for lice, simply take a good long shower to remove
any chicken lice that might be on you or in your hair.
What is the terminology
"Standard (STD)" or "Bantam" mean? In a short
answer a Standard breed is the large version of the breed/variety and a Bantam
breed is the miniature version of the Standard breed.
What kinds of poultry
do better with just one male in the pen? Generally speaking a
pen of Peafowl, Saipan and Standard Old English do better with just one male in
the pen.
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