History of Cackle Hatchery®

We are a 3rd generation family-owned and operated hatchery offering over 202 varieties of poultry shipped directly from our facility here in Missouri. It’s our mission to enhance your life by providing you with quality poultry for showing, meat, enjoyment, eggs or pets. We specialize in hatching purebred poultry and shipping day old chicks right to your local post office since 1936. Cackle Hatchery® has been raising quality U.S. Pullorum clean poultry since 1936 and ships throughout the United States including Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. Cackle’s Chick Hatchery and Cackle’s Chicken Breeder Farms selectively breed and raise our own breeding stock. This stock produces our own eggs which are hatched from our hatchery here in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. We have 80 years of focused genetic selection to produce disease-resistant and productive poultry for public use.

We are one of only 12 Hobby Hatcheries left in the USA and located right here in Lebanon, Missouri. In the 1940-1950 era, every town in the USA had a small poultry hatchery located in town. Today there are only about 12 of these chicken hatcheries that produce poultry chicks for the backyard use or small farm buyer. Cackle Hatchery provides free limited tours, store, incubation viewing, resources, and live baby chicks to see or purchase. Cackle Hatchery also holds a “Cackle Hatchery Fall Festival” each year in October. Located at 411 West Commercial Street, Lebanon MO 65536. Hours M-F 9:00 am-5:30 pm CT and 9:00 am – 3:00 pm Saturday and Closed Sunday. The best times for visit are March-September. See our Google Map on where we are located.

Newspapers and Periodicals


Backyard Poultry Magazine


Poultry Press  An international newspaper devoted to breeding, raising, conditioning and showing purebred exhibition poultry.


Poultry Health Report


Poultry Times

 

    List of Memberships

  • Member of the Lebanon Missouri Chamber of Commerce
  • Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
  • Member of the State of Missouri Chamber of Commerce Since 2009
  • Member of the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP)
  • Nancy Smith (Cackle Hatchery® ) President of Missouri Poultry Industries Association, Inc. Emphasis: Hatcheries
  • Member of the American Poultry Association (APA)
  • Member of the American Bantam Association (ABA)
  • Member of Bird Shippers of America
  • Member of Heritage Poultry Breeders Association of America
  • Member of the National Federation Independent Business (NFIB)
  • Offering E-Commerce since “1999”
  • Hatching and Shipping since “1936”
  • Family owned and operated for three generations by the Smith Family
  • Member of the Society for Preservation of Poultry Antiquities
  • Member of The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
  • Member of the Missouri State Poultry Club
  • Proud Sponsors of the Missouri State Fair (Poultry Trophies)
  • Proud Sponsors of the APA-ABA Youth Poultry Club
  • Better Business Bureau Accredited Business

2 Virtual Photo Tours

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Take a Virtual  History Tour of Cackle Hatchery®

Take a Virtual Tour of Cackle Hatchery® 1999-2009