Where To Buy "Do-It-Yourself" Birds

Where To Buy "Do-It-Yourself" Birds 28-4-8 Hatcheries that sell chickens, turkeys, pheasants and other specialty birds by mail say business is booming and just keeps getting better. Oakwood Game Farms, Princeton, Minn., sells pheasant and partridge chicks from April through July. If you prefer, you can even get fertile eggs and hatch them for yourself at 75 cents apiece. Baby pheasants start at $1.80 each in quantities under 100. Oakwood hatches out 50,000 chicks every Monday. Fresh, frozen and smoked birds for eating are available all year long. If chicken is your preference, the easy part is finding a hatchery. The hard part is deciding what breed or package of breeds to order. The McMurray hatchery started business in 1917 in Webster City, Iowa. Today you can order from dozens of different breeds, from ornamentals to meat and egg types. Specialty "packages" include Feather Footed Fancies, Rare Breed Special, Barbecue Special, and even a FlyTyer's Special for those who need feathers for trout lures. While most people are familiar with Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds, the rare breeds have a different sound to them. Golden Penciled Hamburgs, Silver Laced Cochins and Lakenvelders are just a few. Their prices aren't common either. The hatchery prices its Rarest of the Rare birds at $40.00 for 25 chicks. Hatcheries are also great places to go for information on feed and other issues. If you have internet access, a quick search for chickens and hatcheries will produce more than 5,000 listings. If you prefer print, nearly all hatcheries will send out catalogs. Here are a few of the bigger hatcheries. • Clearview Hatchery, Box 399, Gratz, Pa. 17030 • Hoover's Hatchery, Inc., Rudd, Iowa 50471 (ph 800 247-7014; website: www.hoovershatchery.com) • Mt. Healthy Hatcheries, Inc., 9839 Winton Rd., Mt. Healthy, Ohio 45231 (ph 800 451-5603; website: www.mthealthy.com) • McMurray Hatchery, P.O. Box 458, 191 Closz Drive, Webster City, Iowa 50595 (ph 515 832-3280 or 800 456-3280; website: www.mcmurrayhatchery.com).

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