Mail order hatcheries

Further to my thread about mixed flocks I was wondering what the hive mind has to say about the various mail order hatcheries.  Main ones I'm looking at for hens include Cackle Hatchery, Purely Poultry and Murray McMurray.  But there may be good reasons to look elsewhere.  What sources do folks here prefer for getting a new flock going, especially if you want a variety of breeds?  We're going to see what the local feed store normally carries, and what they can special order and see what the price differences are.  But it may be that to get what we really want we'd need to hit up a mail-order option.  

For meat birds, assuming I go with Freedom Rangers I'll go straight to freedomrangerhatchery.com.  All the other places I've seen them charge a lot more, and for the exact same birds why spend the extra money.  And they have Red Ranger males at an attractive price, so if I want them it seems like the place to go for non-CX meat birds.

The farm stores are your best bet unless you want something exotic or a large number of birds, at least in my area.  They are cheaper. They haven’t been shipped through the mail so are less stressed. If you aren’t too anxious to buy them, they sometimes have chicks a few weeks old.

I prefer Rhode Island Reds, but everyone else will probably have a different favorite.

An older post from the archives but wanted to make a note if anyone comes across the thread.

Consider checking out Permies Critter Breeder Review Grid.

You will find real reviews from fellow Permie members on a variety of mail order hatcheries.

Our Murray McMurray hens are the longest lived of any we've had.  Fantastic flock and if it wasn't such a pain to get chooks from the USA, I would go with them every time.

I used to order only from Murray McMurray and always had great birds.  The last two times, I got birds from our local Tractor Supply.   The first time, I bought 6 chickens in the store.  They were mismarked, so I got 6 chickens that were a different kind then I wanted.  I didn't know if the problem was Tractor Supply, or Hoover Hatchery where they get their birds.  Not wanting to take changes, next birds we ordered instead of buying the store stock, but still ordered thru Tractor Supply, so Hoover Hatchery again.  We ordered a dozen birds.  The order was a mess.  We didn't get the correct number of any of the 4 kinds we ordered.  We got 0 of one kind.  It's back to Murray McMurray if I want a specific breed, or my own mixed breed birds from now on.  I won't deal with Hoover Hatchery ever again.