Another Chick Buying Panic?

The McMurray hatchery just released its 2025 chick prices, and they are nearly double what they used to be! Other hatcheries will likely have a similar price increase, but we won't see it until they start taking orders in January, McMurray just starts taking advance orders very early, starting November 1st.

Not only will this mean that if you were wanting to order some chicks this spring, they are likely going to be much more expensive than they used to be, but it will also affect feed stores chick supply, which has the potential to create a chicken buying panic.

In this blog I will explain what can cause buying panics, and what to do about them whether you are looking to buy chickens or trying to take advantage of a sudden rush of customers.

What Causes Chick Buying Panics

Chick buying panics are usually triggered by grocery store egg shortages in late winter, although anything that people perceive as a threat to their ability to buy eggs from the stores can start a panic.

People imagen that the shortage will continue (which it sometimes does, especially in the last four years) and so those people who get chicks by mail order rush to order chicks as soon as hatcheries start taking orders the first week in January.

The general public doesn't usually notice the panic until the first shipment of chicks arrives in the feed stores only to be sold out in minutes.

How a Large Price Increase Could Cause a Panic

Feed stores don't hatch their own chicks, they just order from hatcheries and resell the chicks at slightly higher prices. All the feed stores are about to place their first chick orders, but whatever they have budgeted for chicks isn't going to buy as many as they thought with these new high prices.

So not only will they probably order less chicks than usual, as well as only the bestselling breeds, but they will also probably offer fewer each week than normal to make sure they all sell. This can create what looks like a chick shortage, which can spark a panic.

What You Should Do if You are Wanting to Buy Chicks

Put you orders in at the hatcheries or get on breeder wait lists as soon as possible. This is about the only thing you can do to ensure you will be able to get the chicks you want this spring.

What to Do if You Want to Sell Chicks

While a buying panic can get you a lot of customers, you may want to think about whether you will want to deal with selling to people in a panic. You will likely have to deal with more scams, more unhappy customers, and tons of inquiries.

If you do decide to try to take advantage of the panic, there are a few things you should do.

You should have people pay with cash only (make sure you are clear about this before they come), price your chicks reasonably (don't overcharge just because people will pay it), and you should also be prepared to deal with customers who have never owned chickens before (so have card board boxes available for them to safely transport their chicks home).

You will need to start incubating eggs the second week of December if you want to have chicks ready by the first week of January.

The real flood of customers will likely start in February and stay strong until May but having some chicks ready in January will let you catch "in the know" customers who either can't, or don't want to order chicks.