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 in mid-December to be booked and shipped for any time between Feb.-Sept. See Calendar. You can pick your desired ship date when you checkout. It is common practice to order 2-6 weeks before the date you want for delivery. 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 turkeys, 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 you to call us and tell us it is OKAY 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.