Where to buy hatching eggs and chicks online

When sourcing hatching eggs, chicks, or pullets for your backyard flock, it’s important to understand how they were raised.

Humane and sustainable small-scale hatcheries are hard to come by, and it’s even more rare to find farms that offer shipping. It took me a bit of digging and researching to find any that weren't large-scale and unsustainable.

However, luckily for us, the animals, and the planet, there are some farms that meet our qualifications for eco friendly and humane chicken raising.

In this article, you’ll find a list of hand-selected farms that are sustainable and ethical. Now you have a wealth of resources to have ecologically-raised chicks for your backyard or farm.

Our Qualifications for Sustainable and Humane Chicken Hatcheries:

Here are the criteria we looked for when selecting which chicken hatcheries should be included in our list:

1. Land, Water, and Feed Management:
   Sustainable hatcheries are excellent stewards of land. They implement regenerative practices like pasture rotation for breeding stock, and are sure to manage chicken manure so that it doesn’t pollute water.
2. Humane Treatment:
   Sustainability and proper treatment of the birds go hand-in-hand. These hatcheries and farms must raise birds humanely and justly. Birds always have access to the outdoors, and shelter from inclement weather. They also have ample water and feed available. The health, happiness, and safety of the chickens should be top priority.
3. Reduced Environmental Impact of Feed:
   One of the components of raising poultry that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions is the impact of farming their feed. We found a farm that grows their own poultry feed for reduced environmental impact. Pasture-raising breeding stock and implementing pasture rotation also helps reduce the environmental impact of a flock.
4. Feed and Water Quality:
   They use high-quality feed and water without the use of arsenicals, antibiotics, or animal byproducts as additives. Note that I was not able to find a farm that fed their breeding stock organic feed.
5. Stewards at-risk species:
   ‍The Livestock Conservancy has a list of chicken breeds that are endangered, at risk, and on watch. We make note of farms that are focusing on maintaining the lineages of these at-risk heritage breeds.
6. NPIP Membership:
   The National Poultry Improvement Plan, or NPIP, offers membership to qualifying farms. This program is run by the USDA and ensures that flocks are free from certain diseases.

These criteria ensure that sustainable chicken hatcheries prioritize the well-being of the birds, minimize environmental impact, and promote efficient resource use.

A chart of the most sustainable and humane hatcheries near you

List of the best chicken hatcheries to buy chicks and hatching eggs

TOP PICK: Alchemist Farms Chicken Hatchery: Top Pick for Humane, No-Kill, Sustainable Hatching Eggs + Chicks

Shipping Available

Alchemist Farms is doing amazing work in the poultry-rearing scene in terms of their dedication to humane and sustainable practices.

Located in Northern California, Alchemist Farms checks a lot of boxes in my qualifications list.

They offer heirloom chicken varieties that are pasture-raised and treated humanely. Their operations are regenerative-based and permaculture-inspired. From Pasture rotation to composting their chicken manure and planting cover crops, they are a shining example of what a poultry farm should be.

They power their farm with 100% solar power, and all of their packaging is plastic-free. They also live a zero-waste lifestyle.

What puts them at the top of the list is that they are a no-kill chicken facility, and give roosters to families in need.

They are NPIP members, and offer shipping within the United States.

Their only potential downside is that they do not offer any vaccinations for their chicks. That might be preferable to you, or it may be something you can DIY upon the arrival of your chicks.

Alchemist Farm offers the following 13 chicken breeds:

• Blue Egg Layers
• Olive Eggers
• German Bielefelder
• Alchemist Egger
• Azure Egger
• Bantam Cochin
• Double Silver Laced Barnevelder
• French Black Copper Maran
• French Blue Copper Marans
• Heritage Welsummer
• Silverudds Blue Isbar
• Moss Egger
• Sage Egger
• Serama

→ Learn More About Alchemist Farms

TOP PICK: Wildflower Farm Hatchery: Heritage Organic-Fed Chickens

Shipping available

This New Jersey Farm is working hard to create a humane and sustainable chicken hatchery. They are a Black Woman owned business.

All of their chickens are pasture-raised, with the option to free-range at any time during the day. They rotate pasture regularly, keeping with regenerative standards.

While Wildflower Farm is not certified organic, they do follow (and sometimes go beyond) organic standards. For example, their farm is pesticide-free, herbicide-free, and synthetic fertilizer-free. Wildflower Farm is one of the few farms that I found that offers certified organic soy-free grain feed to their animals.

The only potential downside is that they do not offer vaccinations to their chicks, so you would need to buy hatching eggs or pick up birds directly from the farm to give them their vaccinations in time.

Wildflower Farm offers the following chicken breeds:

• French Black Copper Marans
• Cornish Cross Broilers
• Olive Egger
• German Bielefelder
• Ameracauna
• Barred Rock
• Homestead Heritage Cross

→ Sign up for Wildflower Farm’s Newsletter to learn more about ordering from them

Heritage Stone Farm: Regenerative No-Till Managed Chicks

Shipping available depending on stock

Heritage Stone Farm in Upstate New York works with regenerative and sustainable farming methods to tend to heritage breeds of livestock.

I am pleased to report that this is a no-till farm that utilizes a multi-species pasture-rotation system. They leave areas of their land wild, and work on woodland preservation as well.

As a Livestock Conservancy member, they offer hatching eggs and breeding stock of the following varieties:

• Buff Chanteclers
• Partridge Chanteclers
• Hedemoras
• Icelandics
• Yokohamas
• Silver Deathlayers
• Lemon Deathlayers
• Prairie Bluebell Eggers
• Barnevelders
• Salmon Faverolles
• Ameracaunas
• Olive Eggers
• Black Copper Marans
• Mystic Marans

→ Contact Heritage Stone Farm to get on their Chicken Waiting List

Spring Creek Heritage Farms: Rare and Heritage Breeds

Shipping available

Spring Creek Heritage Farms out of Washington State offers rare and heritage chickens.

What makes this farm sustainable is that they ensure no harmful herbicides or pesticides ever come into contact with their animals.

Spring Creek grows organic pasture cover crops to offer feed to their chickens, who also get to roam their forested land. This is especially noteworthy as it’s rare to see a hatchery focus on growing their own crops to offer to the chickens.

They allow roosters to come of age in order to go from farm to table if not kept as breeding stock. They do not kill chicks, and their straight-run policy helps them to maintain a humane setup.

Spring Creek is NPIP Registered.

They steward the following chicken breeds:

• Hungarian Yellow
• Spitzhauben
• Le Grand
• Light Sussex
• Silver Bielefelder
• Bielefelder
• Bresse
• Ixworth
• Ayam Cemani
• Swedish Flower Hen
• Cream Legbar
• Blue Birchen Marans
• Bla Hona

→ Learn more about Spring Creek Heritage Farms

Dot Ranch Hatchery: Woman-Veteran Owned Heritage Chicken Breeds

Oregon Local Pickup Only

Dot Ranch is located around 1.5 hours south of Portland, Oregon, and are a pickup only facility.

However, they still made the list because of their sustainable and humane practices.

Mickey, the owner of Dot Ranch notes on their website that “we pride ourselves on our stewardship of both land and animal.”

Mickey has a background in ecological restoration and agriculture during her time in service, and applies that mindset to her farm.

All animals are pasture raised and have access to grazing with supplemented hay when outside grass isn’t growing. Restorational grazing helps keep the animals and land healthy.

They keep detailed health records of their birds and never use hormones or medically unnecessary antibiotics.

Hens are allowed to be broody so that they can naturally hatch their own eggs. This instinct is important for the preservation of the breed.

On their land, they are working to restore the natural oak savannah habitat.

Dot Ranch focuses on Mottled Java and Java chickens, an endangered breed with the Livestock Preservation Project.

They also have a mix of Black Copper Maran and Java (Javarans) that improves on the hardiness of the Black Copper Marans while keeping their gorgeous egg color.

All chicks are sold as a straight run, so you will get a mix of male and female chicks.

→ Learn more about Dot Ranch

Fleece and Feather Hatchery: Regenerative Organic Hatching Eggs, Chicks, and Breeding Stock

Local Ohio Pickup Only

Fleece and Feather is an Ohio-based farm that does not offer shipping. However, they have some amazing practices that I want to highlight here. They do offer local pickup of their hatching eggs, chicks, and breeding stock.

Fleece and Feather are stewards of the Dominique breed of chicken, the breed of chickens that came over with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. This endangered breed is listed on the Livestock Conservancy.

What makes Fleece and Feather stand out is their practices: They are Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World, and are working on their Non-GMO and Regenerative Certifications.

The AWA Standard as set by A Greener World includes tending to the health of the chicken above all else. There are lots of components of this certification that help farmers to implement practices that prevent disease from occurring. Debeaking, declawing, and other mutilations are strictly prohibited.

Unless weather causes unfavorable conditions, birds can free range and forage as early as a few days up to 4 weeks of age and onwards.

They have a free-range pasture rotation system for their animals, and understand the regenerative processes necessary for animals to build up the health of the soil.

Fleece and Feather is also NPIP Certified.

→ Learn more about Fleece and Feather Farm

Blood, Sweat, and Food Farm: Regenerative Pasture-Raised Chickens

Alaska-based, might offer shipping

Blood, Sweat, and Food Farm is located in Homer, Alaska. What makes them stand out to me as a great resource for hatching eggs and chicks is their regenerative focus.

As they say on their website: “We start from the ground up, literally, and focus on building great soil first.”

Their chickens are a part of a multi-animal pasture rotation system. The manure from all of their animals goes back into the soil regeneration system.

They sell ready-to-lay pullets, but do not mention the variety on their site. They are offered seasonally. They do offer shipping on some of their products, but it’s unclear as to what shipping is offered for hatching eggs and live poultry.

→ Blood, Sweat, and Food Farm

Graywhale Farms Hatchery: Rare Breeds on a Soil-First No-Till Farm

While the term “hatchery” is in their name, Graywhale Farms is not your standard extra large factory hatchery.

Instead, this Wisconsin-based farm is all about building soil health with no-till farming and pasture-rased hens. They steward heritage and rare breeds, and employ humane practices.

They are NPIP members.

The only reason why they have 4 stars is that they aren’t as clear with their sustainable and humane practices as other farms.

Graywhale offers the following chicken breeds:

• Black Copper Marans
• Ayam Cemani
• Indio Gigante
• Flarry Eye Grey
• Gold Deathlayer
• Graywhale Hybrid
• Liege Fighter
• Pavlovskaya
• Red Mottled Pita Pinta
• Red Pita Pinta
• Schijndelaar
• Shetland
• Wheaten Sulmtaler
• White Marans

There are many on this list that I had never heard of before!

→ Learn more about Graywhale Farms

Head Family Farm: Ethical  and Small Scale Hatchery

Shipping available

The Head Family Farm is located in Alabama and raises all of their chickens up to their full weight. They do not kill chicks on their farm.

All of their breeds offer beauty in terms of feather and egg color.

Their website mentions that they value sustainable agriculture but does not go into detail. They are NPIP members.

Head Family Farm offers these chicken breeds:

• Self Blue Lavender Ameracauna
• Black (Split to Self Blue) Ameracauna
• Blue, Black, and Splash Copper Marans
• Olive Eggers (F1 and F2)
• Easter Eggers
• Project Color Wyandottes
• Golden Laced Wyandotte
• BBS Laced Red Wyandotte

→ Check out Head Family Farm

JK Herd It All Farm

Shipping available

This heritage-focused chicken farm out of Wisconsin is unique in that it is working toward their Organic Certification. On their website, they note “we have made it our mission to help preserve and improve a variety of endangered heritage breeds on our farm. We care for our land and animals as naturally as possible.”

They are members of many organizations for livestock, including NPIP, Livestock Conservancy, American Poulltry Association, American Buckeye Club, and Ameraucana Breeders Club.

They do not administer vaccinations by default but you can add it on.

Herd It All offers these chicken breeds:

• Self Blue Ameraucana
• Black Ameraucana
• Wheaten Ameraucana
• Norske Jaerhons
• Svart Hona
• Buckeye
• Partrige Chantecler
• Buff Chantecler
• Welsummer
• Black Copper Maran
• Olive Eggers + other green egg laying varieties

→ Learn more at Herd It All’s website

Sugar Feather Farm

Shipping available

This sweet farm out of Vermont tends to their chickens attentively and humanely.

All of their hens are fed non-GMO food. Sugar Feather Farm is a part of the NPIP, Livestock Conservancy, and American Poultry Association.

You can order the following breeds:

• Ayam Cemani
• Bantam Lyonnaise
• Bantam Orpington
• Bantam Wyandotte
• Bielfelder
• Copper Maran
• Cream Legbar
• Easter Egger
• Favaucana
• Gold Laced Polish
• Hedemora
• Heritage Plymouth Rock
• Heritage Rhode Island White
• Hmong
• Icelandic
• Lyonnaise
• Olive Egger
• Pavlovskaya
• Salmon Faverolles
• Sanjak Longcrower
• Serama
• Silkie
• Silkie Showgirl
• Silver Laced Polish
• Swedish Flower
• Tolbunt Polish
• Whiting True Blue

→ Check out their available chickens here

Bad Baxter Farm: Pasture-Raised Livestock + Stewardship

Shipping available

This Oklahoma farm mentions regenerative growing on their site, but doesn’t go into much detail on what their practices are.

Regardless, they offer rotational grazing for their hens, and strive for ethical practices within their livestock raising.

They specialize in the La Fleche chicken, which is a critically endangered breed.

→ Learn more about Bad Baxter Farm

Sandhill Preservation Center: Stewardship above all else

Shipping available, must order via mail with check

The Sandhill Preservation Center is a fantastic example of honoring all things old-fashioned with strong boundaries. These folks are reknown within the world of seed stewardship and chicken stewardship. But they are not a simple online ordering company. They manage their farm with jobs of their own, and tend to their land with one mission: conservation of at-risk species.

In addition to poultry, they have 2500 vegetable varieties, fruits, flowers, and grains. Some of these are not offered anywhere else, and are at risk of being lost forever.

They select for APA standards and look to build genetic diversity into their flocks. They look to breed long-lived and resilient birds that are allowed to roam on pasture. Birds are raised in a way where their natural instincts are favored, such as broodiness and foraging skills.

They are a no kill farm and only sell straight run chicks.

They do not vaccinate but do annual tests to ensure a disease-free bird, and are NPIP members.

Order in advance, and be sure to read their information page.

Sandhill preserves the following chicken breeds as assortments (it’s a long list!):

• Assorted Ameraucanas (Regular, Barred, Black, Blue, Lav, Lavender Cuckoo)
• Assorted Americans (Barred Holland, Black Java, Buckeye, Delaware, Dominique, Erminettes, Golden Erminettes, Mottled Java, Iowa Blue, New Hampsire, Partridge Rock, Rhode Island Red (heritage stock), Rose Comb Rhode Island Red, White Rock)
• Assorted Chanteclers (Buff, Partridge, Red, White)
• Assorted Jersey Giants (Black, Blue, White)
• Assorted Wyandottes (Blue Laced Red, Buff, Columbian, Golden Laced)
• Assorted Asiatic (Black Langshan, Buff Brahma, Light Brahma, Partridge Brahma, Black Cochin, Buff Cochin, White Cochin)
• Assorted English (Black Australorp, Cuckoo Scots Dumpy)
• Assorted Sussex (Coronation, Light, Red, Speckled, Range)
• Assorted Orpington (Black, Blue, Buff, Chocolate, Crele, Cuckoo, Jubilee, Lavender, White)
• Assorted Dorkings (Black, Black Red, Cuckoo, Colored, Dark Gray, Light Gray, Red, Rose Comb Colored, Rose Comb Red, Silver Grey, Wheaten)
• Assorted Mediterranean (Ancona, Blue Andalucian, Sicilian Buttercup, Buff Catalana, Marraduna Basques, Black Penedescenca, Crele Penedescenca, Empordanesa, Partridge Penedescenca)
• Assorted Leghorns (Black, Buff, Barred, Dark Brown, Exchequer, Mille Fleur, Red, Rose Comb Brown, Silver, Single Comb Light Brown, White)
• Assorted Minorcas (Buff, Black, White)
• Assorted Continental (Bielefelder, Bresse, Creme Brabanter, Golden Campine, Golden Lakenvelder, Golden Penciled Hamburg, Golden Spangled Hamburg, La Fleche, Lakenvelder, Salmon Faverolle, Silver Penciled Hamburg, Welsummer)
• Assorted Barnevelders (Blue Laced, Regular, Partridge, Wheaten)
• Assorted Marans (Black Copper, Blue Copper, Cuckoo, Lavender, Wheaten)
• Assorted Crested (Blue Crested Blue Polish, Buff Laced Polish, Cuckoo Polish, Crevecoeurs, Silver Spitzhauben, Golden Polish, Silver Polish, White Crested Black Polish)
• Assorted Orientals (Ayam Cemani, Black Breasted Red Cubalaya, Black Breasted Red Kraienkoppe, Black Breasted Red Shamo, Dark Shamo, Golden Karienkoppe, Red Pyle Cubalaya, Silver Kraienkoppe)
• Assorted Scandinavian (Flame Jaerhon, Icelandic, Norwegian Jaerhon, Swedish Flower, Swedish Orust)
• Other Breeds (Egyptian Fayoumi, Breda, Genetic Hackle, American Dumpies, Creme Legbars, Opal Legbars, Manx Rumpie, Muffed Old English Game, Mixed Game, Spangled Russian Orloff)

→ Check out Sandhill Preservation Center

Local Option: Support neighbors who raise chicks

Don't forget your neighbors and other local farms!

Many families tenderly raise hatching eggs and chicks, and offer them for sale. Local families also sell lovingly raised pullets.

While obviously each small farm will raise their animals differently, you may be able to find something that is a short drive away. This supports the local economy and helps you to build relationships within your community.

A shorter drive also means less stress for the hens and chicks, and a safer mode of transportation for hatching eggs.

I've also found that local homesteaders are very friendly and are keen to share information and tips on how to raise your chicks and hens.

Other resources on raising great egg laying chickens:

I have a guide here for the best heritage chicken breeds for laying eggs.

While you're thinking about that first carton full of eggs, check out my guide to raising organic eco-friendly hens, or have a look at my fun list of name ideas for your chicken friends.

I also have a guide on what might be causing your chickens to stop laying eggs.

Just getting started with raising chickens? Have a look at my essential chicken supply list to make sure you have everything you need.

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