Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Waiting for the online catalogue to open! Anybody thinking of ordering something? I just want to look. It's so tempting to order all kinds of cool ornamental fowl but I'm going to try to limit my breeds.

Hmmm, thanks for the reminder! I'm not sure if I should get some this year, moving end of June to who knows where but really would love some more!!!

I plan on buying from Performance this year, even though it's a bit of a hike for me. I had a little personal dance party when I saw that their ordering will be open soon.

Looking at Chanteclers and Barnevelders for sure...I wish they had Speckled Sussex!

Beware of the chanteclers as they are the production and not the heritage ones.
You would likely be better off getting some from a breeder on here.

Hey Robbie .. There's a breeder /poultry review page on Facebook. Performance does not have a shinny star beside it's name. Repetitive varying complaints.

I have zero experience obviously, but maybe seek out references since I know you have big plans.

Thanks Sandy, yeah hatcheries can be hit or miss ....... but sometimes they can surprise you!

Doug The Chickenman wrote:Beware of the chanteclers as they are the production and not the heritage ones.
You would likely be better off getting some from a breeder on here.

Thanks for the tip - I'll look into that. I do have a chantecler breeder local-ish to me, but they have a 36 chicken minimum...

I bought chicks from them last spring, they were the sickliest group I've ever seen. All went into quarantine, only one ever made it out. That one was put in with some established birds, everyone is still fine, so this solo chick must be made of some tough stuff! She's not pretty, but she's earned her freedom lol. I've found a few people on FB who bought the same chicks at the same time as I did, they had similar problems....thankfully, not just me. I will not be buying from them again, wasn't worth the hassle. The amount I spent on vitamins, meds, time and extra care wasn't worth doing it again.
The solo chick will not be part of my breeding program, she'll live with the misfits and have a glorious time of it, so aside from enjoying her, it really wasn't worth my time.

Hmmm, I've gotten chicks from them for the last 4 years and though occasionally I haven't been able to get all I wanted they have always been very healthy and I haven't lost any. I'm lucky they are very close so for me it's easier than going cross country to get what I want.

I know they get very busy the days of pickups and I wonder if that doesn't cause problems. Last year I agreed to comme a day later so they could clear their backlog of customers from further away, but the chicks were in good health despite the delay.

Not sure I'll order from them this year as we'll be moving in June and I'd like to focus on a few breeds rather than the many we've been doing over the last few years mainly for our 4H kids.

Doug The Chickenman wrote:Beware of the chanteclers as they are the production and not the heritage ones.
You would likely be better off getting some from a breeder on here.

I got some Chanteclers from Performance 2 years ago. He has his own flock and doesn't buy them in. I still have a trio, nice birds and great through the winter. I didn't know there were production chanteclers. I agree that buying from PTO members is the way to go.