Frequently Asked Questions
Why Should I purchase from Chicks By Crystal?
Breed Identification Service
Shipping Made Easy
When Can I Expect My Poultry or Egg Order To Arrive?
Do You Ship Outside Of The United States?
What Does Straight Run Mean?
When will my hens start laying eggs?
Can I set my fertile hatching eggs as soon as I receive my shipment?
How long can I store fertile hatching eggs before beginning incubation?
When can I put my new chicks in with my existing flock?
Why isn't my "frizzle" chick frizzle?
- This is a service offered when you place your order. For a small fee, you can choose to have your chick breeds banded, to help you ID your chicks when you receive them. All you have to do is as it on at on at the check out.
Shipping Made Easy
- We have simple shipping which it is a flat rate of $65.00 from 4-15 chicks.
When Can I Expect My Poultry or Egg Order To Arrive?
- Poultry orders will arrive in 1-3 business days, most commonly 2. All poultry orders are shipped via USPS priority. Juvenile poultry orders are shipped via USPS express on the ship date you select and will arrive in 1-3 business days. Hatching eggs ship USPS priority from the date you select and arrive in 1-3 business days. After your order ships, you will receive an email confirmation with a tracking number to better estimate the date of arrival. Typically orders will arrive at your local post office, where your post office will call you for pick-up.
Do You Ship Outside Of The United States?
- Chicks By Crystal are not able to ship outside of the United States. We are therefore unable to ship to Canada, Mexico or any other country.
What Does Straight Run Mean?
- Straight run means “as hatched” you will receive males and females and no attempt is made to identify the gender. For example, if you order 3 straight run of a particular breed you could receive 3 males and 0 females, or 3 females and 0 males or a combination of both genders.
When will my hens start laying eggs?
- Depending on the breed, environment, and nutrition, a pullet will typically start laying eggs around 17-30 weeks of age.
Can I set my fertile hatching eggs as soon as I receive my shipment?
- No. Please let your fertile hatching eggs sit for at least 12 hours before placing them into the incubator.
How long can I store fertile hatching eggs before beginning incubation?
- Fertilized eggs can be stored up to 2-3 weeks, however, hatchability will decrease as time passes. Chicks BY Crystal recommends setting fertile hatching eggs within 7 days for best results.
When can I put my new chicks in with my existing flock?
- If you have a mature flock, you'll want to raise your chicks in a brooder for the first 6-8 weeks. Once they are mature enough to be introduced to the coop, you will still want to keep them separated from your existing flock during an acclimation period. Put them next to each other where they can see and hear each other, for up to a week. After this time frame, you are able to integrate the two flocks. It's best to do this around dusk when they are more docile. There will be a normal pecking order to follow after. This is the best gradual introduction you can make because if you were to place them without the introductory period there could be dire consequences or injury due to the smaller birds being cornered by larger birds.
Why isn't my "frizzle" chick frizzle?
- The frizzle feathering sometimes found in chickens is a rare occurrence, and therefore highly desired in some breeds. Here is an overview of how the frizzle feather mutation occurs and why not all chicks sold as frizzles will have frizzled feathers.
- The gene responsible for frizzling is dominant, meaning that it “covers up” the normal feathering gene. A chicken with a frizzle presentation will have a frizzle gene and a normal gene, one from each parent. A cross of two frizzled birds should result in the following:
- 25% of the chicks will have two genes for normal feathering
- 50% of the chicks will have a frizzle gene and a normal gene and be frizzled
- 25% of the chicks will have a “double copy” of the frizzle gene
- The problem with frizzling happens when two frizzle chickens are mated. Their offspring may have a chance of receiving two copies of the frizzle gene, and chicks with a double copy have feathers that are fragile and break very easily, which isn’t very pretty to look at and isn’t safe or healthy for the chick to grow up completely naked.
- Therefore, to help ensure we don’t produce these “double copy” frizzled chicks, half of the parents are normally feathered, and the other half are frizzled. That cross should produce the following:
- 50% of the chicks have one frizzle and one normal gene and frizzled feathering
- 50% of the chicks have two normal genes and normal feathering
- That’s why it’s important to not breed two frizzles together to avoid producing the double copy chicks, and why you may also receive chicks in your order of frizzles that are not necessarily showing frizzle. Breed those “normal” chickens back to a frizzled chicken and see what happens! They are important!
