All chick orders are required to select a hatch date from our hatching calendar before checking out. Mail order chicks will hatch and ship on the selected hatch date. Orders for pick up will hatch on the selected hatch date and customers will be contacted to schedule their pick up for the rest of that week into the weekend. Please write down your hatch date selection before checking out.

Our day old chick orders do have quantity and minimum requirements.

Chicks for on farm pick up must meet the 3 quantity minimum. Chickens are social creatures and require companionship to thrive. This minimum ensures the chicks have hatch mates to bond with one another.

Mail order chicks have a minimum quantity requirement of 10 and orders must be in quantities of 10. This is to ensure that there are enough chicks in their appropriate shipping box to be able to stay warm enough amongst one another during their transit to the customer.

Unfortunately we do not have the skill to correctly and confidently sex most of our chicken breeds and therefore offer them as straight run (unsexed) only. We are, however, able to sex our Welsummer breed. When available, the Welsummer chicks will be offered as "Welsummer - Female", "Welsummer - Male" and "Welsummer - Straight Run". We maintain a 90% accuracy policy on all sexed chicks.

All day old chicks are vaccinated for Marek's Disease automatically. If you do not wish for your chicks to be vaccinated please leave a note with your request not to vaccinate them in the comments section before checking out. Chicks with this request will be pulled from the hatchers and separated for fulfillment so they do not receive the vaccine.

Our Ameraucanas and Copper Marans come in multiple color varieties. Our BBS Ameraucana and Copper Marans produce blue, black and splash colored chicks. All three color varieties can be bred to one another and still produce pure bred blue, black and splash offspring. We do not separate color varieties and therefore can not offer specific colors for customers as we wont know what colors will hatch until the day of hatch. Our Wheaten Ameraucana are the same: Wheaten (black), Blue Wheaten and Splash Wheaten.

Our Self-blue/Lavender Ameraucanas include black-splits to Lavender. This is to reduce the feather shredder gene commonly found in connection with the lavender gene. Black-split chicks can still be bred together to produce lavender chicks. We aim to fill most orders with majority Lavender colored chicks, but splits are a potential and should be expected.

Customers may make specific color request by adding a note of their request to the comments section before checking out. We can not guarantee our ability to meet those requests, but we will do our best to do so.

Chicks are able to live off of their absorbed yolks for 72 hours after hatch. To ensure their ability to survive shipping as day old chicks, we hatch and ship the chicks the same day. Chicks are shipped via USPS either standard Priority or USPS Priority Express (our guaranteed option). All orders are shipped with grogel (an electrolyte solution in gel form) for hydration and a 72 hour heat pack when necessary.

The option to ship our chicks USPS Priority Mail is completely your decision, however, this option can take longer than 2 days to arrive in some areas. We do not recommend this option to states where the chicks have further to travel. In the event the chicks do not arrive safely when using the USPS Priority option, Deer Run Farm will NOT assume the responsibility for any late arrivals or deaths of any chick. We will, however, file a claim with the USPS for the $50 of insurance on your behalf if you wish should loss or damages occur. We understand that the $50 of insurance may not cover the cost of your entire order. For this reason we ask that customers REQUEST additional insurance in the comments section when placing your order with us. 

Chicks shipped via USPS Priority Mail EXPRESS come with $100 of insurance and have a USPS shipping guarantee of 1-2 days. We strongly recommend customers to select this option when shipping their chicks. Should chicks arrive later than their guaranteed arrival with the USPS we will submit a request for a refund on your behalf if you wish. Deer Run Farm does NOT take responsibility of how the USPS will handle your chicks while in transit. We ask that all customers receiving day old chicks via USPS open their chick boxes while at the post office. Should there be any chicks dead on arrival, please be sure to have your postal worker make note of it so that we can file a claim for the $100 of insurance that comes with Priority Express shipping on your behalf. We understand that the $100 of insurance may not cover your entire purchase. For this reason we ask that customers REQUEST additional insurance in the comments section when placing your order with us. 

Deer Run Farm has a 48 Hour Live Arrival And Livability Policy. We guarantee to ship only the healthiest of birds that are hatched the same day they are shipped (so they have 72 hours to live off of their yolks without food and water). We will either refund your money, replace your birds or add a credit to your account for any bird that has been properly cared for but has died within 48 hours after the time of arrival. Customers MUST CONTACT US WITHIN THOSE 48 HOURS with all of their losses to be considered for a refund.

**2025 SHIPPING UPDATE**

As of January 19th, 2025, the USPS will be implementing a $15 surcharge on all USPS Priority Mail shipments that contain live animals or perishable goods and a $7.50 surcharge on all USPS Priority Mail Express shipments of the same contents. Deer Run Farm's shipping costs of all live birds will reflect these surcharges.

All chick orders will come with a VS9-3 form through the National Poultry Improvement Plan that we are participants in. Mail orders will have this form attached to the BOTTOM of the chick box and include all necessary information regarding your new chicks. A copy of this form can be requested for up to 6 months after the chicks have been received.

For all other questions and concerns or for more information not found on this page..