25 count runs are the norm for the minimums to order in chicks, but I noticed one 'chain' farm supply store orders them in on speculation...sets them up in a big galvanised water tank with lights and sells them by the each. Of course it 'just happens' to be around Easter, and I groan when I see that. What happens is they end up as holiday novelties to kids and when the roos get big (and they're always roos) people like me who raise chickens get a phone call from people who knows someone who has seen my egg sign and would I like some free chickens? I have taken in a few and have fed them for years with no return, just because I knew they'd have met an unkind fate if I hadn't. So, if you see a sales situation like this, get it in writing you are getting pullets. LOL. So if you've never had chickens before do you know if you order fertile eggs, you'll also need an incubator and brooding box and heat? And again.......if it's an egg it's just as likely to be a roo as a hen. And if you see ads for grown layers, they might be culls who don't lay or are past their laying years. Happens all the time here come fall and somebody who wants to start a laying flock bites. Your best bet is to find someone else who wants a small run of chicks and split an order with them. You might even want to enquire at the feed store or hatchery and let them know you are wanting to do this, and if it's a rural area like mine, they'll keep your number or hang a note on the bulletin boards so that other people who come in wanting only a few pullets can contact you and you can do this.

Sorry OA, I gave Karen credit for the new creation instead of you. That's what happens when one is tired and can't go to bed before reading and posting here!!! You are so fun... and sorry for my boo boo Punk

Lydia 1959...As far as it's known, from decades of research by the PMCA and other organizations, the Purple Martins in the eastern half of the U.S. nest only in man-made cavities, and near human activity. Since the times before Columbus they have "imprinted" on humans. The eastern Native Americans lured them to their villages and gardens by setting natural gourds on sticks and dead trees. They knew when the Purple Martins were near, the flying insects were kept at bay. There is a small scattering of PMs on the west coast, and they seem to be nesting in single family groups around piers. There was a lot of excitement when a colony was discovered nesting in drainage pipes under highway overpasses around the Sacramento area. Still, for the vase majority of the Purple Martins, and the entire eastern population, it's man made housing. You can see the problem since fewer and fewer people are offering, and safely managing, housing for them. The PMs, along with our native blue birds, started declining in the 1950s and were fast approaching endangered status. The main causes were lack of housing being offered to them, loss of wooden fence posts in the case of the blue birds, and the explosion of the imported, non-native English House Sparrow that will kill/destroy any cavity nester, its eggs and its chicks, that it can find...PMs, bluebirds, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, etc. all fall prey to these non-natives. So, loss of habitat, explosive numbers of non-native competitors, and a lack of well-managed housing not being offered is the main culprits of the decline of our native cavity nesters. I wish you could come visit. I sit under the feeder tree each morning with my tea and listen to the beautiful chatter, chortles, and songs of the PMs. They're here for such a short time, but I try to enjoy them enough to last the rest of the year. They travel to and from southern Brazil each year to raise their families. They come back to the same colony each year. They are magical!

The smallest, one-day-old chicks are a bit smaller than the size of the first joint of my thumb. From the joint to the tip of the thumb. The eggs are not an inch long; I'll try to measure one with the calipers when I check them again. (If they've not all hatched. If I can't use the calipers on them; I'll set a quarter next to the chicks.