Chick Days are done for the year. Every wave came in, and almost every chick went home with someone in Matthews. Thank you — that’s the whole post, but it’s worth saying slow.
Here’s how the season ran. Four waves, March into April, each one a different lineup. No pre-orders. First come, first served. When a breed was gone, it was gone. That’s how it’s always going to work here — but it means the folks who showed up early got the pick of the brooder.
Wave 1 — Rhode Island Reds
Rhode Island Reds started the season the week of March 11. The classic. If this was your first flock, you picked right — Reds are hardy, they lay well, and they put up with a beginner’s mistakes better than most breeds. A lot of you walked out with your first four birds. (Four is our minimum. We don’t sell chicks in ones and twos, because a single chick is a lonely, cold chick.) Watching a first-timer carry a box out to the car is the best part of the job.
Wave 2 — Wyandottes, Brahmas, and Buckeyes
Wave 2 arrived March 23 with the breeds you don’t find at the big-box stores: Columbian Wyandottes, Dark Brahmas, and Buckeyes. This was the wave for people who already knew exactly what they wanted. Brahmas are the gentle giants — feathered feet, calm as anything, big enough to notice in the run. Buckeyes are an American heritage bird, and they are hard to come by around here. If you came in for these, you came in knowing your breeds. We had some good conversations that week.
Wave 3 — Easter Eggers
Easter Eggers landed April 1, right on time for the holiday. These are the ones that lay blue, green, and sometimes a soft pink egg — no two hens quite the same. Families loved them. Kids loved them more. An Easter Egger in the basket beats a chocolate one — this one is still laying for you come summer. A lot of these went home with first-time keepers who got pulled in by the egg colors and stayed for the rest of it.
Wave 4 — Welsummers, Brahmas, and Black Sex Links
The final wave came April 20: Black Sex Links, Dark and Buff Brahmas, and Welsummers. Welsummers lay a dark, speckled, terracotta egg — the kind that looks like it came off a postcard. Black Sex Links are workhorse layers and easy to sex young, which takes the guesswork out for a new keeper. This was last call, and the regulars knew it. When the final wave sells through, that’s the season. It sold through.
Thank you
Here’s the honest version. A chick season isn’t some big marketing machine. It’s a few hundred birds, a brooder, and a lot of people from around Matthews deciding to raise something this year. That is not a transaction. It is a neighborhood doing a neighborhood thing — and we got to be the place it ran through.
If you took chicks home this spring, they aren’t chicks anymore. They’re pullets now, eating real feed, weeks away from the first egg. Come by 1900 Moore Road when you need layer feed, grit, or a bigger waterer, and we’ll get you sorted. We want to hear how the flock turned out — bring a photo.
We’ll do it all again next year. Same brooder, new breeds, same rule: when they’re gone, they’re gone. Thanks for a good season.
— Neighborhood Feed · 1900 Moore Road, Matthews, NC