Get your chicks from a mail-order source. Make sure to pay the extra buck apiece to have them vaccinated for Marek's disease. This virus is Everywhere. It lives in the shed dander from chickens that are infected with it. The chickens will die within a year if not vaccinated. It is a cruel way to go because it is like Guillain Barre disease in humans---they die from paralysis. We have lost a few this way---and will not lose any more. I an going to vaccinate the four chicks that will hatch soon. In the future we will get already vaccinated ones from a hatchery.
