Live Day Old Chicks - Snake & Raptor Food - Free Shipping

How do we ship live chicks?

Our baby chicks are packaged with care and comfort.  We then ship them through the United States Post Office with Priority mail, which is 2-3 day service.  The chicks are fed and hydrated prior to their departure, ensuring they arrive alive.  Every package is marked "Hold at Post Office for Pick Up."  This ensures the baby chicks arrive alive and healthy.

Where do we ship from?

Our baby chicks are shipped from Pennsylvania.  

What can eat live baby chicks?

There are a lot of predators that enjoy the nutrients from baby chicks.  And many of those predators are domestic pets.  Ball pythons, boa constrictors, green tree pythons, monitors, hawks, and other predatory raptors.  

The baby live chicks offer a high amount of protein compared to rodents.  This protein makes live baby chicks a great option for adult snakes, lizards, and raptors.  However, baby chicks do have a high amount of phosphorus, which negates the calcium reptiles need from their food.  This phosphorus comes from the yolk sack in the baby chick.  A good way to remove this phosphorus is let the baby chick grow 1 week.  Their body will absorb the yolk sack, which will reduce the amount of yolk in the animal.  

Ultimately, baby chicks and week old chicks are best served for reptiles and raptors that are adults and fully developed.  If your snake or reptile is young, and still needing fat, then mice would be a better option until they get old enough to be fed a steady diet of baby chicks.

Difference between baby chicks, mice, and rats?

There are a lot of differences between mice, rats, and chicks.  And we cover many of those differences in our detailed guide.  Mice and rats are the common prey of choice for many meat eating reptiles.  But baby chicks are often over looked.  Which is mildly surprising due to a few advantages they have over rodents.  Baby chicks for sale have a higher protein content.  Many snake and reptile owners have noticed differences in pet growth and size when fed a diet rich in baby chicks.  

But specific pets shouldn't be fed a diet only on baby chicks for sale.  Baby chicks are high phosphorus due to their yolk sack.  High phosphorus can interfere with a reptile's ability to absorb calcium, which can lead to terminal diseases like metabolic bone disease.  So it's critical to feed your chicks a diet rich in calcium prior to feeding.  But it would also be helpful to remove the yolk sack.  Owners can remove the yolk sack from their chicks.  However, this will kill the baby chick.  Or, owners can allow the baby chick to grow for about 1 week.  By that time, the yolk sack will have been absorbed into the chick's body.

If you're feeding a young reptile, pinky mice tend to be the preferred option.  Their high fat content, and respectable protein content will help the young animal grow in a healthy adult.  But the same principles apply.  Their nutritional profile will need to be supplemented to accommodate the reptile's needs.  

Because each prey (chicks, mice, and rats) requires some additional supplements, it's argued that live baby chicks for sale are going to be the best and most cost effective option for new reptile owners.

How to feed live chicks to snakes?

Chicks can be fed dead or alive.  The common theory is to feed thawed, dead feeders to your snakes.  This is due to safety concerns for the snake.  A rodent will defend itself if attacked and can injure the snake.  Baby chicks are harmless.  Their beaks and talons are underdeveloped, and will not harm, scratch, or pierce the animal.  This makes them a great live feeder choice for snakes and carnivorous reptiles.

Because adult snakes eat infrequently, you'll want to freeze some of your live baby chicks after they arrive in the mail.  This will prevent them from growing too large for your snake to consume.  

Which snakes can eat live chicks?

Any snake that can eat rodents will enjoy the protein boost offered by live chicks.

Which raptors can eat live chicks?

Hawks, falcons, owls, pterodactyls, and other birds of prey.