I've had people ask me why I didn't buy 1 day-old chicks online, or buy them locally instead of going the 'egg route'...
Well, online companies have minimums on the number of chicks that they sell, and while I've found a few companies that will sell as few as 3, my minimum is usually 9 (they say that they have to ship that many to ensure they stay warm since they think that I live in 'the boonies' due to my ZIP Code, which is actually 5 minutes from the heart of a 300,000 person city.

). Plus when you order that many of one type/color, it's hard to 'customize' your flock (unless you want a BIG flock). As far as local purchasing goes, no place locally sells what I'm interested in.
By buying eggs and incubating them myself, I can find breeders who will sell me as many (or as few) eggs as I want, in whatever combinations of colors I want. It's great for flock building when you don't just want 40 white leghorns, for instance.
I currently have 7 bearded Silkies (5 Splash. 1 Blue, 1 Black) that turn 3 weeks old tomorrow. In another month I'll have 7 more (2 Blue, 2 White, 3 Buff). I'm going to raise them until they're old enough that I can determine the roosters, sell those, then add more hens until I have 12 hens total. Silkies are great pets, but not good layers, however in sufficient numbers we'll have enough Silkies to provide eggs for my family, which is the plan.
