By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Did you know baby chicks hatch with survival nourishment that lasts about three days? This three-day period is an entrepreneurial opportunity thanks to the shipping services of the US Mail and benefits Melinda Conner, who runs SeaBreeze Hens in San Leon where she sells newborn chickens.
“I have 70 varieties of chicks for sale. Most all of them come to me via the mail. The post office is great to work with,” said Connor.
“Whenever we get the chicks in, we know it because they’re chirping, and we call the receiver’s phone number just as fast as we can,” said Bacliff Postmaster Chad George, who adds that the tradition of mailing chicks has been around since 1918.
The chicks start off as eggs at chicken farms across the country. From there they go to hatcheries where they are incubated. Once hatched, they are packaged in hatchling-safe shipping material and mailed to customers.
“I get about 900 chicks each month,” said Conner.
Her chicks were lucky chicks, because she had switched to propane for heating a couple weeks before February’s freezing temperatures and power outages.
Connor, once a firefighter with the US Forest Service, grew up on a cattle farm in an isolated part of Washington state. She met her husband, a Texan, on a plane. Relocating to San Leon felt like moving to the big city for Connor, so she started out as a goat herder to give her a sense of downhome farming.
“I lost my hinny with the goats, so I switched to chicks,” said Connor, who has been in the chickee business for 11 years.
“I started with just five breeds of chicks but then I’d see another breed and another breed. Now I have 70 breeds of chicks for my customers to choose from,” said Connor. The chicks are housed in numerous little chick houses scattered on 1.2 acreage of land. Connor vaccinates her chicks for a variety of chicken borne maladies.
There are about 100 hens on the property which are not for sale. The hens are like show room furniture. “Someone says, ‘oh I like that chicken,’ so I fetch them a chick of the same breed,” Connor explained.
She backs her product with replacement chicks when needed. She also offers full- service education for raising chickens, although most of her clients have spent time researching chickens before they come to the decision to buy one.
“They’re really easy to take care of,” said customer Selena Metcalfe, who came to pick out four chicks with her husband Chris. They plan to add them to their current brood as pets and to have fresh eggs.
Eggs from SeaBreeze hens (which come in a variety of colors) go quickly with neighbors dropping in to see if they can get lucky and grab a dozen or more. “I love the colors and the eggs are all organic,” said a neighbor.
Though she loves her chicks, Connor’s favorite part about her business are the customers. “I enjoy meeting the people and learning who they are and where my chicks will be going,” she said.
Her customers come to her from all over Texas and Louisiana. She uses social media along with a website to market her business. Customers are required to schedule appointments to purchase chicks. She’s running a living ranch, after all, and she can’t just stop and tend to customers at any ole time.
Connor’s chickens are seen wandering around in the neighboring yards and no one seems to mind. But, they did ask her to keep the turkeys in her own backyard.
