When they come in they're literally just a day or two old, and within a week they've started to get their feathers, their necks are so tall, they're jumping around, they're climbing. It's amazing how fast they grow.
— Sara Gumbs, Assistant Manager, Agway
Too Cute! Baby Chick Alert!
Warning! Cute baby chicks arrive on Cape Cod - watch them peep and hop!
Click on image to watch short video feature (and cute peeping chicks!)
10 April 2026 – DENNIS, MA – Does it get much cuter than this?
This week – like every week from early March until early May – boxes full of little cheeping, peeping fluff balls arrive on Cape Cod. It’s something of an annual tradition at Agway, which sells thousands of chicks to Cape Codders each year from its Dennis and Orleans locations.
“We do have chickens,” said Sara Gumbs, an assistant manager with Agway. “The little ladies!”
What are the rules on Cape Cod about keeping chickens?
People have always kept chickens on Cape Cod, and regulations vary from town to town. So if you’re eyeing backyard chickens, be sure to confirm what rules apply to your backyard.
How many people raise chickens?
Interest in chicken-keeping increased during the COVID pandemic, when egg prices spiked, and people realized there were other ways to find eggs than in a grocery story. That interest keeps growing.
“A lot of people have been really getting into it. It’s fun and it’s rewarding at the same time,” said Gumbs.
What kinds of chicken do people buy?
Chickens come in hundreds of varieties, each with slightly different characteristics, such as egg color, temperament, laying volume, and cold hardiness.
On our visit we were introduced to three varieties, including one-day old Rhode Island Reds, newly arrived. These are a traditional, hardy, brown-egg-laying chicken.
We also saw light-brown Cinnamon Queens, bred from the Rhode Island Red and the Silver Laced Wyandotte. They can lay up to 250 eggs per year.
The yellow fluff balls that look like iconic yellow easter chicks are the Delaware, a classic breed dating from the 1940s known for their calm and docile nature. They thrive best in a free-range environment.
How do chickens arrive?
Baby chicks arrive in simple shipping boxes with breaking holes, marked “live chicks”. The come via next day mail from a breeder in Iowa.
On arrival, the staff at Agway quickly transfer them to a heated holding area, dip their little beaks in water to remind them to start drinking, and offer them feed.
It takes only moments for the chicks to become a multi-footed flock of fluff, hopping comfortably around their new surroundings.
Are the babies healthy?
The babies that arrive at Agway come already vaccinated for Coccidiosis and Mareks’s disease; breeders dust the vaccines into the shipping boxes. The vaccine appears on the chicks as blue and purple splotches which will wear off over time.
How quickly do chicks grow?
Gumbs says chickens are pretty straightforward – all they need is warmth, water, and feed during their fast-growing baby stage, and then a safe living environment thereafter.
“When they come in they’re literally only a day or two old and within a week they’ve already started to get their feathers, their necks are so tall, they’re jumping around, they’re climbing. Its amazing how fast they grow,” she said.
For more information:
Agway Chicken Care Guide – https://agwaycapecod.com/chicks-the-ultimate-care-guide/
MA laws about backyard chickens – https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-backyard-chickens
