Ideal .99 Bantam Assortment Special Review **NEW PICS** - Page 2

Thanks! I am going to check their specials for this week.

I miss having chicks

Your are pretty, thou

My 25 bantam Special was delivered on October 21st, 2 days after they hatched.

Ideal shipped 26, but 2 of the silkies did not survive the journey. 

By the time they were three weeks old, it was obvious we had several troublemakers among the group, most of which I suspect were roosters! 

So, the first to go do not have pictures.  I put an ad on Craigslist and sold the troublemakers for $5 each!  This paid for the whole batch! 

I got:

1.  Barred Cochin - Everytime I would put my hand in to get a feeder, this little pecker would bite me! 

2.  White Silkie - Troublemaker/ fighter! 

3.  Buff Silkie - Troublemaker. 

4.  Red Frizzle - cute, but...

5 & 6  Silver Seabrights - Now I know I don't ever want to own seabrights - tiny little flighty troublemakers! 

The ones I kept are:

7.  White Silkie - slightly smaller than #2 and much quieter - we like quiet chickens!   

8.  Partridge Silkie or may be Red Silkie - Nice quiet little girl that eats constantly!   

9 & 10 Buff Silkies - UPDATE - BOTH OF THESE HAVE HUGE COMBS!  I suspect both of them are roosters! They both have been very slow to feather out, the other buff silkie looked nothing like these, it was WAY ahead of these two that still look like chicks! 

11.  Old English Game or maybe Dutch - Ideal has SO many varieties of these that look alike, but they are cute little chipmunky things.  This one is a rooster. 

12, 13 & 14  O.E.G. or Dutch Girls - These little girls are FAST and impossible to tell apart, so I took a picture of one of the three. 

15.  Black Tailed Buff Japanese - This little fighter is gone! I named him "gift with purchase", and gave him to the nice lady who bought some pullets and picked them up a week later!  I just handed her the box and said "I put an extra in there for you, HIS name is gift with purchase!"   

16.  Grey Japanese -  Suspected rooster, but quiet and well-mannered.  We like quiet! 

17 & 18  Black Japanese - both quiet little girls that always look kinda ratty. 

19.  My guess is Blue Cornish - She is a greyish blue color and built like a TANK! 

20.  My guess is a White Cornish - Similar shape to #19, but smaller. 

21.  Dark Cornish - not sure about the white breast, but that may fade over time.  Curious, well-behaved little girl.

22.  White Cochin - Lovely little Pullet, constantly preening! 

23.  Golden Laced or Partridge Cochin - Nice plump little girl, quiet and ladylike! 

24.  Silver Laced or Penciled Cochin - Scamp;  Cute little fella, always into something, but manages to look cute doing just about anything! 

So, there you have my Ideal Bantam Special.  I certainly have no intent of breeding bantams, if I did I would not buy hatchery stock.  I just wanted a few around to entertain me and my family.  I have watched these guys for days on end!

I actually found BYC because I googled "Ideal Bantam Special", because I was curious what other customers had gotten, so I would know what to expect.

Ideal poultry is the greatest hatchery!     They offer great bargains, yet they still take the time to provide a good mix of high-quality chicks!

Cute babies! Do you have any updates? How much do they weigh?

I updated a couple things above - I gave the buff Japanese away and I fear both of the buff silkies are roosters.

I have moved them out of the brooder (kiddie wading pool) in anticipation of 27 pullet chicks arriving this week from Ideal.

I put the majority in an unused chicken house - They have 9' x 4' filled with leaves from raking the yard and pine shavings and a heat lamp and a red flood light.  They are happy and healthy and have been there a week.

The 2 black japanese hens and the 4 OEG or Dutch are still much smaller and were getting picked on and stepped on, so those 6 reside in a large cage in my garage.  They have it good in the "Chicken Hilton", but may get moved out with the others when the babies arrive - 4 groups to feed and water MIGHT be pushing it!

They put this sale back on for todays hatch and the Jan. 5th hatch!

Please order some so they sell out BEFORE I lose self-control and order more!  I just the October 19th bantams down to a respectable 11, I do not want to do it again!

99 cents is a great price for hatchery birds.

It comes out to:

$24.75 for the birds,
$7.00 for orders under 100
$3.75 for airmail if you live more than 1 state away from Texas.

Total $35.50

I lost 2 in shipment, but they had sent 1 extra.

The dark Cornish had 2 crooked toes and the Partridge Silkie has 4 toes on 1 foot, but all the others are happy, healthy and sweet!

Oh no!

I just ordered too for the 5th hatch. My DD wanted to buy some to sell so we went on ahead and ordered a bunch.  Needless to say my hubby wont be too happy but oh well. I also got 25 of the Pullet special too.