Ideal Poultry! - Page 16

very pretty!

I ordered 39 chicks and 3 ducklings, Before I got them home and in the brooder 2 ducklings and 3 chicks had died or where DOA. I called and they were going to credit me for the dead chicks and ducklings but I had another order coming the next week with some chicks that they couldn't fill the order for the previous week. I asked if they could just send replacements with the new chicks, they did. With the second batch of chicks one was DOA and the post office drowned another , I lost 2 more within 12 hours. The girls at Ideal were very nice and helpful every time I talked to them. I have lost 12 chicks so far though, the most of my deaths were from the tiny porcelain d'Uccles, they are just SO tiny compared to the other bantams (1 chick was my fault though, he escaped and got in the yard with the 4 cats and Doberman, I don't know what got him, but my Doberman is the one that sat him at my feet ).... so I think from now on I will only deal with hatching eggs, at least that way if they didn't hatch, it wouldn't be as tough on me AND I get to hatch eggs lol. I've already been telling people to just put their money together and get me an incubator for my birthday .

I don't think I will completely right off ideal, maybe it was just bad luck, but I will be more cautious of them. They made up for it though with their awesome customer service, very nice ladies in the office.

Here's a pic of my ideal babies in the brooder this morning.



There's 24 WFBS in there (one of them cried a lot & I gave it to the broody outside--now it's nice and quiet).  These are the ones I posted about a few days ago that were shipped to me last Wednesday & arrived here less than 24 hours after being shipped.  Today is Monday, so they are about 6-7 days old.  These are some vigorous, healthy chicks with a ton of personality and all seem to enjoy being held.  They had been in another cage in the house and got moved to the big brooder outside this morning.  They have a big EcoGlow for when it gets cold, and the brooder is covered with a screen door for their safety from cats and other critters.  Part of the brooder gives them some sun, and it was so funny watching them really enjoy their first experience with natural sunlight!  They immediately "assumed the position" that chickens get in the sun, laying semi-recumbent on one side with a leg and a wing all spread out.

I gotta say, I've tried and tried and TRIED to hatch out this breed with no luck.  Ideal had them.  Yay ideal!

If you order the bantam special and pay the extra $.50 to request specific breeds, are you guaranteed those breeds, or is it more of a thing where they will try to send you those breeds, but if the specific breeds you want don't hatch at the time, they substitute something else? I've got 17, 5-week old chicks (all standards, except for 2 Old English) from them at the moment, but in the future I'd like to get some more bantam Old English, some Modern Games, and some d'Uccles.

I ordered from Ideal recently. I have 15 Black Austrolorps, 5 Blue Silkies and 15 asst Guineas coming either tomorrow or the day after. I'm so excited that I can hardly think! I've never ordered or even had chicks before--other than when I was a child. I hope there isn't a big number of dead birds that will traumatize me. Anyway Ideal was very nice and tolerant when I called several times to double-check my shipping dates and information for accuracy. They were much nicer than my post office lol. I didn't expect extra chicks because of the heat but some people got "packing peanuts" in their June orders so maybe I will. Hopefully not too many as I havent found many people who want roosters.

CYG

Thanks for the info, IdealisticRoo!

Here are belated pictures of the chicks from my Ideal order.

A few days old:

Gold Brabanters


Quail OEGBs


Barred Rocks (packing peanuts)


4 weeks old:

*double post*

surprise special right now, today only 77 cents each for straight run