Ideal Poultry!

Yeah, it really sucks. I'm a little irked about it, actually. LOL. I only ordered 8 chicks, if they have that limited of quantity, they should say so.

this is my flock that i got from ideal.. i am over all happy with what i got but disappointed that some of my ducks i ordered from them are cross breeds..i did not order them like that so i am unhappy bout that..and that baby duck in the top picture came in mentally challenged and im to kind to cull the little girl but looks like i cant put her out with the others till shes basically adult so she can kinda protect herself from the others.. i also work at the local feed store and have talked to ideal many of times and have been told that this is by far the worse year of hatching for them in a long while.. we have been on the waiting list for geese but there has been soo many bad hatches of geese this time that we only got bout 10 geese and dout we will get more till next year cause of there hatch rate... good thing bout ideal is even tho more then 6 feed stores and places that have received chicks ducks geese ect.. that have been shipped in half dead or dead on arrival.. they have pretty much replaced them on there half...do i advise ordering from ideal sure y not ..but beware do not order from nov- april with out expecting dead birds when arrival.. that is a fact..and you will notice since we get over a 100 chicks at a time from ideal that even tho there is 4 boxes in the box to hold chicks that they many only use 3 which is over crowding and we loose more then if they would evenly place the birds in the box instead of 20 here 50 there and 30 instead of 25/25/25/25... thats the only bad part bout ideal and the cross breeds that i have gotten myself or mentally ill birds..

My second order from Ideal is suppose to ship out tomorrow. My first one didn't turn out so well, but tring again with something different. Trying the top hat special.

well today we got an order in from ideal with 100 chicks 20 ducks.. and well 30 dead chicks and 10 dead ducks... they shipped them and it took and extra day for us to get them just like other places that ordered from ideal.. its a poor excuse to get a couple weeks of all alive ducks and then today and have that many dead in the order.. and it looks like were going to loose a couple more ducks.. all i can say is they need to get there orders right and on time if they dont want ppl calling and complaining that half there shipments are coming in dead..

THREE WEEK UPDATE:

Here are some photos of the babies. Top photos are the day they arrived(2 days old), bottom is 3 weeks old.

GOLD LACED:


BUFF:


RED:


MOTTLED:



BIRCHEN:


Everyone's feathering out nicely and doing well. They're definitely getting too big for their cage.

Brandon

Got an e-mail from Ideal this evening @ 7:19 EDT that my order is shipping 5/8, so I think it will go out first thing in the morning. When I ordered from McMurray the chicks got from Iowa to Massachusetts in just 24 hours, so I'm hoping for the same from Texas.

Yay!!! It's so exciting waiting for that box! Can't wait to see photos!

Well after being put off for an extra week, I finally got my Top Hat Special in yesterday. They even sent an extra one. Got about 5 varieties of Polish and some Sultans. Missed out on getting any Spitzhaubens and Brabanters.

My 30 chicks arrived this morning and I got a call from the post office at 7:30. They arrived all alive, healthy and active. Whew! They started eating and drinking as soon as I put them in the brooder. I checked them over and there are no signs of deformities. It was easy to tell the breeds apart and they look pretty well true to type. I'll post pix of the peeps as soon as I figure out how to put up photos here.

My experience with Ideal was a positive one. The person who took my order on the phone was courteous and professional, I received an e-mail notification when the chicks were about to be shipped, and the shipping label provided information on when (and even what time) the chicks hatched, when/what time they were shipped from Texas and when they arrived in Boston. USPS picked up the air shipment and delivered it to my small-town post office up the coast. It basically took 24 hours door to door. I'm sure that Boston being a major and direct route had a lot to do with that. Shipping to places that are far from a direct-flight airport probably have more lag time, which affects the shape they're in on arrival. I'd hate for live animals to have to be in transit for 72 hours before arriving in their new home.

Anyway, happy to have the newbies.

Does Ideal ship their chicks out with tracking? Mine are due to go out the 15th, so I'll probably get them by Friday, but being able to keep an eye on where they are would be awesome.