Doesn't matter. Maybe it will help someone else. I always try to use Ideal 1st and Cackle 2nd. Both have been great for me. Please realize that boxes of chicks go through many rides and hands before they get to you and after they leave the hatchery. They are not always warm enough on those rides...
i order from Ideal nearly every year and have nothing but good things to say about them or their birds. Most of the chicks I have purchased have been of better quality than I expected and a few that could have been better. Buyers remember these are hatchery birds and not show breeders' birds and...
I had no problems w/ Ideal either. I used to have problems with bantams until I learned to grind their food really fine. I live on the very most Eastern Shore of Virginia and received an order from Stromberg's in CA (I think) this past week. All Arrived alive and are doing well so far..
I wanted to replace my Spitzhaubens which were stolen a year or so ago as half grown chicks. Ideal didn't have them so I ordered from Cackle which is where I got my first ones. I ordered 10 and got 11. They are now 3 weeks old and doing just fine. I have only had maybe 3 chicks fail to thrive...
I ordered 2x from Ideal and I will be keeping to that hatchery as long as they have what I am looking for. In the past I have also ordered from Cackle (my 2nd choice) and The Poultry Hatchery. When I first started ordering bantams I had a very difficult time keeping them alive. I tried...