A few questions about ideal hatchery......

[Illia]

Depends on the breed, really. Some hatcheries have better or worse of a breed than others.

 

[ninjascrub69]

Quote:
I plan on ordering saipan jungle fowl, Brown red modern game bantam, and golden phoenix.

 

[Mag16]

I have ordered twice from Ideal and would recommend them to anyone.

First order wasin February of this year for 34 pullets 10 Dominiques, 10 RIR, 10 Buff Orpingtons, 2 white Cochins, and 2 Blue Cochins. All arrived healthy and are still healthy. Out of 34 we ended up with 2 roosters - 1 a Dominique and 1 a white Cochin. I gave the Dominque away and kept the Cochin. He is beautiful.

The Cochins were picked out by my grandsons. When they called to tell me that my order was shipping and they everything but the 2 blue Cochins. I explained that these were for my grandsons and did they have anything else they could send because I couldn't have 1 get his chicks and the other not. Actually my exact words were "Do you have anything else with at least blue in it's name? I don't care what it is as long as it has feathers and a beak." They called me back and said that they had 3 Blue Andalusians. My grandson was very happy.

2nd order was in May. I ordered 10 Cochins. I received 7 extras (6 roosters and 1 pullet - all EEs). I gave all the extras away. All were healthy.

My neighbor ordered from a different hatchery because he found a cheaper deal on straight runs (his words). I think he ordered 75 chicks and only has 25 of them left. 1/3 were DOA at the post office and several more died within the next 2 weeks.

Here are some pictures of mine. They are not show chickens by no means but I don't care. I heart them anyway!

 

[ninjascrub69]

Quote:
I LOVE YOUR BIRDS!!!!

 

[jarcoo0153]

I have order 3 times from Ideal, once in 2006, and twice this year. I am very satisfied with them. Their variety of breeds is pretty good, and the majority of them are good breeding stock, except for the production breeds. They have always sent me extras, the first time I ordered 3 pullets, and they sent me 10 bo roosters for free, the 2nd time I ordered, I got 3 extra chicks, and the last time I ordered, they sent me an extra guinea , and about 10 extra chicks. When I have DOa's, they always refund my money too.

 

[tattoozz]

Ive ordered from Ideal 3 times so far..2 times last year once this year

this year i ordered their straight run special they ran

i ordered 30...i got 30...of the 30....11 died within 2 days(very very hot here)

called them they shipped the 11 replacements following week(every 1 was a rooster LOL)

it is now 8 weeks since ive had the chicks

I lost 0 of them...But 2/3rds of them are all roosters

so out of 30 20 are roosters(not happy bout that but it was straight run)

customer service from Ideal is great i think..Show quality..No way

all 3 orders ive gotten from Ideal have been exact numbers I never got 1 xtra chick at all

I now know for my next order from them I will ONLY order Pullet specials never straight run special again from Ideal..This last batch was way too many roosters for my liking

 

[Titania]

I've ordered once (and my only chick order to date) from Ideal Hatchery. I think that they do a fine job. They only require a $20 minimum order and will fill the box with extra roos to make a minimum of 25 chicks. I opted out of this option since it was summer and soooo hot in Oklahoma. Chicks arrived fine and there was one extra Ameracauna. Boy did we have fun figuring out which chick was each particular breed! Four days later, 8 died of 12, but I'm 90% positive that it's because my kitchen got too warm while I was furiously cooking. I'm pretty sure it was my fault. Still, I called all devastated the next day to see if they could give me ideas of why they died. They offered to replace them, even though it had been four days. Except, they couldn't b/c I had voided the guarantee by not filling the fox with extra roos. if I had, they would have sent me new chicks, no questions asked. The four chickens grew to be beautiful.
Here is my Speckled Sussex, Jane (who was taken by a raccoon)

And the other three, a mille fleur d'Uccle (Chloe), Red Sex-Link (Emma), and Ameracauna (Aracely). Emma is the only survivor of the raccoon raid now.

The pictures don't do them justice! Also, they didn't have all their feathers in at this point & still were in their awkward teenage phase. They became prettier every day. Were they show quality or near? Not by a long shot. I've heard that you have to heavily cull to use them for a breeding program. But we were happy with them and especially that I could get buy only ordering 12 since I only wanted a small backyard flock.

What I don't like about them:
1) their availability is ALWAYS wrong online. You really just have to call them to find out what is available when. They are extremely unapologetic for them when you speak to them on the phone, which I found frustrating
2) I don't really want to deal with all the extra roos if I have a small order.

Overall, I would use them again. But, I've decided to try hatching eggs from small breeders to get some prettier birds.

 

[Funky Feathers]

Over the years I have always had good experiences with them. Their customer service is the best out there. I give them 5 stars!

 

[Titania]

Oh, yes, I agree about their customer service being really really great. Always friendly and helpful on the phone. You talk to people who really know about the chickens and it's nice to talk to someone who actually knows how to help you.

 

[jenn-E]

I had a good experience with them. I placed my order over the phone (in response to an email message they sent me about availability). They were very helpful & friendly. I opted not to get extra roos. All of the chicks arrived healthy. One died unexpectedly at 1-2 weeks (no illness or apparent trauma, was just lying there dead one day when I came home), but the others have all thrived. They all appear to be pullets so far. I'm not planning to show them. They are a nice looking backyard flock.