Bad Experience w/IDEAL Poultry Hatchery: Normal Occurrence?

[gritsar]

Oh and try some plain, low fat yogurt. They make a mess with it and you'll wonder how much went in their mouth and how much ended up on their face, but they normally love it. It's a good source of protein and calcium for strong bones.

 

[RareDuck]

Ideal has Crested special large size straight run .90 cents each today July 9th only and assorted bantams are also.90 cents each

 

[PiTownPeep]

Oh and try some plain, low fat yogurt. They make a mess with it and you'll wonder how much went in their mouth and how much ended up on their face, but they normally love it. It's a good source of protein and calcium for strong bones.

Thanks again! I am really grateful for the advice. I am keeping an eye on her and making sure she's able to eat and drink. She seems to be okay with the nipple waterers. I think it's easy to get the water to flow down into her mouth instead of scooping it up from a traditional waterer.

 

[Ckfosterz28]

I ordered 5 white crested black polish and 5 silver laced polish and with in a couple weeks all of them have died slowly but surely out of all the chicks i have ordered Ideal's are the only one's that have died..... my last 2 passed today and every time one dies I ball my eyes out because im such a huge animal lover and hate to see things die I guess i should have read the reviews 1st

 

[jtn42248]

I have ordered from Ideal Poultry a number of time. So far only for ducks. While I have had deaths in my ducks they are all attributable to other things not related to Ideal or the shipping process. One was due to a spider bite, one due the the extreme heat we had this summer for a couple of days. I currently have an open order with Ideal for some day old Bantam chicks. There are certain realities that come into play when chicks are shipped. One of them is death due to shipping related stress. Another is that certain chicks would have died in any event, the old survival of the fittest thing. I am hoping that all my Bantams survive but if they do not I will certainly not try to place all the blame/responsibility on Ideal Poultry. Bantam chicks are especially delicate and probably I should actually drive to Ideal and pick them up myself...it is only about 300 miles after all.

While I am terribly sorry for the loss of your chicks I also know that a lot comes into play in the death of any bird beyond the hatchery from which they were ordered.

I have also ordered a number of chicks from another large hatchery that has an outstanding reputation in the positive. Out of 28 chicks 14 died within the first 24 hours. These chicks were ordered and shipped during the dead of winter in my part of the country so I feel the primary responsibility lies on my for ordering them at that time of year...shared with the hatchery who shipped them in freezing weather knowing it would take 3+ days to arrive at my location. Does that make either of us bad or in some way not fit...no, it just means that we did the wrong thing for that time.

I sincerely hope that you poultry experience improves regardless of where you next get your birds. There are few things in life as rewarding as tending a healthy flock.

 

[PiTownPeep]

Does your state offer free necropsy? That's the only way to know for sure the cause of death. In California you ship the body with ice packs to a lab and in a few days you know if what they died of is something that can affect the rest of your flock.

 

[Ckfosterz28]

Im in sure if they Do Im calling texas a&m to see if they will I know It was nothing I did all my other chick that came in that week survived no issues only the Ideal ones died

 

[Varglet]

All of my chicks that I got from Ideal are happy and healthy, now approximately 14+ weeks old. Even the turkey they sent as a packing peanut is doing well.

 

[ESofVA]

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..

 

[sumatragirl]

I already have many different breeds at home, but wanted to try something new so i looked online and found ideal poultry. I ended up ordering about 36 chicks 12 were supposed to be sent in may and for the rest i was put on a waiting list. I waited till 2 days past the supposed send date and realized my card hadnt been charged yet. So i called them and asked if i could get the full order together. I was told no because im on a waiting list, which i understood. Days later i recieved an email saying id be getting the whole shipment of 36 chicks together. I was surpised so i called to confirm. I was told that there must have been a mistake. "That email was never sent" i was still on the waiting list and only a portion of the full cost had been charged to my card. So i figured they just messed up. What ever, but 3 days later 36 chicks arrived. 1 chick was just about gone. I tried to revive him with shugar water, electrolytes, food and vitamins but he didnt last bet a few hours. The rest all seemed peppy for the first few hours but got worse and worse as the day went by! To my horror within the next 24hrs all but 4 of the 36 chicks dropped dead due to cocci. I knew it was cocci because iv dealt with it before. They were pooping blood on arrival so i immediately started them on vet rx but it was to late. I didnt report it because as bad as it sounds, i figured 1 out of 36? I wasnt expexting to loose all but 4 though! To be honest i didnt even report it then i just cut my losses and decided id never do business with rhem again. The ones that did survived are cute and have grown on me even though one looks nothing like any of the breeds i ordered. Not to mention the chocks are about a year old now but only the size pf and average grey pigeon when all my other breeds are huge? I only ordered breeds that i had seen before in person with other breeders due to tje fact that there are no pictures of any of the breeds on the site just 1 dementional drawings. Now i think back and say what did i expect but its a lesson learned. The real sad part is i had put them net to one of my favorite kelsons who just hached 20 chicks and i lost all but 2 of them. I had other hens hach chicks all at the same time but only the ones next to the ideal poltry chicks passed? That really ****** me off but at least my hen was ok. Let me also add that i have 2 kids so thos was a very sad expirience for them to. The saying; you get what you pay for is so true in this case! If you dont care about size, color, breed, shine, or overall health of the birds you get than this is the place for you. There prices are low but so is the quality of the breeds. So hope i help someone out.