Bad Experience w/IDEAL Poultry Hatchery: Normal Occurrence?

[JudysMuscovy]

I have ordered chicks from ideal poultry many times and have always gotten healthy birds - I have never lost any - I have ordered bantams and regular size chicks from them but I live in Texas so it's not that long of a trip I usually received the day after shipping.my last batch were leghorns and they were very healthy.

 

[mistfall]

Our local feed store in Hawaii orders from Ideal, and seems to get healthy chicks that arrive safely.

I ordered Black Sumatras and was disappointed with them. Last year's order from Cackle were far better quality. My pullets show no sign of being a long-tailed breed, and have a rather coarse heads. Their sheen is decent, but not great.

I also got Thai Game pullets and was very pleased with them. I admit I don't know the breed standard for Thai Game birds (so they may be far off for all I know) but my pullets are tall, very iridescent black, with a streamlined game bird body type.

 

[besorto]

Ordered a batch of chicks 2 months ago from Ideal. I requested extra males for warmth (chicks, not ducks or anything else) and received a pheasant chick. Not sure how it got in the box, but it's doing just fine with the rest of my birds so I don't mind having it around.

 

[Cluckerzfamilyfarm]

I recently went with hoovers hatchery and my experience has been fairly well. All 15 arrived alive. One was struggling and ended up going. But the rest have been very good chicks. I have a post of my experience with them on here. Hoovers hatchery online ordering is who I would suggest for anyone.

 

[Chickncrzylady]

I have ordered from ideal for many years. Most times everything went well. The few times they didn't , they made it right. I received my most recent order from the June 20th hatch this year. They arrived in Pa the next morning. All 16 alive and well. I ordered 6 self blue Cochins, 3 white Cochins, 4 EE,
And 3 silver laced Polish. All of them are very healthy.

 

[ESofVA]

Hi Everyone -

We wanted to take the time to address some of the concerns stated in this thread. We are sorry to see that you have had a bad experience with our poultry. We pride ourselves on breeding and selling quality poultry. We also strive to create a most pleasant experience with our staff while you order.

We are an NPIP Certified and Monitored Hatchery. We go even further with very stringent Biosecurity and Animal Husbandry practices to ensure the health of our poultry. Poultry diseases, ones that are transferred hen to chick, are very virulent and can be deadly. Many of these also affect hatchability and fertility. We do not have a disease on our farm nor do the chicks that leave our facility. Our chickens are our business and livelihood, and would not compromise their health or comfortability intentionally. Once a disease is present, there has to be time for the body and immune system to be compromised which then visible symptoms can be seen. Most loss that can be seen within the first few days of receipt is due to stress from shipment and not from disease. It is very hot outside and we do all we can at our facility to ensure the comfort and livability of the poultry that leaves here. However, once they have left our facility, we do not have control over how each shipment is handled until it reaches the customer. Contrary to belief, we do not receive any recourse from the postal service when a shipment arrives dead or stressed. We offer to reship or refund at our cost. Our customers order and expect live poultry and we want our customers to receive live poultry. We would not be in business for 74 years by providing inferior poultry.

To Gresh - I am sorry that you feel the answer provided was not what you were looking for. If we did not provide you compensation for your loss in credit back to means of purchase, please let me know. We cannot always determine why chicks die as it is very hard to diagnose over the phone. We are always willing to help and provide solutions when we can.

When I am in the office, I am always willing to help with any poultry health or husbandry questions. I have Poultry Science Degree from Texas A&M University and years of poultry experience. We hope this information helps and also answers the concerns.

Ross Windham



Ideal Poultry Breeding Farms

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 that is why you don't have to pay near as much.
Also, if you have had eggs shipped to your home from someone or if you have read about others on here discussing torn and separated membranes and cracked eggs, a lot of the chicks you order are handled by the same postal workers that toss your eggs around. After losing several hundred dollars over the past few years the only reason I will chance an order of eggs is if I cannot find any chicks of that breed anywhere. ($250 in Niederrhiener eggs and I still have no chicks! I have taken eggs to a hatcher, I have incubated them in my incubator, and I have used my best broody Silkies..I have given up!) Thank you, Ideal, for my red Silkies this year! I always order more than I need, keep the best, and sell the rest...no problem. No reds will sell from here until I improve their "poofs" and beards. I have a handful of really nice birds that I will breed them to next spring, and this is NOT saying anything bad about the reds...well, except there were only 2 pullets out of the 15! LOL!!! It is a start!

 

[ESofVA]

I need to change my avatar!! This is one of my very first Silkies and I should get a pic of where I am now!

 

[Spiveyscorner67]

8/18 received 23 of 25 standard Cochins and 6 Mollies 1 died 2 days later,had crossed beak.No extras
8/15/18 ordered 25 assorted feather Bantam received 1 dead. Also 25 assorted D'UCCLES and 8 were dead. No extras. They had subtracted the 2 short chick from previous order. I thought they had refunded back to credit card. Called re ordered the 9 dead chicks no charge. Shipped out on Tues received on Sat all 9 dead no extras ,chicks went to Anchorage, Alaska. 9 Bantam chicks!!! So now I'm on my third order. I live in Tx. 5 hours away. They said will re sent on Tuesday We will see how many arrive alive....... Will post when they arrive.

 

[Spiveyscorner67]

Update:re-sent the chick Tuesday,Wednesday nite arrived in Shreveport,Louisiana. 1hour away from us. Now early Thurs. Morning notified chicks are on the way to destination to Miami, Fla. Poor little baby chicks. 9 more dead chicks back to Texas. Great job USPS. Not Ideal' s fault, they are sending birds,just not getting to me. Alaska,and now Florida!!!!!!!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

That is insane and completely unacceptable!