Bad Experience w/IDEAL Poultry Hatchery: Normal Occurrence?

[foreverlearning]

Be prepared for chicken math. They gave me extras, not that I'm complaining! Congrats on your order.

 

[americanequine]

We ordered 25 baby chicks from Ideal Hatchery of heritage breeds and picked them up a day late at the hatchery. Only two died in the 1st 24 hours and I have Black Australorps, Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons and the Dutch Welsummer roosters still going strong laying eggs and siring healthy chicks three years plus later. They are sturdy, healthy and I fully intend to buy from them again. I live in central Texas. They have very rare and endangered breeds available . Maybe your bad experience was not normal.

I have been raising chickens for eggs and sometimes meat for over twenty years.

Thanks, Katherine Behr

 

[maran man]

Has anyone ordered polish from them and if so how did they do

 

[MsLea]

I have had a very bad experience with Ideal Poultry. I ordered Guinea hens and was advised because of the small amount ordered- they would be filling the rest of the box with roosters. I emailed them and called them right away and advised that I do not want roosters- I have an awesome rooster and do not want any more. I was advised to pay the extra insurance then, so I did. I had spoken with them two more times and advised I did not want roosters included. I received my shipment with eight roosters!! I called them numerous times to advise them of the issue- obviously I can't send them back, but I was pretty upset about it! They were not professional and could have cared less! I will stick with the company I have been ordering from for years. The only reason I had not ordered from them is they did not have the small quantity of Guineas. The Guineas I received didn't look particularly healthy- but I did not lose any. Buyer Beware-

 

[realsis]

Oh my gosh! 8 roosters! That's ridiculous. ... and you even paid extra ? I don't blame you for being upset! That's just wrong especially since you made it perfectly clear that you didn't want extra roosters.!! Can you get in contact with a manager ? They should refund that extra money you paid!!!!

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

Have been ordering chicks from Ideal for the past 6 yrs, I usually organize a large order with 3-4 local folks to split health paper costs.
From bantams to Polish 300+ chicks usually and I can only say good thing. The chicks are within 24 hrs of being sent off at the post office on the US side of the border, I get my phone call and within 4 hrs they are home.
No DOA or losses from the 382 chicks we received this year(2 DOA bantams in the 418 last year), 1 miss sexed one(ordered 5 barnevelder pullets, but got 4 pullets and 1 cockerel), out of almost 400 chicks I think that's awesome. Customer service is always nice and helpful and since we do group orders they try and accommodate us so that each person has their own breeds all together, each box quarter is labeled with the persons name and what breeds/genders are in said quarter and even the bills are categorized by person.

From Texas to BC, Canada, Ideal has done the best in that matter.

McMurray is another favorite for Canadians to order from, but every time I do they send them off on a Friday of a holiday weekend so they take 4-5 days to get here...... 3 times in a row they did that to us. Not fun when you open a silent box at the PO full of dead/dying chicks...... whatever survived shipping was dead latest 7 days later, can't ever get anyone on the phone there either and they are NEVER at fault(I don't make the shipping dates, I say I want them between april and july and YOU guys pick the one holiday weekend in that time frame to ship, and you're not at fault??? really? dont know your own holidays?

).

So Ideal has a 100% thumbs up from me!!!

 

[hamnermitch]

I ordered from Ideal about a week ago. I ordered 10 Black Australorp pullets. I received the ten pullets and another thirteen males of an unknown breed but it's ok. I was aware that they might do that and had made arrangements to pass the unwanted chicks on to someone who wanted them. My chicks arrived in great condition and after a week the have all survived and are in great shape. So far no troubles and I would definitely order from them again. I have to admit though that the only reason I chose Ideal is because I could find a hatchery with any Australorps available until well into the new year.

 

[WildernessLofts]

I've had good and bad experiences health-wise. For me, it seemed to depend on the breed. I have ordered d'uccles, spitzhaubens, cochins, faverolles, "shamos", modern bantams, oegb, dutch, and several others.

The only ones I had problems with were the dutch. When all was said and done, I had ordered 120 chicks over a few different shipments (the last two shipments were replacements) and ended up with only 7 chicks still alive by the end of two months.

 

[frogz]

I got more "males for warmth" than what I actually ordered, two of these "males for warmth" chicks came deformed, and two died the first day. I emailed the company to find out what these remaining mystery chicks were and was informed they are "most likely white leghorns". They are not white or leghorns...the chicks ordered aren't anything special either, but at least they were sexed correctly. Sadly, I don't think I'll order from Ideal hatchery again.

 

[jeanne]

Day old chicks are often wobbly. Best not to have them on pine shaving in the beginning as they tend to peck at it and eat it. I used paper from my shredder and it works well until they are about 4 weeks old. Also, I've often heard that they should have water only for the first two days, then you can start them on electrolytes (chick starter) and vitamins. Don't know if these things were factors but it's possible. I've always had good experiences with them.