Best large hatchery for true to type?

[EmsoffLambs]

I've ordered from Ideal and Privett.

I went in with a friend on Light brahmas, dark cornish, buff orpingtons, and Rhode Island reds from Ideal this last spring. Two RIRs were dead when they arrived and another died after about a week. Several also got pasty butts (although this may have been management after they arrived) I'm not at all an expert on breed standards, but one of the light brahmas looks like a dark brahma with a white belly. They all have decent feathering on their feet though and they are all laying wonderfully.

My last order was this summer from Privett. I chose them because they would ship guineas and turkeys with the chicks. I purchased their slow cornish, delewares, hatchery choice guineas, and hatchery choice turkeys. They sent me an extra deleware pullet, not a cockrel like I would have expected, plus an extra guinea and a couple extra slow cornish. They hatchery choice selections were great, with a good variety of colors. All were healthy and strong when they arrived and I didn't loose a single bird! I had zero health problems with the slow cornish, they grew great, and tasted better. I'll definately be ordering from Privett again. I also like that their online catalog has pics of their actual stock instead of paintings of ideal birds like McMurray. I feel like I know more what to expect.

 

[BrahmaMama]

First off, I have to say that I am a newbie when it comes to chickens; got my first chicks last spring as a matter of fact. So I know nothing of breed type, except the little bit that I have read, and some pictures I have seen. With that being said, I do have to put my $.02 in, and say Welp Hatchery does a wonderful job as far as communication, shipping, healthy, happy chicks, etc. I ordered 40 chicks from them last summer, and received just that (kind of a bummer to not get an extra or two, but hey, 40 is enough) everyone was alive and peeping when I picked them up from the post office.

Looking at them now, the majority of my breeds look "right" to me. There are maybe two of my White Rocks (10 ordered) that look a little smaller then the other girls. My Ameraucaunas are what I'm assuming are EE...from what I'm reading. They have the muffs, and lay either olive or sea foam green/blue eggs. That's okay though, I'm not showing (haven't figured out how to get into that yet, at my age...?) and my boys just Love the colored eggs. They still enjoy going out to collect eggs-not really a chore to them I guess.

My Light Brahmas are beautiful to me, with lots of feet and leg feathering. They have the pretty black "collar"-what I call it, lol! On a couple, I can see some black showing on a tip of a wing feather here or there, so I'm not sure if that is "right" or not

Lastly, my Golden Spangled Hamburgs are all about the same looking, except one roo that I decided to keep, just because he was different. He's got a lot lighter red feathering, almost in between the red the other guys were, and a buff; really pretty. So he's probably all wrong, but for now, I'm getting enjoyment out of watching him.

My order for February has a 4 Dark Brahma (haven't had them yet

) 2 Buff Brahma, 4 "Ameraucaunas", 5 Blue Cochin, 5 Buff Cochin, 6 Salmon Favorelle, and 1 Sumatra. Oh yeah, and 4 Blue Wyandottes-I'm guessing these aren't the red laced blue though. (no pics)

I had to do a seperate order for my crested Polish though-they hatch at a different date then the other breeds, so I would have had to cancel it, or order 25 of them! I went ahead with it, lol! I figure I can sell some extras. I ordered a mix of Buff Laced Polish (my favorite, just by pics) Silver Laced Polish, White Crested Blue, and Golden Laced Polish. I really hope these guys look somewhat like what they are supposed to; I've been looking forward to ordering them, since my last order!

Dawn