I am considering ordering from Ideal but I am worried about shipping and the lack of an email address at which to contact them if my phone signal is being stupid. Before they changed their shopping cart it would give no shipping charge at all, now it says it's $2 which I highly doubt. I flat refuse to just give my card number and let them charge me whatever they want. I'm not saying they'd cheat me, I just want an exact cost from the beginning. I emailed them about it and my email was returned to me and I called twice and was put on hold. Never got an answer. So they may know the chicken business, but customer service and contact doesn't seem to be a priority. And really that's not that big a deal, I just don't have time or patience to chase someone down for information. If someone else does or doesn't mind handing over their cc# without a total, they have some great deals.
Because of all that I ordered my Silver Sebrights and my Quail D'Anvers from Cackle. I ordered 25 of each and got 31 D'anvers and 28 Sebrights. They are the healthiest chicks you've ever seen. I did lose 3 D'anvers but not one single Sebright. The shipping was reasonable, they were shipped exactly when I was told they would and I got my total cost right at the time of my order. No emails needed, no phone calls to ask anything. I highly recommend them! If you do order from Ideal please let us know how satisfied you are.
animal lover 13, just look at all the hatcheries and the breeds you want. You can even make a spreadsheet comparing the breeds, hatcheries, prices and shipping. What kind of chicken business are you wanting to get into? Selling eggs? Breeding chicks? Meat birds?
duckwingmomma, I'm pretty sure that I was able to get the full shipping cost without entering my CC info (but I could be thinking of Meyer, I've put together orders at both hatcheries for total estimates but bought elsewhere). I will say that their new website is perhaps better looking, but loads worse to navigate--I hope they will work on it some more.
Also, I'm happy with my Cackle birds--especially the Easter Eggers.
With you living in Indiana, I strongly recommend Mt. Healthy Hatchery. I ordered the cockerel special that for every 50 you purchase you can request 25 free. The eggs hatched on a Tuesday, and I had them on Wednesday. (I live in central Ohio.) They sent 153 for the price of 100, and all are doing very well at almost 7 weeks old. Total cost with shipping was $86, I just couldn't pass up a deal for 56 cents a piece.
Another one I had good service and good luck with is Cackle Hatchery from Lebanon, Mo. I ordered their heritage turkey hatchery choice of 15 Turkeys, and received 19. They were on sale for $90 including shipping. The Lady called me the next day to make sure someone would be here before they would ship the turkeys. I had them 2 days after I placed the order, all doing great at 6 weeks.
Yes, they're website looks great but it is so aggravating to move around in now that I'm not certain how much I care about the prices anymore. I literally work at least 12 hours a day and that's not including feeding, watering, gardening and spoiling the flock.........I just do not have time to mess with sites that don't work properly or are hard to navigate. I really hope they do A LOT more work on it but in the meantime, i think I'm going to stick with Cackle. I couldn't have asked for a better experience with my first ever mail order chicks.