VonGelmini
In the Brooder
- Mar 21, 2019
- 2
- 14
- 24
Hi. Been browsing for awhile, and decided to finally join up. I'm Von and I live in the New Orleans area. All our flock are pets. We have 4 ducks (2 pekin (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Natasha Romanoff), 2 cuyahoga (Morticia and Drusilla)), 4 grown hens (2 ameraucanas (named Eggsy and Darkness, 1 new hampshire red (named Yuki), and 1 silver laced wyandotte (named Pandora)), 2 chicks who are only 2 weeks old (one's a black australorp (named Elvira), and one who's supposed to be an ameraucana (named Emu) but she's gotta be crossed with something else too bc she has fuzzy feet and legs and is much bigger than her same-aged friend.)
We used to have a black bantam silkie. She was only a few months old when she passed due to Marek's. Rose Garden Center where we bought her said they vaccinated her but it turns out they didn't. But for a $0.25 vaccine, we still would have our precious Rosey Posey, who was my son's special bird. But her death hit everyone in the family very hard.
So we set about trying to find a new source for bantam silkies, one for my son and one for my daughter. We ordered 15 from a place called Ideal Hatcheries in Texas. (We had an arrangement with a pet store to take the 13 we wouldn't be keeping.) They arrived today, but there was nothing but heartbreak in the box. Every one of the poor things had died somehow in transit.
We ordered our pekin ducklings from a different hatchery, but through the mail, and they arrived okay. So I don't know what could've happened to the silkie chicks. We're waiting to contact Ideal later this afternoon as there's no answer, they're out to lunch or something.
Has anyone else ever dealt with Ideal before? Or even gotten chicks through the mail? Is this common that they all pass in transit? Is there something we can have the hatchery do to give them a better chance of surviving?
I've never seen such a sad sight as those tiny darlings all in the box. I'm so worried that if they send us replacements it'll be the same again. I'd buy locally, but I don't know of any place to get bantam silkies near NOLA. Or maybe if the replacements don't work out it would be better to get eggs and incubate them ourselves?
Anyway... I've been snuggling with my chicken and watching the little ones
We used to have a black bantam silkie. She was only a few months old when she passed due to Marek's. Rose Garden Center where we bought her said they vaccinated her but it turns out they didn't. But for a $0.25 vaccine, we still would have our precious Rosey Posey, who was my son's special bird. But her death hit everyone in the family very hard.
So we set about trying to find a new source for bantam silkies, one for my son and one for my daughter. We ordered 15 from a place called Ideal Hatcheries in Texas. (We had an arrangement with a pet store to take the 13 we wouldn't be keeping.) They arrived today, but there was nothing but heartbreak in the box. Every one of the poor things had died somehow in transit.
We ordered our pekin ducklings from a different hatchery, but through the mail, and they arrived okay. So I don't know what could've happened to the silkie chicks. We're waiting to contact Ideal later this afternoon as there's no answer, they're out to lunch or something.
Has anyone else ever dealt with Ideal before? Or even gotten chicks through the mail? Is this common that they all pass in transit? Is there something we can have the hatchery do to give them a better chance of surviving?
I've never seen such a sad sight as those tiny darlings all in the box. I'm so worried that if they send us replacements it'll be the same again. I'd buy locally, but I don't know of any place to get bantam silkies near NOLA. Or maybe if the replacements don't work out it would be better to get eggs and incubate them ourselves?
Anyway... I've been snuggling with my chicken and watching the little ones
I would have nightmares for the rest of my days. 
