I AM SO MAD!!!!!!

[havi]

Sorry for your loss.

You know the oddest thing..I have ordered from Ideal 4 different times. The first three I recieved the chicks 2 days after they ship them. Keep in mind I only live about an hour 15 mins from them. Say if it was shipped on a Wed. then I get them Fri, if they shipped Tue. I would get them Thur. so on...well this last time I ordered from them I got my order in one day!? I called them early Monday and added 4 extra chicks to my order and the sales rep told me they were being shipped that day(Mon.) She even told me to call my PO and let them know I would be getting chicks Wed. Well Tue. morning Im heading to work and the PO calls me and tells me I have chicks. Now how in the world that happened I have no idea. Like I said Ive always gotten them 2 days later, and those were normal business days, no holidays. Then this time I get them in one day on a holiday?

 

[gjfarm]

I agree with other posters that probably the Post Office is to blame. Earlier this year I sent a very important envelope priority mail and it took 8 days to arrive! I just ordered from Ideal Poultry for the first time and am really pleased with their service in e-mailing them with questions several times.. I was hestitant to order so early in the season, but wanted to get a headstart since my local feed stores don't carry chicks until April. My order was shipped Monday 2-16 and arrived Wednesday AM at my post office and I was called immediately. I did have 2 DOA's and several with picked neck feathers, but as of today they are all doing super. When I contacted Ideal, they said they would credit or reship and suggested I wait until Friday to make sure they were still doing okay. I have been really impressed in dealing with Ideal and intend to place my guinea order with them.

 

[Snakeoil]

Very poor planing on there part.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Teri has been here for quite some time and Ideal Hatchery does a good job doing everything they can to satisfy a customer. They value it and when they do good, one person can tell ten others about this hatchery, and those ten people tell another twenty people, and so on. Even the stock is not show quality, never has but excellent for those who wanted certain breeds for their backyard flocks. I've dealt with Ideal and only one time I was disappointed but I tried something else from them and pleased with the egg productions the pullets put out. Excellent Cornish crosses too!

 

[Biddieacres]

That is just awful, I feel so sorry for you and those baby chicks. There is no excuse for that, how horrifying.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

Thats horrible! I hope you gave them a piece of ur mind!! Im sure a lot of people did this week tho. That is absolutely stupid on their part! If you want to run a successful business you MUST plan ahead for these things. I have only heard about this happening this week with Ideal. If you order from them again I would be EXTREMELY careful.
I ordered from Texas Poultry who works through Privett and their customer service is AMAZING!!! They also said theyd be here 1 day 2 at the MOST from their hatch/ship date. They got here in a day and a half. So whats that? Like 36 hours. Its ironic to me that hatcheries can be this stupid when more and more people are buying from breeders instead of hatcheries. Youd think theyd want to keep the customers they had left! And they should have known that word was gonna spread about this and sales would drop! So sorry you had to go through this!

This is not only a very emotional thing for someone to go through, but if they are dealing with LIVE animals (emphasis on the LIVE) they need to think things through carefull so they can minimize how many fatalities they have. Just because theyre chickens does mean they dont deserve to at least get a pleasent start in the world. Gosh what a horrible short little life.

Im terribly sorry

 

[RendonRoo]

I ordered from Ideal and they left the hatchery at 3p.m. last wednesday. My p.o. called me at 8 the next morning. Yes that's 18 hrs. I'm close to them but i've read the same from ppl. that live accross the country. This tells me it's about the p.o. to an extent. Just depends on the bulk of the mail as to how quick they arrive. Just my observations and that don't make it right. lol Good Luck to all ordering chicks. No one wants to loose chicks.

 

[Bec]

I am so sorry

That is so sad, I can only imagine how upset you are!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

My girlfriend works for the PO. She told me they are dealing with cut backs like everywhere else and to expect it to get worse. She told me that this month they are cutting over time of existing staff but not hiring more people. She is already exhausted at the end of the day. I guess we just all have to be careful and not expect the system to always work without snags; tragic in this case.

 

[seymojo536]

Ok, with all the doom and gloom on having chicks shipped this time of year, it was with no small sense of dread I answered my phone when the PO called this morning to let me know our chicks from Ideal were here and to come pick them up.

16 Golden Phoenix 4-M 12-F
10 SLW Pullets

Upon opening the box I could see 4 of the Phoenix stretched out, eyes closed and a couple of others were hunkered down under the SLWs in the corners. Cr*p!

It was in the low teens this morning here in Ohio and they had been shipped on Wednesday.

We knew they were small chicks and I was sure they were already goners. Having to get to work, I gave the "good" ones a drink, showed them where the food was and went to pick up the little guys in the box to dispose of them. The first one kind of shrugged when I went to touch him, so I thought what the heck and gave all the "dead" a drink of sugar water and then put them in the shipping box and put the box under the heat lamp with the others, thinking at least they'll go warm and won't get trampled. I figured maybe I could save one of them and it would make disposal of the others easier when I got home later.

I sent an e-mail to Ideal just to let them know there was an issue with my shipment and received a reply within an hour saying to let them know when I had a count of the casualties.

Well, I drag myself home this afternoon, stoping outside the door to grab an empty feed sack, just to spare my daughter having to see the limp bodies. After all, the only reason we ordered so early was so she would have a better chance showing these birds at the fair in the fall. Learned that last year as she had nice birds but was told by the judge "if only they were 4 or 5 weeks older they could place a lot higher".

Peeked over the edge of the brooder and was very surprised to see the shipping box was empty. Not only did the weak ones revive but they had escaped into the brooder with the others! I did a careful head count and sure enough, there were 26 chirping, pecking and dancing chicks in there!

I guess my story is, each shipment is different and when we order chicks this early in the year it is knowing full well we are rolling the dice. In my case it all turned out well, but had those 4 or 6 died I would have blamed no one but myself. Even though Ideal does offer a live on delivery guarantee and would replace or refund them, it was my choice to get them this early. Had it been last week, when it was in the 60s, I wouldn"t have any story to tell. Except for the excellent birds and service I have received from Ideal for the past 5 years.