i may cancel my order from (less than?) Ideal hatchery...

[jmc]

i have seen several posts about the high death rate of chicks just a few days after arrival.............
about many chicks being DOA..............
or chicks being very 'weak OA'..................

i know it's hit or miss, some hit some miss.............but these bad reports make me think about changing...........probably to another hatchery that gets a bunch of bad reviews

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Having birds or eggs shipped at all is always a risk, really. If you want little or no death rates, I recommend buying chicks, started birds, or adults from somewhere somewhat local. There are small disease risks from that, but I think overall the risk is much lower than having the birds shipped. As long as you use good judgment and quarantine if the chickens are older than chicks, chances are they'll be just fine. It breaks my heart hearing of boxes of chicks that get lost in the mail system...

 

[bunchmtnfarm]

HI I received a order from ideal friday morning 100 pullet chicks they were all alive and they sent 104 chicks ive only lost 1 soo far

so i like ordering from Ideal they are very nice people


just my two cents about ideal

have a bless day

 

[ARose4Heaven]

There have been a rash of delivery problems the last two weeks. 99.9% of them NOT the hatchery's fault. Chicks are shipped via the US postal service. The extreme cold of late has caused delivery delays and unhealthy conditions for baby chicks. As far as I know, all the reputable hatcheries (including Ideal) have been replacing lost chicks without question. When ordering chicks this time of year, if ordering less than 25 chicks, it would be advisable to pay a little extra and have the hatchery include a heat pack with your babies. It also helps immensely to notify your post office or airport that you are expecting chicks.

I received my order of 100 chicks without problem. Others had terrible luck with shipments from the same hatchery at the same time. It just depends on how they are handled in the post.

 

[halo]

Please realize you are only going to read about the unhappy customers, not the happy ones. They are mostly post office issues, not hatchery issues. Ideal ships tens of thousands of chicks, and have for years. Companies like this dont stay in business this long without a history of good service.

 

[Heckel's Hens]

I got 24 EXTREMELy healthy chicks from them in the dead of December. All arrived alive, cheeping and absolutely no health problems or loss.

There is always a chance of a different outcome, but I know my local feedstore also uses Ideal for ALL of their spring chicks.

Good luck!

 

[zazouse]

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I agree,

i have ordered from Idea many times and have only lost 1 chick in all of the upon arriving and 1 that failed to thrive, they are a great company to deal with IMO.

Same thing with Mcmurry, never had a problem there either.

 

[jmc]

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[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

I've heard a lot more good things about Ideal than bad, so...

 

[jmc]

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