Ideal Poultry got the order wrong?!?! Also ? about mothering

[chickenhorsefarm]

We recently got an order of chicks from Ideal Poultry- I had heard all kinds of good things about them and we had decided to do mail order to get a couple cochins and Polish chicks which are not easy to come by around here...

Anyway, the chicks arrived April 25, and I had to make several phone calls to Ideal to try to identify some chicks (I was splitting the order and had requested that they mark certain ones that would be hard to tell apart... they didn't mark ANY!) and it seemed that there were no polish chicks- even the day-old chick pictures I had seen showed a little "poof" on their heads, and none of mine had poofs! I've given them about 5 1/2 weeks now, and ABSOLUTELY no polish chicks here... anyone have suggestions on what to do? I was supposed to get 2 of them, and it seems that they sent me extra red sex linked chicks instead... I'm so sad! I wanted the polish ones sooooo bad!

My other question is this- at about what age does the hen stop being motherly? It has been a few years since we raised chicks and can't remember how long it took. It seemed like one day the hen just started treating the chicks like any other chickens. By the way, these chicks we got through mail order were "grafted" onto a broody hen who had been sitting on false eggs for almost 4 weeks!

Any idea of about how old a chick is before it gets too big for a rat to be of any threat? We've lost chicks to rats before too, and are trying to keep the babies in a wire cage in the coop at night with mama but they're outgrowing it sooo fast, and they want to be up higher!

Sorry for the long post, thanks for any help/ideas!!

Greg and Robyn

 

[BirdBrain]

You know that the sqeeky wheel is the one that gets oiled-----keep calling them.

 

[justusnak]

I had similar happen to me with MM. I ordered 17 Buff orps through them 2 boys 15 girls. These were to be "PURE" Well....out of the 15 ladies...one has very bright yellow legs, 3 or 4 have greenish leggs. I called MM, and they said they would replace or credit me for them. I have a pen for "mutts" so I will put them in there, and just order a few pilosh PULTS! I have a roo already, who needs a few girls for winter warmth. I say.....call them..never hurts to ask!

 

[2mnypets]

I just got my babies from Ideal on Friday the 1st of June and some of the order was not what we had originally ordered. I ordered assorted cochins and they sent me Ameraucana and then I ordered the WCBP and they sent me the crested special. Not to mention they never sent the Grogel I ordered so they credited my cc for that. I know my hubby was disappointed since he really wanted the cochins, and I was a little upset to think that I might not get a lovely black chicken with a white cottenball on its head. I do love all the babies I did get though. It's just kinda disheartening when you are banking on one or two things and you get something totally different. Kinda like thinking you're getting ready to drink your Mt. Dew only to find out that you have Iced Tea in it. Not that's its bad, just not what you thought. Best of luck to you.

 

[Chicken Keith]

Quote:
I feel your pain, and sorry about that mix up. I see you live in SW Virginia. I live in the NE part of the state, but I know some Poultry breeders in this state who might be able to help you. If you still want Polish chicks, I can try to hook you up. Pls e-mail me.

Also, here's a little secret I learned the hard way. Getting chicks at a hatchery is like getting a burger from McDonalds. It might be a good burger, but the backyard grilled kind your neighbor made with fresh tomatoes and onions puts McDonalds to shame. A local small breeder puts more TLC into his purebred flock than any hatchery can offer.

 

[aran]

It would seem that we also got one chick out of our order which is incorrect. I ordered 3 of the standard white cochins and whilst all 3 have the feathered legs and are fuzzy beyond belief, two of them are grey/white and one is a yellow colour with splashes of orange throughout it. I dunno enough about them to know if the boys and girls are diff colours or if they messed up the order with one of the chicks...i dont care though these birds are all just pets for me and my boy!

 

[Chicken Keith]

Aran, I'm a little limited on my genetics so take this for what it's worth. The grey white sounds like it may be a splash cochin, which personally I think are WAAAYYYY cool looking birds. They a have fewer spots than a mottled bird.

What I'm saying is some white colors are dominant, and will overpower the splash phenotype (the physical color appearance). I'm guessing the hatchery had parent breeding stock with white (their genes weren't truly white, even though they mighthave snow white feathers in appearance) birds with splash or blue genes (recessive) and these colors surfaced in your little peeps.

Lucky you, my friend. Your peeps uniqueness will make them even more a source of yours and your son's pride.