Ideal Poultry Males for Warmth?

[Chick Lover 1]

So I ordered 4 Hens from Ideal poultry and I know they will send around 20 males for warmth but how do you know which ones are my hens and which ones are the extra males? Because I was planning on selling the male chicks for a dollar a piece so I don't have to raise so many but I don't want to sell a hen so how do you know which ones are which? Do they put a black dot on there head with sharpie or separate them or what?

 

[gritsar]

You can ask Ideal to mark them, but your four chicks are normally a different breed than the packing peanuts, so it should be easy to see that you have four of one breed and 21 of the other.

 

[Chick Lover 1]

I forgot to mention my four hens are different breeds 1 White Leghorn, 1 Red Production and 2 RIR. So it wouldn't be that easy to tell them apart so I guess I should call and ask them to mark the males.

 

[starforever61]

hmm can't help ya there. that's why i prefer mypetchicken.com when ordering chickedies

 

[feather and mountain man]

The box filler chicks they sent me were all the same colour and a different colour than all my chicks I ordered. I still wasn't sure so I called and asked for help identifing the chicks and they assisted me. You can ask them to mark them for you.

 

[ChickadeeMom]

call ideal and request they be marked, i just got mine and they were all marked.

 

[silkiechicken]

You ordered just 4 chicks from ideal? If I remember right they have a $20 minimum chick order and chicks are just a few bucks each. I ordered 16 chicks a few years ago and had no fillers. All made it and survived just fine.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

MPC uses hatcheries, they are brokers.

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

I got 11 extra that all looked different than the 5 types I ordered. I dont know what they are yet but Im having trouble GIVING them away.

 

[gritsar]

The way I do it - or did it - was to wait until it was warm enough in the spring. Then I ordered just what I wanted, requested that no males be added for warmth and also requested that extra straw be added to the box.
That way I got just what I wanted (no extras) and the chicks arrived strong and healthy, not stressed from being cold during shipment.