Ideal Poultry v.s. Meyer Hatchery

[Areolyn]

I get more for my money from Cackle Hatchery. Shipping charges are cheaper. Ideal doesn't have shipping per se. But they charge you a fee for a small order. I think that it is anything under 100 chicks and last I knew it was $7.00.
I get better quality chicks from them(Cackle) than I have any where else. I've ordered from McMurray, Ideal, (seen chicks from Meyer) none ordered personally but family did.

You are correct about the 7.00 charge. They also use usps if I remember correctly, but I live 2 hours away from Ideal, so its sort of not a problem for me. I was just about to order from Cackle with my first 8, but decided Ideal because they're closer to me.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

what about privett hatchery in n.m.

All they have is Straight Run.

I get more for my money from Cackle Hatchery. Shipping charges are cheaper. Ideal doesn't have shipping per se. But they charge you a fee for a small order. I think that it is anything under 100 chicks and last I knew it was $7.00.
I get better quality chicks from them(Cackle) than I have any where else. I've ordered from McMurray, Ideal, (seen chicks from Meyer) none ordered personally but family did.

I've had a hard time understanding how much Ideal's shipping is.
I'm not sure if they have everything I'm looking for. But I'll look at them.

 

[Areolyn]

what about privett hatchery in n.m.

Its really just what ever you would think is best--Look at order/shipping policies and compare. Compare different breed selection and variety. You also might favor a hatchery's location over another. I would suggest something closer in the winter to minimize the amount of cold they have to do deal with; but that's just me.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

I don't plan on getting anything until spring. But I would like to figure out what I'm doing beforehand to avoid any confusion I might have.

 

[Areolyn]

I don't plan on getting anything until spring. But I would like to figure out what I'm doing beforehand to avoid any confusion I might have.

That is totally understandable! Whatever you do, I wish you great luck with your chicks!

 

[Michael OShay]

I get more for my money from Cackle Hatchery. Shipping charges are cheaper. Ideal doesn't have shipping per se. But they charge you a fee for a small order. I think that it is anything under 100 chicks and last I knew it was $7.00.
I get better quality chicks from them(Cackle) than I have any where else. I've ordered from McMurray, Ideal, (seen chicks from Meyer) none ordered personally but family did.

I've ordered from both Ideal and Cackle, as well as Murray McMurray and Dunlap on multiple occasions over the years, and I think that whose chicks are the better quality depends to some degree on which breeds you order. Some of my birds from Cackle have been very good quality, but others such as the Black Australorps I've ordered from them have been the poorest layers (not that BAs are ever bad layers) of the four hatcheries. The best BAs (at least for lay rate) have come from Dunlap. Ideal and Murray McMurray have been down the middle. Interestingly enough, I've never lost a chick in shipping from Dunlap. I can't say that about the other three hatcheries.

 

[Lkanawha]

I live in VA and ordered from Ideal out of TX. Have been very satisfied. Last time I ordered, an unexpected cold snap went through the mid-Atlantic states...chicks arrived in the middle of it. 5 died. I called Ideal and they credited me for my next order. Always been friendly, helpful and all birds have been excellent layers and most of all, very healthy. I've been a repeat customer for over 8 years.

 

[rooboo]

Just had a very bad experience with Meyer,box arrived with three dead chicks when I picked them up at the post office, ten minutes later two more dead when I got back home. Several more were lethargic and wouldn't eat or drink. Two days later I had ten chicks left out of twenty -eight.eighteen dead.I had called Meyer the first day to see if they were having any other problems with other orders, they said no,no, no, after further review, I believe they were lying through their teeth. I took a day off of work to take four of the carcasses to the university of Wisconsin diagnostic lab along with $ 95.00 to determine what had happened to them. I got the results back a few days later, to hear that they had yolk sac's infected with e-coli,enterococcus faecalis,and achromobacter species. This suggests that Meyer does NOT practice proper sanitation on their incubating and hatching equipment.

 

[Areolyn]

Just had a very bad experience with Meyer,box arrived with three dead chicks when I picked them up at the post office, ten minutes later two more dead when I got back home. Several more were lethargic and wouldn't eat or drink. Two days later I had ten chicks left out of twenty -eight.eighteen dead.I had called Meyer the first day to see if they were having any other problems with other orders, they said no,no, no, after further review, I believe they were lying through their teeth. I took a day off of work to take four of the carcasses to the university of Wisconsin diagnostic lab along with $ 95.00 to determine what had happened to them. I got the results back a few days later, to hear that they had yolk sac's infected with e-coli,enterococcus faecalis,and achromobacter species. This suggests that Meyer does NOT practice proper sanitation on their incubating and hatching equipment.

Oh wow, that's pretty scary to know what had killed them. And they wouldn't eve nhear you out when you said the chicks had started dying off like that? I would copy the report and mail it to them telling them they should refund or compensate for what happened, that sounds shady to me. I hope you can find better chicks else where.

 

[rooboo]

The thing that really aggravates me is that most of these chicks were expensive rare breeds that I ordered weeks ago that were limited availability, now they can't even give me a date to replace them.