Ideal Poultry v.s. Meyer Hatchery

[redrooster99]

Oh yes! The rooster does not attack anyone at all! He is a little flighty, and doesn't want me to touch him, but he never fights and likes to be a good little look out for everyone else. The other two let me touch them and pick them up but for short amounts of time because they like to eat lol. They also eat out of my hand a lot. None of them pick at me or flog me, and they actually come running up to me when I approach the run.

I will probably get some then.

 

[Talik1467]

So I ordered a straight run of 15 BR's for a mid-December delivery. Ideal contacted me to advise of the pending delivery. I live in Alaska and the delivery took place during the winter, so they included 6 male RIR's with the order to help keep everybody nice and warm. They also sent an extra BR. One RIR died during transport and I lost one BR two days later. Not bad at all really. So I ended up with 7 hens for the barred rocks which was statically spot on. It also turns out that one of my RIR's is a hen! No complaint there!!! The chickens are now nearly 10 weeks old and are incredibly healthy, fit, happy, and attractive. Very impressed with Ideal Poultry and the quality of their product. The birds spend a portion of their day free ranging in my yard and I look forward to eggs in May! Highly recommend this company.

 

[Devastating]

All of my chicks (that have not been bought directly from feed stores etc.) have been from Ideal. Most recently, my dad ordered a large assortment of bantams plus a few longtail chicks, ducklings and keets; they arrived on the 13th and unfortunately 5 were DOA with several others dying by the next day, but Ideal is very good about crediting or refunding you for any losses. And I love their large variety.

 

[Kikiriki]

I bought 2 chicks as an impulse buy at a local feed store. They were labeled "Ameraucana", which I wanted, and was SO excited to find! Guess what...they are NOT ameraucana. Further, they are horrible birds. One has a crooked off center face and has some splotchy leg feathering (bad genetics) and a sour personality. The other is just a horribly bad natured bully who is now influencing my nice natured birds. I just called the feed store to ask which hatchery they came from and it was Ideal. If this is an example of their genetics and their ethics (in knowingly mislabeling Easter Eggers) I would give up chickens before using them again. Now I have to deal with culling, or trying to rehome these two misbegotten creatures.

I would not recommend Ideal to anyone based on this experience. But I do hope they read this. Hatcheries put out so many birds that they just cannot not track lineage or cull for bad genetics. And they are just not set up to even consider breeding specifically for personality. But personality is a big factor for those of us with tiny little flocks who interact with our birds. My suggestion for ANY hatchery is to divide off special breeding groups for "pet" chickens. Of course that would affect profits, but they could charge slightly more for birds that are bred to have better dispositions.

I know there is no way to track the lineage of birds and cull the bad genetic line, but this really is an issue they need to figure out.

Other hatcheries are giving up the misuse of the name "Ameraucana", in favor of Easter Egger, or olive egger. Ideal should do so also. In the history of the Ameraucana, the hatcheries were using that name before the breed standard was set. However, in the fight over the breed standard, the hatcheries lost and their birds do not meet the breed standard that was created. It is misleading to keep using the name, now.

So does any of this apply to Ideal's other breeds? I have no idea, but I would not risk taking that chance with the small quantity of birds I can have.

 

[redrooster99]

I bought 2 chicks as an impulse buy at a local feed store. They were labeled "Ameraucana", which I wanted, and was SO excited to find! Guess what...they are NOT ameraucana. Further, they are horrible birds. One has a crooked off center face and has some splotchy leg feathering (bad genetics) and a sour personality. The other is just a horribly bad natured bully who is now influencing my nice natured birds. I just called the feed store to ask which hatchery they came from and it was Ideal. If this is an example of their genetics and their ethics (in knowingly mislabeling Easter Eggers) I would give up chickens before using them again. Now I have to deal with culling, or trying to rehome these two misbegotten creatures.

I would not recommend Ideal to anyone based on this experience. But I do hope they read this. Hatcheries put out so many birds that they just cannot not track lineage or cull for bad genetics. And they are just not set up to even consider breeding specifically for personality. But personality is a big factor for those of us with tiny little flocks who interact with our birds. My suggestion for ANY hatchery is to divide off special breeding groups for "pet" chickens. Of course that would affect profits, but they could charge slightly more for birds that are bred to have better dispositions.

I know there is no way to track the lineage of birds and cull the bad genetic line, but this really is an issue they need to figure out.

Other hatcheries are giving up the misuse of the name "Ameraucana", in favor of Easter Egger, or olive egger. Ideal should do so also. In the history of the Ameraucana, the hatcheries were using that name before the breed standard was set. However, in the fight over the breed standard, the hatcheries lost and their birds do not meet the breed standard that was created. It is misleading to keep using the name, now.

So does any of this apply to Ideal's other breeds? I have no idea, but I would not risk taking that chance with the small quantity of birds I can have.

My EE's from ideal are awesome.

 

[draye]

I don't recommend either one. You'll do better going with Cackle Hatchery.

 

[Kikiriki]

I

My EE's from ideal are awesome.

If you come to central fl send me a PM and you can have mine.

 

[rooboo]

Just thought I'd share an update on the birds that actually survived from my Meyer Hatchery debacle from five months ago. Out of 28 chicks only 10 survived, 5 blue ameraucanas, 3 black copper marans, and 2 welsummers. The eggs in this photo are from top to bottom; cream legbar, light brown with speckles which I'm not sure if it's a black copper marans or welsummer from Meyer, the next egg is a welsummer egg from a pullet that I got from Chicken Scratch Poultry, and the last row of three eggs are black copper marans eggs also from pullets from Chicken Scratch Poultry. The last two rows are great examples of what the eggs should look like. I should easily be able to tell which eggs are from the bcm's and welsummers, but I'm having trouble just differentiating them from orpington eggs. I paid good money for these chicks from Meyer and they are far from quality breeding. Of the three bcm's, all three have feathered legs, but only one has copper coloring on the neck. The only way I can tell the difference between the other two and my black australorps is by the feathering on the legs. The two welsummers from Meyer look correct, but the egg color is definitely wrong. If anyone is looking for dark egg layers like bcm's and welsummers I suggest looking someplace else rather than Meyer Hatchery! I could personally recommend Chicken Scratch Poultry out of southern Illinois. I have gotten some gorgeous birds from them. I will post some pics of the birds that I purchased from them in my next post.

 

[rooboo]

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As promised, here are a couple pics of my lavender orpington pullets and welsummer pullets that I purchased from Chicken Scratch Poultry. I hope all the pictures showed up. The picture of the lavender cockerel is actually a pullet turned roo. I actually purchased 4 pullets and thought I did for several months, until she had a sex change lol. They had a little oops in sexing this guy. Larry and Angie at Chicken Scratch admit that they're not always perfect when sexing these slow maturing birds, and they were happy to give me a credit when I purchased a couple more birds from them. He has matured into a beautiful roo. I sarcastically call him El'suave' because of his specific way he introduces himself to the hens. Rather than wining and dining them he simply sneaks up on them and "surprise " lol. Some of the girls will have none of that! They insist on dinner and a movie. He's actually a pretty calm dude with a unique personality that the girls are getting used to.

 

[Sweet Coastal]

I was holding off posting this hoping Meyers would make it right. My family and I have been anxiously awaiting our 17 chics from Meyers. I tracked them all the way here and even called he post office to make sure I could get them as soon as they got in. They were delivered last Thursday to the post office. 16 DOA and the last one died within 3 hours. I know when ordering shipped birds some loss is inevitable. We were devastated to say the least. We called Meyers as soon as they opend to inform them of what happened. I belive it was the post office who mishandled them but still thought Meyers would make it right. They informed us they would replace the chicks next week. I wasn't even sure I could go through this again but decided it was probably just a fluke and I would try again. We lied to our kids trying to save them from the pain and informed them the chicks would be arriving a week late. Meyers informed us to call Today to make sure they had all the correct chicks for the order. When we called they were out of almost all of our chicks and would not be sending replacement. We could have a credit and keep checking the site if we wanted. This was a appalling response to me. They had chicks that were the breeds we ordered but wound up selling them all before they replaced ours. You would think they would replace the damaged birds before filling new orders. Hey did refund my money but honestly this in no way made me feel any better. I had to come home and tell my kids that we were not going to get our chicks that we had been waiting months for. My daughter has been taking pictures of the chicks to show and tell for weeks and is now devistated. I will never order from them again and wanted to share my experience with all. I understand that accidents happen but Meyers should have made this right.