Ideal Poultry

[chickenlips]

If anyone's looking for a hatchery to order chicks from Ideal Poultry, out of Texas, is a great one to deal with. They don't require you to order a minimum of 25 chicks: your order just has to come to a minimum total of $25. I ordered 16 and they included 8 warming chicks at no charge, which I found homes for. I lost two chicks during shipping, but I'm sure that was because it took 3 days to reach me instead of the standard two. They immediately credited my account for those chicks. The rest of my chicks are healthy happy little girls! I would definitely order from them again.

 

[jsbates65]

I got my first two chicks from a Feed store, and they got them from Ideal Poutry.

The people at the Feed store were not very knowledgable. . .

Do all the chicks that come from Ideal get vaccinated for Marek's?

Also, they each have a "tag" in their wing? What are you supposed to do with that? When I picked them up I assumed it was just around the wing, but it looks like it goes through the wing. Does it just grow out somehow?

THANKS for any input.

 

[mudhen]

I'll be getting my chicks in a couple of weeks from Ideal, so it's good to hear you have had a good experience!
Have never heard of 'tagged' chicks, so hopefully someone else will respond with an answer about wether it will 'drop out' or ??

 

[speckledhen]

Tag? I've bought chicks from Ideal through the feedstore and never saw any with tags. Dunno what's up with that. The chicks are not vaccinated for Mareks unless the feedstore requests and pays for that. I do not vaccinate my hatched chicks for anything and I have no idea if the ones from the feedstore are vaccinated or not.

 

[jsbates65]

I'll contact the feedstore and see if they can explain. This was my first experience buying chicks and I assumed these tags were usual.
Hmmm. . .

 

[jsbates65]

OK, they are out. The chicks are so little I wanted some feedback before trying to remove them.

I clipped the bulk of it off and then wiggled it out. The chicks were uncomfortable for a second, but they are out now.
I'm so new to chickens, and was just so glad to find a couple locally. Plus I recognized Ideal as a hatchery many use. I am mainly getting my two as pets. A red & a black sex-link, and hopefully some eggs. . .

Any thoughts on how much to handle chicks who are destined to be pets?

Anyone use the Eglu?

 

[ChrissyNC]

I'm expecting my first chicks from Ideal around the beginning of April. I have heard mostly good things about them. I liked the fact that they had a really wide selection of breeds.

I have seen pictures of the Eglu, and thought about getting one at first, but I wanted more birds to start out with. If I was in the city and could only have two hens, I would definitely try it out.

 

[chickenlips]

None of my chicks from Ideal were tagged or marked with anything, nor were they vaccinated. You can request both to be done when you order straight from Ideal, but you have to pay extra for the vaccination. Maybe someone had placed an order to have their chicks tagged, cancelled the order and the feed store ended up with that order as part of their bulk order of chicks. Or maybe the tagged chicks were thrown in free since Ideal probably couldn't sell them to anyone else.

 

[jsbates65]

Maybe the feedstore had tagged them.

As to vaccinations. . .is it necessary when you only have two birds? Now that I have them it's too late anyway, but should I feed medicated feed at times?

 

[Servant]

All my Chickens have come from Ideal Poultry. I have lost some in shipping and they have sent more in place of them. Love Ideal.

Do all the chicks that come from Ideal get vaccinated for Marek's? NO

You can have it done but they do not do it unless you ask them to.