Ideal Poultry!

[winteree]

Unfortunately, my father didn't think that they could raise the chick outside in the cold together so he took the chick inside to care for it. It lived less than a week. I have the feeling that the cat and hen would have done better. After all, they worked together for twenty-one days to get it to hatch and however many it was before my dad removed the chick.

darn that sucks

 

[dealfinder500]

I have placed several orders from Ideal this year, and I've been very pleased!

My first order was for 8 hatchery assorted geese. They arrived in great shape. Then last week I got an assortment of 50 bantams on special, and there really was a very nice assortment. I had also placed another order for geese at the special price, but they e-mailed me to tell me that it was an error on their computer, they were sold out, but they went a head and honored the price for the next shipping date.

I placed another order for some meat birds, shipping the same time as the 2nd order of geese. I e-mailed them to see if they would combine the orders (and I save $7), and they did it without any problems. Nothing like, "well, we'll do it this time but not again". And every time I've talked with them on the phone they've been extremely friendly. I will most likely be ordering from them again!

I'm over 1000 miles away from them, and the birds ship out Tuesday night (in fact, for my first order, I placed the order at 5:30PM EST, and at 7PM I got an e-mail telling me that my birds shipped!), and then the birds have always arrived Thursday mornings, and so far I have not had a dead or sick one.

I've been very pleased with them. I really need to unsubscribe from their weekly specials newsletter, though, as that causes me to buy more birds!

I do wish they would change their order minimums for the specials. Several times I've been interested in some of the runner ducks, or a specific breed of chicken that was on sale, but I didn't want to order 20 ducks or 25 chickens, though I would have happily ordered 5 of this duck, 5 of this other duck, 5 of this chicken, 5 of this other, etc. But maybe that's a good thing, as I'd have probably placed another order or two that I don't really need!

Their website could use some work. I wish they had direct links rather than all the Javascript. You can't directly link to a breed, and if you click the back button, it takes you to the beginning of the category, rather than just the beginning of the section in that category. I also wish they had real pictures of the chicks rather than just drawings.

 

[winteree]

I have placed several orders from Ideal this year, and I've been very pleased!

My first order was for 8 hatchery assorted geese. They arrived in great shape. Then last week I got an assortment of 50 bantams on special, and there really was a very nice assortment. I had also placed another order for geese at the special price, but they e-mailed me to tell me that it was an error on their computer, they were sold out, but they went a head and honored the price for the next shipping date.

I placed another order for some meat birds, shipping the same time as the 2nd order of geese. I e-mailed them to see if they would combine the orders (and I save $7), and they did it without any problems. Nothing like, "well, we'll do it this time but not again". And every time I've talked with them on the phone they've been extremely friendly. I will most likely be ordering from them again!

I'm over 1000 miles away from them, and the birds ship out Tuesday night (in fact, for my first order, I placed the order at 5:30PM EST, and at 7PM I got an e-mail telling me that my birds shipped!), and then the birds have always arrived Thursday mornings, and so far I have not had a dead or sick one.

I've been very pleased with them. I really need to unsubscribe from their weekly specials newsletter, though, as that causes me to buy more birds!

I do wish they would change their order minimums for the specials. Several times I've been interested in some of the runner ducks, or a specific breed of chicken that was on sale, but I didn't want to order 20 ducks or 25 chickens, though I would have happily ordered 5 of this duck, 5 of this other duck, 5 of this chicken, 5 of this other, etc. But maybe that's a good thing, as I'd have probably placed another order or two that I don't really need!

Their website could use some work. I wish they had direct links rather than all the Javascript. You can't directly link to a breed, and if you click the back button, it takes you to the beginning of the category, rather than just the beginning of the section in that category. I also wish they had real pictures of the chicks rather than just drawings.

you can say that again if they had smaller minimum orders i would have had laying hens, ducks and meat birds by now and wouldn't have had to go though the massive amount of crap with Meyers

not to mention their site was down for several months

 

[MonTXChickens]

I also wish they would use real pictures on their website. I am new to raising chickens and would like a better guess of what I can expect before I order. As it is, I go to Google Images to look at them on a separate tab. Not the worst thing I suppose. Really the internet has spoiled us I think. We get instant information whenever we want. Lord forbid I have to open an extra tab!

The smaller order on their specials would be nice. I saw this past week they have Ameraucanas on special. 25 minimum order. I would have loved to have added some but I don't have space for 25 more right now. Well I suppose they have a business to run and I guess a smaller order isn't what fits in their model. I still think they do a good job.

 

[winteree]

I also wish they would use real pictures on their website. I am new to raising chickens and would like a better guess of what I can expect before I order. As it is, I go to Google Images to look at them on a separate tab. Not the worst thing I suppose. Really the internet has spoiled us I think. We get instant information whenever we want. Lord forbid I have to open an extra tab!

The smaller order on their specials would be nice. I saw this past week they have Ameraucanas on special. 25 minimum order. I would have loved to have added some but I don't have space for 25 more right now. Well I suppose they have a business to run and I guess a smaller order isn't what fits in their model. I still think they do a good job.

yeah i think i'm going to be doing a joint order with a friend from them soon.

 

[MonTXChickens]

I think sharing an order is a great idea. I wish I had someone that would like to half an order. I actually have enough chickens for now probably... I just thought I might get a few more Ameraucanas and a few more Favorolles. So far, the ones we have of each of these breeds are my favorite. They don't seem as flighty, they are friendly, and they are developing the most interesting colors and patterns. I can always order a smaller order. To meet the minimum, I would have to buy 4 of each. I would even hesitate but with 51 chickens already, even 8 more may be too many. I was thinking 2 or 3 of each. I am not really in a place to take a surprise assorted special - 25 random chickens would probably make my wife lose her mind!

 

[dealfinder500]

I got my box today - 14 Brown African Goslings and 31 Cornish Rock meat birds. I was kind of a tad dissapointed that the goslings were all the same, as it was hatchery choice assorted, but I guess that just means my chances of getting several male/female pairs goes up! But all the birds arrived in great shape, and they even sent an extra of the chicks (was hoping they'd send an extra of the geese, too, but maybe I'm being a tad greedy!).

 

[MonTXChickens]

I got my box today - 14 Brown African Goslings and 31 Cornish Rock meat birds. I was kind of a tad dissapointed that the goslings were all the same, as it was hatchery choice assorted, but I guess that just means my chances of getting several male/female pairs goes up! But all the birds arrived in great shape, and they even sent an extra of the chicks (was hoping they'd send an extra of the geese, too, but maybe I'm being a tad greedy!).

I would have thought you'd get more variety on an assortment... I'm glad you're not terribly disappointed! I think I might have been. ..

 

[dealfinder500]

I would have thought you'd get more variety on an assortment... I'm glad you're not terribly disappointed! I think I might have been. ..

It actually wasn't an "assortment" it was "Assorted Geese - Hatchery Choice" so it was really up to them what I got. But yeah, I was hoping for more variety. Oh well.

 

[draye]

I think sharing an order is a great idea. I wish I had someone that would like to half an order. I actually have enough chickens for now probably... I just thought I might get a few more Ameraucanas and a few more Favorolles. So far, the ones we have of each of these breeds are my favorite. They don't seem as flighty, they are friendly, and they are developing the most interesting colors and patterns. I can always order a smaller order. To meet the minimum, I would have to buy 4 of each. I would even hesitate but with 51 chickens already, even 8 more may be too many. I was thinking 2 or 3 of each. I am not really in a place to take a surprise assorted special - 25 random chickens would probably make my wife lose her mind!

What? Enough chickens? How can that be there is never enough chickens!

HAHA, but I don't use Ideal, never have been able to raise anything to adulthood from them. I use Cackle and thinking about McMurray (have used them in years past).