if you get offended by the truth then don't ask lol

[hdowden]

yea i got 4 from our feed store that orders from them 2 mallards and 2 cayuga the mallards look good and so does 1 of the cayuga, the other cayuga i plan on selling if i ever get around to it but right now they are together and i have no one to replace him yet so until then he stays lol

 

[Criskin]

sorry.....i gave an honest review of one of my ideal poultry experiences and someone got offended....well i'm sorry that happened but i don't sugar coat it....then someone wants to say people on this forum have no feelings.....sorry it's not that we don't have any feelings its that we don't sugar coat things and tell you what you want to hear.

does this ever frustrate anyone else???

I always figure that if I don't sugar coat my answers, I have no right to expect people to sugar coat their reactions. When brutal honesty is required, a little tact goes a long way.

 

[JulieNKC]

lol i did not like ideal this year and reading a lot of the previous post makes me not want to order my ducklings from them either but they are the only hatchery i found that has snowy mallards and i really want some of those...

There are a few people with snowy mallards on the waterfowl group in my siggie, if you use FB. Could ask there. My ducks from ideal have sucked, lol, but I'm hoping the one I kept will be a good layer, since that's what I kept her for. They sent me the wrong breed of geese, but the geese are fairly nice for the breed they actually are.

My d'uccles have nice foot feathering, beards and muffs and all but none were the color I ordered, and could use some work on their color and patterns. I do like ideal just because they have a wide variety, and healthy birds, but they are a hatchery and it shows.
I agree with you though. I do not like how some questions are asked, but the only answer they want to hear is the answer they want, anything else is wrong, mean, or whatever. If I ask something, it's because I want to hear ALL answers and opinions, not just have my own opinion parroted back.

 

[hdowden]

the only half decent ones that i see from ideal are the duel purpose breeds other than that a lot of the others well look horrable in better terms and seeing the pics just re-enforces me that the birds are something that i dont want to get from ideal unless i just want lawn ornaments. pics i see from cackle and other hatcheries look a whole lot better (not mypetchicken seen a lot of them lately that are way off. i think when ideal gets new breeds the first few years the chicks are decent but after a while they start to look horrable and thats probably due to the why they breed.

 

[oldrooster]

Many people on here say they will not show (and sometimes raise) the large hatchery chicks. I have no opinion on that, since I am not interested in "show quality". Most like myself buy according to our wants and needs. IMHO the hatcheries ought to consider that they should breed their lines close to the standards or at least advertise on their websites/catalogers that they are based on those breeds, but are bred to certain specifications like a higher egg laying or weight gain, that way no one can be upset on what they purchase.

 

[Criskin]

I've had the opposite experience. I quit ordering from Cackle when their Buff Orpington hens grew up to be built more like leghorns and had combs that folded over. I intended them for my laying flock not as breeders, and they did lay fairly well, but I would have liked them to at least resemble a BO in something other than coloring. When I sold them I didn't know what to call them..."hatchery Buff Orpingtons" would have made me look like I didn't know what I was talking about. Their various varities of Plymouth Rocks were fine, though.

 

[oldrooster]

I've had the opposite experience. I quit ordering from Cackle when their Buff Orpington hens grew up to be built more like leghorns and had combs that folded over. I intended them for my laying flock not as breeders, and they did lay fairly well, but I would have liked them to at least resemble a BO in something other than coloring. When I sold them I didn't know what to call them..."hatchery Buff Orpingtons" would have made me look like I didn't know what I was talking about. Their various varities of Plymouth Rocks were fine, though.

call them BO from (or parent stock from) such and such hatchery

 

[Criskin]

call them BO from (or parent stock from) such and such hatchery

I just said they were supposed to be Buff Orpingtons from Cackle hatchery but I was pretty sure they were just mutt layers. Luckily the buyer just wanted farmyard hens.

 

[hdowden]

barnyard mixes tend to be very pretty sorry not the best pic though of the pullet

 

[hdowden]

pet quality BO