not a great experience with natures hatchery

[CityChicker]

Obviously, if the box said Privett, the birds came from Privett, not Ideal. Drop shipping is extremely common practice in the hatchery business. Several hatcheries drop ship all or most of their orders. Most of the other hatcheries do it on occasion. Among those that don't drop ship, several do not own their own flocks, they just hatch the eggs. These things are common practice in the industry. When it comes to waterfowl, almost all of the hatcheries drop ship. Hatcheries also cannot control when the birds will lay eggs or to some extent how many will hatch. They typically set a certain number of eggs based on what they have available and how many orders are placed. The birds typically hatch on only one (or perhaps two) days of the week, usually Mondays, and are only sent on those days for obvious reasons. They do not have daily hatches with birds going out daily. That would be impossible for them to do and unsafe for the babies. As far as the birds conforming to breed standard, with hatcheries it is luck of the draw. That is the nature of raising poultry. Even with the best of stock, only a small percentage will be "show quality". Hatcheries are high volume businesses, not breeders of show birds. You get what you pay for.

Seriously, there are things to get upset about and there are things that are normal operating procedure. Your own best interest would be served to learn the difference between the two.