Post pics of stock from Ideal Poultry please !!

[IwannaBEaMERMAID]

This a thread for Showing your chickens from IDEAL POULTRY HATCHERY

Any chicken of any breed and any age, Go now, Post your Pictures

 

[4hchickmama]

I am honestly a little bit confused as to what has people's feelings hurt. Breed standards are a set quantifiable thing, are they not? The bird either meets them or does not and generally hatchery birds do not. Correct? Is this just a word choice issue?

If you have a breed standard bird from this hatchery I could see this being a good opportunity to disagree and tell people about your good experience but it doesn't really seem like anything personal or attacking nor a comment on how much a person likes their pets. I am not sure where feelings are involved here.

My pug is the most poorly bred pug I have ever seen. I didn't rescue her to show her or because I wanted a pure bred dog. If you walk up to me and say wow, that is the worst bred pug I have seen in my life I would: why yes. yes she is.

If someone was asking for critiques thats one thing...if people are just posting pics of their birds to share because this is the "Post your pics of birds from Ideal" thread, they probably aren't looking for anyones opinion or critiques on their birds. To insult them is rude. If you look at the stock someone has posted here and find it poor quality...then don't buy from ideal. No need to say, your bird is poor quality to someone who isn't asking for their bird to be judged. And I would find anyone who felt it was appropriate to tell you your pug was ugly is horribly rude as well. If you entered him in an AKC show, you are asking for an opinion. If you are just sharing pictures or walking down the street, no one needs to say anything about how bad they think she looks.

-shrug- Manners will get you much farther in life.

 

[amazondoc]

Ideal Poultry is a hatchery -- so you should expect hatchery quality birds, not show quality. That said, I am happy with my birds from Ideal, and I plan to order more in the spring. I got brabanters, d'Uccles, and leghorns from Ideal last spring. Next spring I plan to get more brabanters and d'Uccles, and perhaps some ducks.

Just be realistic in your expectations!

 

[faykokoWV]

Here's some more pictures of my Ideal birds, I also included one of their eggs.


These are eggs from my Red Star (the ones at the top, this was not an Ideal bird) Barnevelder (just above the silkie egg on the right), Ameraucana, Welsummer and Silkie. I think the color of the welsummer egg is a nice dark color, many people say you won't get a good colored eggs from a hatchery, but I did.

Barnevelder roo

Welsummer hen

Barnevelder lacing

Welsummer roo, a few months older than the last picture I posted in this thread.
And a close up of his feathers

 

[4hchickmama]

I meant call duck ducklings. I haven't found any hatcheries or breeders who will ship out day old call ducks or other bantam duck breeds. As for silkies, while I think that hatchery stock of most birds is usually decent, I wouldn't ever buy silkies from any of the hatcheries. You are better of finding someone local or purchasing hatching eggs from someone with stock that they show/bred with. Call ducks are another breed, along with Ameracaunas in chickens, that you have to be cautious with getting....not what you were looking for...when ordering from a hatchery.

My kids show as well, so I usually stick with birds from local breeders, but I totally see the appeal of hatcheries AND I also know adults and kids who have won with hatchery stock before.

 

[ArnoldsLane]

OK, I have a bone (or 16) to pick with Ideal Poultry...

I ordered a total of 9 chicks, and received 25! Now, I know they said they might pack extra males in the box for warmth, but that is a lot of extra poultry to handle.

To be honest, I am not really complaining. All animals sent to me arrived happy, bright-eyed, and super-chirpy! Everyone ate, drank, and pooed just fine. Ran into a minor amount of pasting that subsided after three or four days. I am not the world's most serious guy, but even I felt silly washing their little butts. Laughed every time (Thank God I ONLY have 25...).



This is a mix of six Delaware hens, one Delaware rooster, two Barred Rock Hens, and 16 packing peanuts, er, chicks.



My little brooder lasted for the first two nights.



On day 8 of their lives, they have some nice wing feathers, plenty of curiosity, and voracious appetites. This is my nephew reaching in to feed by hand.



On day 22, even after a good, firm squeeze... (kidding).
This is the Delaware rooster, he is one of the chickens that will get a name (if he proves himself a worthy breeder and protector). I just can't name the ones I am going to eat.



Here is a picture of his feathering. I have nothing to compare it to, but I think it is coming in nicely.



The two Barred Rocks look very nice.



Here is one of the Broiler/Packing Peanut crosses. He is a big boy for three weeks from hatch. There are a couple pullets in the mix, I think. However, I have never sexed a chick, so I am going by the non-appearance of spurs. I am not really in any hurry to find out. This little fellow's name is "Coq au vin" or maybe "Colonel's Secret Recipe..."

Overall, despite the fact that I received a few more than I asked for, I have to say that I am really impressed. This is my first foray into the chicken world, and I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Ideal Poultry. I would simply caution those with limited space or neighborhood restrictions to make sure you have a plan in place for the extra birds.

 

[QuoVadis]

Ideal Poultry BLB Dutch bantam. I was fooled once but NEVER again....this bird is garbage and is crossed with OEG. Ideal lied about it when I asked them. But 100 people on BYC telling me he's crossed means he's crossed, no way purebred as advertised. I just wonder how they can get away with this?

I think you need to give Ideal a bit of a break. For a hatchery the fact that the legs, pattern, and earlobes are the right color is pretty good! I have hatchery Dutch from Privett and they are lovely birds. Two of them do have more of OEGB build and tighter feathering, but I have no problem saying they are Dutch, just like I have no problem saying other hatchery birds are such and such breed, even though they may be way off of SOP in weight, build etc. They are hatchery birds, they don't breed strictly to SOP like a serious private breeder does, so I don't expect that kind of quality. Hatcheries are are useful because they have a huge variety in one place, they ship, they are usually very reasonably priced, LF can be sexed, and you can get chicks instead of eggs. That's what they do. I think a better way to say it is that that is a low quality Dutch, just like many breeds from most hatcheries are low quality examples of thier breed.

And even if they had OEGB crossed into them generations back if they keep breeding back to Dutch at a certain point is accaptable to call them pure Dutch, even if that isn't technically true. That how you get new colors in a breed? At some point it was bred to a differnt breed that already had that color. But if you want to breed seriously you probably should get some Dutch from someone who has them closer to Dutch SOP, or else order a large number from a hatchery and sell all but the very, very best birds. I have a couple from Privett that are decent...... there are also some Dutch hatching eggs on Ebay right now I believe...

And btw I think people who keep Dutch on BYC are just so passionate about the purity of their breed they pronounce any hatchery bird "crossbred" - where as on most breed threads breeders of ______ breed won't tell you that your not-to-SOP-hatchery-bird isn't that breed, they will just say it is a low quality versions of it. And I think they are really hurting the Dutch breed by doing this, rather than protecting it, because how do most people get introduced to a breed? By hatchery birds. If I had listened to people on the Dutch thread I would have never gotten my birds and fallen in love with this breed, which even with imperfect hatchery birds charmed me in a way OEGB never have. But when I move out of the city I will buy better quality ones so I can breed, and I'm sure they will be even better. But until then I'll take my hatchery Dutch any day.

 

[Mother Hen to 6]

I just got my 1st order from them. All 16 chicks arrived alive and alert Very happy with them

 

[CountryMom]

The Buff Silkies were probably the worst quality of silkies I ordered from Ideal. Here is a picture....

Also received BBS, Partridge and Red. Those turned out pretty nice with the BBS probably the nicest....
here is another quick pic

Chickenonthehill...
Those are very pretty cochins.

I do like Ideal and will order from them again. I realize they are hatchery stock, but I do not need show quality --- only a utility chicken so to speak. I like their variety and the fact that they are within 2 hours from me!

 

[becky3086]

I don't know anything about silkies but those cochin look really nice to me.