someone please help? Ideal ticked us off.

[mamobaby]

we ordered three chicks from Ideal last month and they arrived on thursday.. but 18 arrived instead of three!
well, one died on the way in, so theres 17.
and we think Ideal sent us a deformed chick, cause its beak is twisted to the side and its missing an eye and walks around with its head always to the side. hes been peeping loudly the last couple of days, and id hate to see the poor guy suffer. i just dont know what to do. i dont even know what kind of breed it is. we ordered a Leghorn, a Buff Brahnam and a Cochin, the rest all look like chipmunks and im assuming they will be roosters. only, my city doesnt ALLOW to have roosters. and we didnt order all these!
help me!

 

[Lanissa86]

Ideal send Extra as packing peanuts for Warmth for your little ones. Yes these will all be roosters. Just put them on Craiglist and find them good homes. As for the little deformed chick, Ideal is really good about giving your account credit for any mishaps. If you ever order again buy the insurance and put on the footnote that you do not want males for warmth. Sorry you had a bad experience. I love Ideal, but all hatcheries do have their mishaps.

 

[silkiechicken]

Did you buy insurance or the minimum amount?

Interesting they let you buy only 3 because I don't think that can meet their 20 dollar minimum order.

Sounds like the rest are probably male "packing peanuts" they add for warmpth so they can make it alive. Try posting a ad at your feed store or craigslist to rid of all the "chipmunks." 17/18 living sounds like a really good number for survival after shipping to me.

Birth defects in chicks are relatively common, most don't end up hatching though. If you want to keep the cross beak, do a search on "crossbeak" and you will find a number of posts of owners who have had crossbeaks. Deeper dishes for food and water are essential for them to be able to eat.

Best of luck!

WELCOME!!!

 

[Chirpy]

Hi and Welcome to BYC!!

Oh my .... First - when you ordered the chicks Ideal has a place on their web page (if you ordered on-line) or they are supposed to tell you if you order by phone that they will send "packing peanuts" if they feel that the chicks need extra heat/warmth. They do that because they don't want your chicks to die in transit. Sending an extra fifteen chicks for packing peanuts seems to be a lot. You can chose to not accept the peanuts but you have to chose that option. The hatchery is then not held responsible for your chicks dieing in transit because of getting cold. You can also buy special insurance for this purpose. But, I don't know where you live??? We are getting snow right now while I'm typing!

Yes, the extra chicks are almost always Roos - they may have stuck a pullet or two in there on purpose or accident so don't assume they are all Roos - most of them will be.

If you know for sure which three are the ones you ordered, you certainly have the option of giving away or selling all the others right now. You could list them on Craigslist or at your local feedstore or possibly vet clinic. You would want people to know that they were sent as peanuts so they may be cockerals or pullets ... it's anyone's guess at this point.

Or, you can wait it out and make a positive determination if there are any pullets so you can keep them yourself (if that's an option) or sell them for a little more because they are older pullets at that time. That is probably anywhere from five to ten weeks away before you can tell for sure. Some breeds take even longer than that but probably not the peanuts.

As for the little dude that's has the defect. If it's one of the three you ordered then you need to absolutely call Ideal and get your money back. If it's one of the peanuts then you need to decide if you can cull it now or let it grow to see how it does. That's a personal choice - only you can tell if he/she is not happy or in pain, etc.

I'm sorry about all this trouble with your order. I just got my order from Ideal yesterday and we couldn't be happier. I ordered 20 so I didn't get any peanuts.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

 

[catfish]

I'd raise them all and then sex them out, and have a BBQ but I don't get attached to critters I know God made for us to eat.

had correct typo.

 

[BrahmaMama]

Ideal was just looking out for the safety of your chicks, by sending the extras for warmth. If you only ordered 3, I can't imagine those 3 tiny little bodies keeping themselves warm through the shipping. I guess personally, I would consider that a pretty good deal, getting free chicks. Yeah, they may be cockerels, but you can always rehome them. I received my Ideal order yesterday also, and got (if I counted right, lol!) 37 chicks, with only one dead-to be expected with the unstable temps yet. So far, everyone else seems to be doing okay.

 

[mamobaby]

wow Im so glad I got so many responses in one day!
thanks so much for helping out y'all.
I live in New Orleans and I was aware of the "no extra" button, I just thought I had clicked on it! I really wasnt expecting this many. 5 more at MAX, but 15 extra seems alittle too much for me. I was perparing all month for only three, and I was caught offguard with this many. after only 6 days old I need to get a bigger box!

The defective one [we call him Popeye] isnt getting any bigger. All the rest are starting to grow their wings but little Popeye hasnt grown an centimeter. Poor Baby.
I am scared that he's in pain though. But I dont think I could bare to put him down myself [Im vegan and Im already attached to these little things. we're raising chickens for city pets and fresh eggs for the rest of my family]

we have a couple of people who are willing to take some for us, but I dont want to just give them away to some stranger that I dont know. We know someone who raises cocks for fighting and is asking to have some of ours, but I dont think I could do that!

Three didnt match up to Ideals 25 dollar limit so we bought a book and some hydrating gel stuff. We're a city family and theres NO way we can handle 17 chickens, we can barely do it with three!

 

[snowydiamonds]

There is always a minimum order amount, either in money and/or chicks. That and the very important message that follows: Once you leave the chick room, "we" are not responsible for the death of any and will not replace...etc... please start reading and learning as much as possible before trying to place blame on others. Even after taking a Husbandry class and reading in depth and calling many times to ask questions prior to ordering my chicks (only ten, the minimum where I order from), I still don't know enough but any blame I will place upon myself for any mistakes made until I learn much, much more.

Welcome, there is much reading on this site for help and that's not including this part of the forum

 

[gritsar]

Do give Ideal a call about the deformed chick. I lost two in shipping, out of 25, and the money for the two lost was back in my account the same day.

 

[LinckHillPoultry]

Is the deformed chick a "packing peanut"? Or is it one of the chicks you ordered? If it is a "packing peanut" I don't think you would get refunded for it because you didn't pay for it and it was just an extra.

I think the little guy should be fine... as long as you do as silkiechicken suggested. You can always make the chick its' own special feeder and waterer to meet its needs.

Did you put the little guy in a seperate brooder? If not you might want to because when a chick is deformed or hurt in any way, the other chicks in with it will pick and pick on it until it's dead.
So if you haven't moved him I suggest you do and give the little guy a stuffed animal as a friend and make sure to always give it some special attention

I have a sultan chick that I got from Ideal that ended up about 2 weeks after arrival breaking its leg... which is not the hatcherys' fault, just probably got run over by the other chicks. But that chick lives upstairs in his own brooder with a stuffed penguin and he gets special attention. We call him Little Hop Along. The thing is though that he will never be normal... because his leg healed wrong, so now he basically only has the use of one leg.


Good luck though with your chicks!