What to do with packing peanuts?

[Anianna]

Quote:
That irks me. Lots of places ship without packing peanuts and have no more problem than Ideal getting the delivery there alive. They just want to pawn their unwanted roos off on you. The more I hear about Ideal, the more I really dislike their practices.

Please consider ordering elsewhere. I haven't heard one bad thing said about MyPetChicken and there are lots of other hatcheries, too; some may even be much closer to you for less shipping time.

 

[New2TheCoop]

I ordered 9 chicks from Ideal and I got 14 extra roosters! I kind of expected it, and I am raising them in their own pen and they will be on the dinner table this winter. If you wanted (which i will do next time around, but i didnt think about it until later) you could finish out an order with broiler chicks or some cornish hens for the table. Also I would suggest your local news paper, or craigslist. If your only buying a few it would be a lot easier, not to mention cheaper. I'd also check the 'bulletin board' at your local feed store, ours always has ads from ppl selling chicks. Just giving you a few options.

 

[laseterlass]

Thats awful! What if you live in a town that only allows 5 to an average lot? I ordered specific pullets. My reasoning is that I did not want to have to explain to my 6 year old son why we only eat the boys. Efowl did send one extra, but I think the reasoning was to cover potential mortality coming all the way to Alaska. With 0 problems I do have one extra. But not 15 extra! I also arranged to split the order so we could have enough birds in the box for warmth.

 

[susanah]

I just found out My Pet Chicken will sex their bantams. Not sure how accurate they are,
but we are thinking about maybe not getting our first choice on chicks in order to know
we won't get roos. And they will ship 6 to my zip code.

 

[stilldeb]

The last all female feather-footed Bantam mix I ordered from My Pet Chicken was spot-on all pullets. They are great. I have gotten an "accidental" roo from them in the past (we love him, though) and they not only refunded my money but sent me an extra free pullet chick as well to replace him with my next order. They are super.

deb g
KY

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
That irks me. Lots of places ship without packing peanuts and have no more problem than Ideal getting the delivery there alive. They just want to pawn their unwanted roos off on you. The more I hear about Ideal, the more I really dislike their practices.

Please consider ordering elsewhere. I haven't heard one bad thing said about MyPetChicken and there are lots of other hatcheries, too; some may even be much closer to you for less shipping time.

Sorry, but I'm going to disagree with you here.

Last year, June of 2010, I ordered 14 pullets from Ideal (my second order with them). I asked that no packing peanuts be included. They didn't charge me the shipping insurance, which wouldn't have been much anyhow, maybe $2-3. They included extra straw. The chicks arrived absolutely fine. One turned out to be a roo sexed as a pullet, but that just proves Impy has been a sneaky little devil from the start.

I love my Ideal flocks. My brahmas from Ideal are now over 3 years old. All have been healthly, all are still alive except for the one girl I lost to a hawk and one that died of a heart attack during a heat wave.

The point being, Ideal is no worse than any other hatchery. They all must ship with packing peanuts or charge you a kings ransom for special handling if they don't. It's all about ordering chicks at the appropriate time of the year. You want chicks in January? You best be expecting some PP if you want them to arrive alive.

And by the way, MPC is NOT a hatchery. They are a middleman. They get their chicks from Meyers, from what I understand.

 

[gritsar]

I forgot to mention Ideal's shipping policy, unless they have changed it since June of last year.

They have a min. dollar amount, not a min. chick amount. If you don't want packing peanuts included you must specify that and be willing to pay a small shipping insurance amount. Be sure and tell them to include extra straw in the shipping box, but they will usually do that with a small order anyhow.

Just order chicks at the right time of year for chicks, i.e., late spring, early summer, and you should have no problems.

 

[Fritatta]

Quote:
X2

 

[Anianna]

Quote:
That irks me. Lots of places ship without packing peanuts and have no more problem than Ideal getting the delivery there alive. They just want to pawn their unwanted roos off on you. The more I hear about Ideal, the more I really dislike their practices.

Please consider ordering elsewhere. I haven't heard one bad thing said about MyPetChicken and there are lots of other hatcheries, too; some may even be much closer to you for less shipping time.

Sorry, but I'm going to disagree with you here.

Last year, June of 2010, I ordered 14 pullets from Ideal (my second order with them). I asked that no packing peanuts be included. They didn't charge me the shipping insurance, which wouldn't have been much anyhow, maybe $2-3. They included extra straw. The chicks arrived absolutely fine. One turned out to be a roo sexed as a pullet, but that just proves Impy has been a sneaky little devil from the start.

I love my Ideal flocks. My brahmas from Ideal are now over 3 years old. All have been healthly, all are still alive except for the one girl I lost to a hawk and one that died of a heart attack during a heat wave.

The point being, Ideal is no worse than any other hatchery. They all must ship with packing peanuts or charge you a kings ransom for special handling if they don't. It's all about ordering chicks at the appropriate time of the year. You want chicks in January? You best be expecting some PP if you want them to arrive alive.

And by the way, MPC is NOT a hatchery. They are a middleman. They get their chicks from Meyers, from what I understand.

I'm not sure what you are disagreeing with, Gris. They told susanah she needed the packing peanuts to get her birds to her safely, but your comments show clearly that she doesn't need the packing peanuts. She's not the first to make this claim, either. I believe Ideal probably has good birds and can get them to you without great loss and I believe they probably try to get you exactly what you order with only minimum incorrect sexing (which is to be expected of any good hatchery), but I find it very irresponsible if any of their employees are telling customers they risk losing their chicks if they request no packing peanuts. Do you disagree that it is irresponsible to lie to customers to get them to take unwanted chicks? I haven't ordered from Ideal myself, but it is my understanding that if you are not familiar with packing peanuts, you'll get a surprise, because they don't notify you in advance that they include packing peanuts. I find that practice irresponsible, too. I would rather order from a hatchery that can do everything Ideal can do and are more responsible about sticking just to the order or at least clearly notifying customers of possible additions prior to checkout.

 

[Minniechickmama]

There are A LOT of breeders in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and they are probably on here! I would look for a breeder and probably get better stock too rather than just hatchery stock. You could pick them up too and they wouldn't be stressed from the postal shipping. If you take a little time, you make end up lots happier in the long run with going local.
There are people (like me) who are raising and hatching birds to fill small orders for those backyard chicken owners who only need a few birds and don't want to have to order 20-25 of them to get the 5 or 6 they want.
Nava is in Ocala, maybe she knows of someone in your neck of the woods with the breeds you want.
Hatcheries are not your only avenue.
Good luck.