Comments regarding Ideal Poultry Breeding Farms, Inc.

I order from them at least once a year. This year I ordered 3 times. They have the best prices and customer service. I love their variety. I currently have 35 in the brooder from May and I have an order of 70 on the way. You will love your experience at Ideal

We've ordered chicks from Ideal for many years but found that the chicks had problems. Unless your willing to give them antibiotics when they arrive they probably won't live. We decided that cheap wasn't the best. There are alot of hatcheries that have excellent chicks like Cackle, Hoover, McMurray ect. You'll get what you are looking for and that's healthy vigorous stock.

I placed my order for kraienkoppe, Saipan, Cubalaya and Russian Orloff chicks. The order was easy to place and they contacted me to change the ship date well in advance. This is the second year I have ordered from Ideal and I received the chicks the next day after shipping. They are all vigorous and healthy. They are a week old now and doing well. Their prices are always reasonable and I have received bigger, healthier chicks from them vs. other hatcheries. My Saipan birds from the previous year are beautiful, intelligent and very large. Thank you Ideal Poultry!

I picked up my order from Ideal at the P.O. recently. After several years of mail ordering chicks this was my first order with Ideal. I've come to expect one or two deceased or lethargic and unhealthy looking chicks per order. Not this time. These chicks look fantastic and wasted no time doing all the right baby chick activities. I was hesitant because the reasonable shipping charges and lower minimums in contrast to many other hatcheries seemed too good to be true. Not so.

I have trouble with our post office getting the chicks to me in a timely manner. I have even had to run to the distribution center 25 miles away to pick up chicks so they wouldn't spend another day in the mail. Often this results in some or many of the chicks dying in shipment or shortly after arrival due to exposure to cold temperatures. I live in Ohio and extremely cold temperatures can be unpredictable. Ideal has always replaced the chicks or given me credit for any lost, even though it is not at all their fault. They package as well as they can for cold weather with extra bedding and even a heat pack. Any chicks that do not suffer from shipping stress are in excellent health.

I've ordered from Ideal for years and my adult flock is almost all Ideal birds. They do not guarantee show quality birds, but the birds they send look exactly like I expect them to and lay eggs according to type. They sex the chicks with accuracy and I've never gotten an unexpected rooster when ordering pullets. If I have any questions about care, they are always very helpful. I highly recommend Ideal and will continue to order from them.

Ideal has great prices, and a nice minimum of dollar amount rather than chick numbers. Their weekly specials are unmatched. However, I find that their quality is not always the best. Back in September 2016 I got 25 assorted bantams. They arrived alive but within the first week all but 7 died. They sent replacements and all of those but two died. I am not new to raising chicks at all! So, I decided to never order from them again. However, in Feb 17 they had a special again for OEGBs, which are my favorite breed, so I decided to give them another shot. They arrived the same day as an order of 50 chicks from another hatchery. Within the first week, 8 of the Ideal chicks died but the chicks from the hatchery were doing great. I really think they are churning them out so cheap and not paying attention to quality and health of the birds. They are very expendable in their eyes and I consider them the dollar store of the hatcheries. I am leaving a neutral review because yes, you can get some decent birds and they have a wide variety, especially if you over order and prepare for losses. Just don't expect the best looking birds. My salmon Faverolle pullet from them is ugly as sin. At least they got the sexing right, though.

Last year I ordered 25 bantam chicks -some silkies, mille fleur d'uccle and mottled cochins. They arrived very quickly. One out of the 25 died but the other 24 were all healthy and grew into great looking adults. I will order again from this company. Although I won't order d'uccle's again only because they aren't as friendly as the other breeds I ordered and tend to be bossy to the others. Plus they are really good flyers!

We wanted to increase our egg laying so we began researching breeds. We settled on Australorps - seemed like the right combination of productivity and nature. These were in two batches of 30 hens - not just a one hatch.

I should note that we feed 22% protein feed as well as produce we pick up from a local restaurant and a farm stand. We've been raising chickens for several years now.

They came into laying at the usual 6 months and produced well. Then dropped to near zero - that is 4-6 eggs a day for well over 50 chickens. For the last 3 weeks, they have been at zero - not a single egg.

The Greenfire Black Copper Marans - we have 6 hens and a rooster, out produce them every day from the breeding pen.

Wasted a season on substandard birds plus all the work of replacing them and putting them in the freezer.

Wow, Ideal get your crap together

I live in Hawaii, and I've always had great experience with this company. Back in the 90s I ordered CornishXRocks with 100% livability. Later that same year I ordered Embden geese with the same success. When I moved back to Oahu, I found that all farm supplies order directly through Ideal. In 2013 I ordered a mixed batch of cochin bantams. Same great success, and they're all doing wonderfully! If you're looking for show quality stock, you won't find it with ANY hatchery. I will admit, some of the stock will definitely win you some ribbons. However, if you're looking for show stock with results matching the Standard Of Perfection, I suggest you order through a private breeder. My Birchen Cochin hen is an excellent example of the breed standard, and she came from Ideal(but that's 1 out of 25, so you take your chances). I don't purchase birds for show, I purchase for utility and pets. I do recommend you take into consideration the weather conditions when you order. If there are expected storms/snow/heat/etc, WAIT! You will regret it when you receive a box of dead or sick chicks. Ideal can't change the weather, or how your postal worker treats the boxes, so you are ordering at risk. They do guarantee arrival though, so you will be reimbursed for losses. I will continue business with this company for years to come.

I ordered 8 assorted feather legged bantoms. They arrived this morning along with 9 large makes. I knew i would receive males for warmth but i didn't know it would be so many. I have ordered baby chicks before from another hatchery but these chicks poop is watery and stinks like something is wrong.. Not to mention they have fleas or mites bcuz I've noticed the little bugs crawling all over my baby chicks. I am about to email ideal and let them know about the bugs. I do not want my other chickens to catch them. I keep my baby chicks in a Brooder in the laundry room inside my house. I hope these bugs don't infest my home. Let's hope these chicks survive the night.

My apology to Ideal Poultry for not posting this sooner. Back in August I ordered 15 Buff Orpington chicks from them. At the time it was difficult to find a hatchery that would be able to accommodate me but I did happen upon Ideal Poultry. Their selection was great and their prices were decent. I also found their website very easy to navigate and use. They gave me a hatching and shipping date and the chicks arrived on the day they should have. All were and still are happy and healthy. They are beautiful birds. I have had them for 2 months now and have had no problems with weak stock or sickness. My hat is off to Ideal Poultry and I would recommend their product and business to anyone looking for a good poultry dealer. Also to the USPS for getting them here.

Purchased 25 Pekin Ducks, 25 Buff Orpingtons, all arrived FAST, HEALTHY and SAFE. Price could not be beat by anyone. You cannot go wrong with Ideal. Customer service was friendly on ordering.

I've ordered from this company since I was little and I've never been soo pleased with my service or poultry. I've only had problems with my order 2 times and both times my troubles were cared for with ease and great customer service love all my fowl from them and can not say anything but good things about this company and their birds

So far, so good! Ordered 18 pullets, 1 rooster -- all Cochins. I had a number of questions before my order shipped and the customer service people were prompt, friendly and professional. My cc was charged two days before shipping, the chicks shipped exactly on the date promised, and arrived two days later perfectly healthy and peeping away. It's been colder than usual here, and I worried about the babies, but they were all trying to hop out of the box on the counter at the post office when I opened the box to check them. Other than watching closely for pasty butt, every chick has done, and continues to be growing, eating, drinking and running around like crazy to the delight of our whole family. Will definitely order from Ideal again!

Let me start off by saying just like many others i already have many chickens who are happy and healthy. This year i wanted a few new breeds so i ordered in pairs, according to breed. I orderes most for may and for a few breeds i was placed on a waiting list. I called and asked if i could have the birds together in order to make plans for shelter or at least when id be getting the next batch. All i was told was they couldnt say because i was on a waiting list wich i understood. Then a week later i got an email saying i would get all 36 chicks at once so i was scrambling. I called to confirm and wasnt trated badly just that no one knew about that email and were not even aware two prders were placed only the most recent waiting list order??? So i was asked is i was sure i ordered correctly and if my card info was right. And i decided to foward the email back to them and they got it apparently because the next time i called they said they had no idea about any of the previous events but magically had one full order of 36 chicks. So i was just glad things were back on track and couldnt wait to see my chicks. When they got there one one almost limp. I hydrated, fed him, and gave him vitamims and within hours he seemed better but then passed that same day. I didnt report it because i figured as sad as it is 1 out of 36. The rest seemed peppy but to my horror within the next 24 hours all but 4 died of cocci. I had vet rx on hand and immediately gave it to them but it was to let. I just decided to cut my losses because i had already seen how unorganized they were but it was sad. My kids went from happy to crying overnight and the ones that survived only survived because on my swiftness. Also those chicks are 9 months now and even after being well fed and recieving vitamins on a daily basis are about the size on one of my miniatures. There just tiny and iv seen these breeds in full size sp something went wrong in the breeding process. I still like then and all of them have grown on me but one looks a little odd nothing like any of the breeds i ordered. I wont ever order from them again the chicks were sick, weak and poorly kept. It was just obviouse and who knows what breed they really are seeing how there litterally pint size no bigger than a regular sized pigeon. Looking back now i say what was i thinking. I didnt think about it at the time but, there are no pictures of any breeds only draeing. I looked to friends with the same breeds or google images. Thats jusr odd. Usually you show off what you have. I cant complain! Even though you should get what you pay for i feel like i should have known. Iv baught from other breeders with pictures and never had problems. I just hope my expirience helps some one. If you dont care about quality, color, size, shine or health this is the place for you. The sad part is a beautifull kelso i previously owned had just hatched 20 little ones in the pin over and all but two of them died of cocci. None of my other breeds got sick only the ones next to the ideal poultry chicks. I wonder if i can get them to pay me back for my kelsos. Way more valuable but fat chance. If your thingking about it really prepare youself. Because you never know what youll get

I purchased 6 Khaki Campbell female ducklings from Ideal. I've bought from them in the past, as well as other hatcheries, and their prices are always WELL below everyone else's. I was on a waiting list for about a week, which wasn't bad at all.

The ducklings left TX yesterday and were in VA at 7:15 this morning. FAST! 1 duckling didn't survive the trip (hey, it occasionally happens no matter who you buy from), but the other 5 were in great shape. I didn't ask for a replacement because shipping is stressful and with only 1 loss I wasn't worried. I've ordered from other hatcheries and had multiple (like half of my order!) losses, or they shipped the wrong breeds. I never have those issues at Ideal.

Ideal added 8 free Black Sex Link rooster chicks at no charge to help keep the ducklings warm. What a nice surprise! They'll be supper in a few months :-) The birds were all active and drank & ate right away. I dip beaks in water as soon as they arrive, but after that I didn't need to intervene.

I'll keep buying from Ideal in the future. Their customer service is also great!

When I ordered my Rhode Island Red chicks, I had to wait for the delivery to be two months out from my order date. Ideal did not charge my account until one week prior to the shipping date so I never felt like they took my money to hold on to it for two months. This gave me plenty of time to get really well prepared for my chicks prior to their arrival. When I called to check on my order the day of shipment, the staff were helpful and not bothered by my call. I received email updates once the shipment went to the post office and the post office called me at 6:30 a.m. two days later to let me know the chicks had arrived. I received them all on the 30th of April. They all appear to be healthy and happy. Extra male chicks were included to help keep them warm. They are all bright and energetic and seem to have no problems so I am very pleased. I will be using Ideal again in the future. I am a very happy customer.

I placed my order twice online but their website is very outdated and needs work. It is often down and not working and I never got an order to go through on it even though I completed the orders online. They just never got to ideal for some reason.

They staff was very nice and helped me place my order over the phone. I changed my order a few times and they were nice about that as well. I ordered around 35 birds from ideal and they all shipped on January 21st which was a day earlier than I was expecting. I thought it odd that they shipped them at 8:30 at night on Tuesday knowing that the birds would have to sit overnight but I figured they knew what they were doing.

The birds did not arrive and I called Ideal on Friday morning knowing that I live in Alaska I knew that the birds were more than likely all dead at that point. The post office tracking still said they were in TX so I assumed something happened within the post office.

The person on the phone was very very helpful and immediately reordered my birds to ship on Monday. They did end up at the post office this afternoon and as expected non were alive. I am hoping that they ship them in the early am this time and that they get here in a more timely manner next week but I am still marking them with a positive review because of the way things were handled on their end.

I will update my review next week with how things turn out, hopefully they show up alive this time. Its the first time I ever lost a shipment and I have been bummed about it all day. At least the hatchery was nice about it though, that really made all the difference.

Ordered chicks and had issues. Contacted Ideal Poultry after hours and left a message. Got s resolution to my issue the next morning. Will use again in the future and will recommend them to others.

Friendly staff, quick shipping, chicks arrived healthy (no extras were given.) One didn't make it but a quick call to ideal and a refund was issued. Overall, Great Service & Pricing. Will buy from again in the spring.

This July I ordered 15 Cornish cross chicks. They all arrived alive, but there weren't any extras. One chick died 3 days later due to a severe case of pasty butt and 5 died a few weeks later from coccidiosis. The remaining 9 were HUGE by the 8th week! A lot of meat and it tasted delicious. I will defiantly order from them again.

Ordered 40 bantams from ideal poultry. 5 oeg silver duckwing, 5 oeg brown red, 5 oeg mottled, 5 oeg spangled (oeg=old english game), 5 cornish dark, 5 cornish bluelaced red, 5 cornish spangeld, and 5 blackbreasted modern game.
Got exactly what I ordered. Chicks hatched may 1 and I picked them up at the post office on may 3. Chicks are over a week old now and I only lost two due to overcrowding and one just got wet. The rest are healthy as can be.
I would deffinately recommend Ideal Poultry to anyone considering ordering some birds. The web page is easy to navigate, the customer service is great, and the prices are reasonable. Ill deffinately be a return customer.

Just got my Silver Sebright chicks this morning...two extra added to my order of 8 and all arrived healthy and chirpy!
I requested no "packing peanuts" and was a little worried about those tiny little guys bouncing around in the box alone, but they added an extra straw mat to make the box a bit smaller on the interior. The weather also cooperated so the chicks didn't have to endure any extremes (except, perhaps on a USPS flight).
Silver Sebrights are often priced much higher from other hatcheries and since I don't have room for many chickens, I appreciate that they will ship small orders (and without extra roos, to boot)--there is a $25 minimum on orders and shipping is reasonable.
I was notified when my chicks shipped via e-mail. The box says they hatched at 10AM Tuesday and the post office called me at 8AM today (Thursday). I'm very happy with my order.

Posted on April 6, 2013, updated May 3, 2013
Positive- good customer service!!!

Negative- I lost all but 11 of 64 for chicks on my last order. I buy chicks wholesale from 2 hatcheries and 6 breeders and have never lost so many chicks from any one place. I was considering using Ideal for wholesale, but im afraid my reputation will be tarnished. These chicks were week and could barley stand. it appeared the were hatched early or with help. the little guys did not stand a chance.

we will see how they handle such a big fumble. i'll return and vent if im not satisfied with the results.

positive- i got 100 silkies in febuary at and unbelievable price... they refunded me for the ones i lost.

I have ordered twice from Ideal in the past year. Both times my shipments arrived 100% alive and thriving. And you can't beat Ideal's prices!

My first shipment consisted of two goslings and a bunch of "packing peanuts" (production red roosters, in my case). The goslings were sexed correctly and grew up into beautiful adults. (I feel I should note here that, to my knowledge, Ideal is the only hatchery that will sell single sexed geese.) My brown Chinese goose lays an egg every other day! I kept two packing peanuts and they grew up into the most incredible roosters ~ calm, friendly, beautiful, and protective. I wish I still had them but they died valiantly to save their flock.

My second shipment was 13 female ducklings. All 13 arrived active and healthy. There was one sexing error, and I ended up with one drake, but you know, that is not a big deal, and mistakes happen. I was impressed that my order (1 or 2 of many different breeds) arrived exactly as I had requested it. I have ordered from other hatcheries that consistently seem to mess up when it comes to putting the right quantities of the right breeds into the box. All the ducks are a year old now and they are beautiful representations of their breeds.

I would not hesitate to order from Ideal again!

I have ordered from Ideal 4 times in the past 6 years. I did lose 2 chicks from one order but all the rest have thrived. That order had 3 extra chicks and an extra duckling. I didn't report the loss because I still got more than my original order.
I think Ideal goes above and beyond to ensure the customer is satisfied with their orders.

I have been breeding livestock for over 20 years. I have traveled the US in search of "good" livestock for my farm. I have always taken great pride in what I raise and sell. I do not go to auctions to buy, therefore I know where all my animals come from that are not bred here. This past spring I needed 2 new bloodlines of chickens for my farm. I have 21 breeds of NPIP birds. I needed a new rooster for my Silver Laced Wyandottes and a couple of new pullets for my Barred Rocks. I normally order from Cackle if I need something new but since my former feed store was ordering some chicks from here they asked if I needed anything. I said yes since I would not have to buy more birds than I wanted to meet the requirements from Cackle or any other hatchery. I ordered 5 barred rock pullets and 5 SLWyandotte cockerels..Boy was I surprised after about 3 months...None of the cockerels had rose combs...all straight combs and actually had lots of brownish/red color in them. The pullets were faded grey like roosters were and not dark at all like good quality Barred Rock hens have. I called Ideal on 4 different occassions and had to leave messages for "Russ" who I was told would be the only one to correct the problem. Well that was in April and it is now almost December and never recieved one single phone call. First of all the customer service was a joke and the quality of birds was a bigger joke. Needless to say those birds were culled and no longer exist on my farm. I understand that they contract with outside breeders in order to get their hatching eggs just like all the hatcheries do but come on ...not one phone call...And at this point, I am still need of a SL Wyandotte rooster..I have run adds all around the neighboring states and not one reply..That is sad...0 out of 5 correct roosters...Pathetic...I will never ever buy from them again. I am opening a small organic farm store this next spring and I will offer birds from my own flocks as "chick days" to ensure that my customers get what they pay for....When people get as many messages from me and dont return the call...it wasnt missplaced...they ignored the call and dont want to fix the problem...with companies like that ....we are all just another paying customer and if we dont come back then no loss...they will just get another customer that was not satisfied with the birds they got from another supplier...It is a vicious cycle...Just remember good views and negative views come from all sorts of people. Nothing is ever perfect...If you want it done right....do it yourself...I will next year as soon as I can get a "clean" rooster!!

WOW! what an experience. All my chicks arrived alive and healthy. I ordered 20 straight run standard blue cochins, and 5 cuckoo maran pullets. On the website, it stated that the marans were no longer available, but when i placed my order on the phone, the lady said that she would make it happen, and she did! I did have one of my maran chicks that arrived spraddle legged, but with some hobbles and three days, she was good to go. I ordered the Cochins straight run because i was hoping to get at least one rooster of each color (black, blue, and splash) wouldnt you know... i did! And those are the only males i got. They gave me two extra cochins, and out of the 22 i recieved, only three were males. They all have beautiful leg feathering, except one of the splash hens. In total, there were three black, three splash, and the rest were all blue. Some of them are dark blue, and some are light blue.

Another thing, I had the order date set for 10/10/12. i recieved a call on 10/01/12 asking if i would be okay with them shipping them 10/02/12... i was pleasantly shocked :-) they even got my marans early, so i said absolutly!

The birds are now 2 1/2 weeks old and all are doing fantastic. They are very pretty chicks with loads of personality. I will be placing any future orders for chicks with them from now on. I will say that their customer service on one of the calls i made left something to be desired, but all the rest of the people i spoke with were very helpful and friendly. I am so pleased with the quality of the chicks i recieved from Ideal!

First I would like to clarify that while this was my first order from Ideal, we have successfully raised chicks from a variety of local stores in the past.

For my birthday in July I received 30 random bantams from Ideal. Although they arrived quickly, within the first 72 hours I started having casualties.
When I called Ideal, I believe no more than 7 days after the chicks had shipped, I was told that they could do nothing about it since the 4 days since hatching for which they guarantee the chicks had passed. I asked if there was anything that they could do about it and I was told no again. Since then, I have had more sudden deaths and we are now down to 21 chicks, a pretty high mortality rate. However, the chicks that are left have been doing great, hence the neutral review.

PROS:
Fast and reasonable shipping (unlike its competitors)
Excellent variety in the random order (hardly any two chicks look alike)
Great prices (look for their weekly specials or subscribe to their mailers)
They may add extra chicks (not just packing peanuts)

CONS:
Poor customer service (make sure you read the fine print)
High mortality rate with bantams
Some chicks exhibit DQ features such as vulture hawks (They claim the chicks aren't show quality and I don't plan on showing them, but FYI)

Posted on August 24, 2012, updated August 28, 2012
I've never written a nasty letter to someone until now. Customer service person was making one assumption after another, saying I did not report losses of an order on time (I did it the day they arrived) and then disregarded en total another set of messages I had been dealing with concerning another order where a large amount of birds had died unexplained. Also referred to me by my first name, but never left their name which I find particularly disrespectful to customers. Either tell me your name or call me by my title or Mr., not as you would a child in familiarity. If you are going to refer to someone with familiarity then you should treat them as such, not like they are trying to pull something or get away with something. Very very disappointed, and this was not the first time either. Therefore, the negative experience stands as such.

I ordered 25 assorted bantams in a special that Ideal was offering. Including shipping, I only spent $1.38 per chick. Instead of getting 25, they sent 29!!! All chicks arrived alive and chirping up a storm. Seem to all be very healthy even though we live over 1,200 miles away in Michigan! Not only that, but they arrived to us in one day! Have already sent in another order for 25 more chicks to be sent next week. Thank you, Ideal!!!

I placed an order for a variety of 10 hens at the end of January. The ten I ordered plus an additional 15 for warmth appeared healthy upon arrival. I did lose one within the first week, but with so many thriving I simply can't complain. They are continuing to grow like crazy and seem healthy. The only thing that could have been a problem is that I requested that they be delivered at the end of February, but I ended up getting them the first week in February. Thank goodness I was so excited for their arrival. I had things ready to go early on so it worked out fine for me. I am thinking about ordering some ducklings and Ideal will be my source if they still have them available when I am ready to purchase.

I have ordered ducks and chicks from Ideal 5 times at all different times of the year. I just got a shipment of 18 chicks, 12 I ordered and 6 male warmer chicks. All are healthy and happy and full of energy. I have never had a DOA or sick peep in any shipment. I would highly recommend Ideal. I would not order from any other hatchery.

This review is for my 3rd order with Ideal Poultry. I have ordered from them in the past, mainly based on reviews I found here, and have been a happy customer.

I am 1500 miles across the country from Ideal Poultry. With the recent heat wave, I was unsure if my baby chicks would be okay in transit. They packed the chicks very well for the weather conditions with lots of room and air holes.

Ideal shipped 26 bantams on Wed. when it was 100 degrees in TX, and all 26 made it alive Friday morning to Southern California, despite the record heat across the country. With my two previous orders, I did not receive any extra chicks, but when there were a couple losses the second time, they credited my account, no problem. This was the first time they have sent an extra chick in one of the shipments. 26 made it, but one was very lethargic, and didn't make it past the 2nd day.

I am very pleased with Ideal poultry's customer service. When I ordered their "last hour assorted bantam special" on Wednesday, July 20th, I ordered over the phone. They were friendly and helpful, eventhough it was hatching/ shipping day and just before closing.

In the past I have just ordered cochins from them, but I tried the last minute assortment on a whim. It had a really nice variety. Cochins are my favorite breed and I was delighted to receive seven different colors of them, plus a bunch of other nice clean legged breeds. I will be ordering from them again in the future.

I had recently placed an order for 9 baby chicks just enough to meet their $25 minimum. Flash forward to Friday when my chicks arrived. Instead of me picking up the chicks when they arrived, the post office smart as they are delivered it instead. Now there was a note that said to call on arrival, but I guess they can't see because they obviously didn't do that. So I opened the box and half of them were dead and the rest were one the verge of dying. I called Ideal Poultry to report the problem immediately. They said to feed them some sugar water and to call them Tuesday for the total count of death. Tuesday came around called to tell them that 7 of the 9 chicks didn't survived they said that they will refund me all the chicks that died even though it wasn't even their fault. They had great customer service, I will order from them in the future.

I ordered 24 straight run bantam chicks, they came, they were in terrible shape (cold & weak) lost a bunch of them within the first 24 hours. I reported the problem to Ideal right after they arrived, they sent my replacement chicks about 2 months later with a bunch of live warmer chicks. They didn't have the correct replacements so I got a mixed group of chicks, this screws up my plans to pair my bantams up for breeding pure bred chicks to sell locally. (I still haven't figured out exactly what some of these mis-matched purebreds are suppose to be but I think half of them are hens! There were 2 dead chicks smashed in the bottom of the box and from the smell they had been dead a while. Lost 2 more within 48 hours. They did refund part of my money, thus the reason I didn't rate them a Negative. The bantam chicks that survived are now 3 and 5 months old and doing well. My latest disappointment starts with 83% of the bantam chicks turned out to be roosters. WTF? 50% is average for hens to roosters in any breed but 17% hens tells me Ideal lied, they sexed the "straight run" and I got screwed! I would not trust the company again in that respect. I now have a bunch of roosters without hens and Hens without a rooster of the same breed that I have raised and put time and money into and I haven't even been able to sell them. I went and reread my coorispondence with Ideal while I was writing this review and I complained before the last chicks came that I thought they had given me far to many roosters, that is probably why I got 50% hens.

As for individual breed quality:
Black Crested White Polish are not anywhere true to color, most are gray/blue with white or mixed colored crests. The one that is closest to being even close to the correct color has a black crest and is more a dirty white with dark gray spots on its chest. Last spring we purchased 6 polish pullets/hens from a feed store that purchased them from Ideal. We ended up with 3 hens & 3 roosters. The feed store didn't take responsibility. Now that I have purchased direct from Ideal I know it wasn't the feed stores error, they trusted Ideal as I did.
Blue Quail Belgian d Anver: I ended up with three roosters. The breed is suppose to have rose combs but one rooster clearly has a single comb and the other two look more like pea combs. This doesn't seem to me like a "pure bred" breed when they have such huge differences in combs.
Partridge Silkie are not true to color, I ended up with only 2 live chicks, both turned out to be roosters and they look nothing alike other them both having shades of redish-brown and black in them. Two pure bred birds of the same sex and breed should look alike.
White Frizzle Cochin. They are beautiful birds but I was hoping to keep a breeding threesome and sell the others. I ended up with only one female and only one bird that actually looks frizzled, so all the others just look like white Cochin's, which doesn't help their sell-ability.

I saw the weekly special for assorted ducklings on the website very late. I called the day before it ended in hopes that I could still get them (20 ducklings for 46$, which included shipping). The rep was very friendly, and told me they might even be shipped out that day. So I placed the order, and two days later the post office called at 6am (Feb 10th) to let me know they had arrived. I was a bit nervous during the drive, considering these things had come from Texas. I'm in MN, and the temp had been about -10 degrees that morning. The post office clerk and I were both really excited to look in the box, and I must say I've never seen shipped birds that energetic before. They all tried jumping out of the box! I counted them and was surprised to see 22 birds instead of 20, and about half had large, fluffy, crests on them! The assortment included a khaki Campbell, a Rouen, Blue Swedish, Black Swedish, and Buff Ducks. It's been over 2 weeks, and the only thing I don't like is the ducklings energy. They eat, drink, and mess non-stop, and are growing at an amazing rate! I will definitely be ordering from Ideal again this spring. Keep up the awesome work! Thanks!

Posted on December 3, 2008, updated February 14, 2011
I ordered 10 Australorp chicks at the beginning of September. A week later, I added 4 Americauna pullets with no problems. The customer service rep was very cheerful and helpful. They arrived on the correct date and everyone was in excellent shape. I've had them now for two months and all are growing well and are healthy. I will order from them again because of the great condition of the chicks, the ability to change your order before they are shipped and the great customer service.

I've ordered from this company and plan to place another order soon. All of my chicks and guineas arrived healthy. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff....a real pleasure to do business with. Thanks Ideal Poultry for all of your help, tips and advice!