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

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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 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!

I placed my order on their website - idealpoultry.com It is an easy to use site that SHOWS ALL THE CHARGES BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR C.C. number in - I demand that or I don't go any further!

I ordered 13 Black Australorps, 12 New Hampshire Reds and the 25 assorted bantam special.

My order shipped when they said it would, and arrived 2 days later! The BAs and the NHRs were fine and all there with no extras. The 25 bantam special had 1 extra added, but the 2 sultans did not survive the trip. :-( They would have credited my account, but I really only lost 1 that I paid for and since they were only 99 cents each, I did not even bother them.

6 weeks later all the birds are healthy and happy. I have another order coming this week - the surprise special - 25 full size pullets for only $1.40 each.

Ideal offers great prices and I could not be happier with their service and quality birds. Years ago as a kid I won Grand Champion at our state fair 2 years in a row with some of their birds.

I ordered 16 chicks from ideal poultry of mixed breeds. 8 Sultans, 4 silkies, 3 amerucanas and 1 mallard. I got 9 sultans and 2 amerucanas which could have been a problem for some people but we didn't mind too much. I was a little annoyed that I was asked to choose a shipping date and after payment they said I would recieve the chicken 2 weeks after that date but with the mixed breeds I could understand. The chickens arrived the day Ideal Poultry said they would arrive and most importantly they arrived in perfect health! No males were added to the box to keep them warm and not one little chick died............So to me that deserves a very positive review.

Hi all - I have been buying and raising chicks for over 50 years, after discovering Idea Poultry about a year ago I do not have plans of buying chick's any where but from them. I've placed 3- orders with them this year totaling 70 birds, with 100% of them beening the liveliest, healthiest little birds you could hope for. There real down to earth my kind of people.I sell for a four store John Deere dealership. I've told our 14 man sells staff that I think Idea puts as much effort into sell a batch of 25 chicks as we do sometimes in selling a $200,000.00 Tractor. I plan on buying more birds as I go along and I do know where I will get them

I recently decided to come back to this website and add a positive comment about Ideal Poultry. I was somewhat skeptical of Ideal’s ability to deliver healthy, thriving chicks, after reading some of the negative comments on this thread. So I thought I would tell of my experience so maybe a few additional people will give them a chance.

I ordered 15 Buff Orpington pullets about three weeks ago. I promptly (about 2 hours later) received an email from one of their sales associates stating my chicks would be shipped out the following Wednesday. On Tuesday afternoon, I received an email they had been shipped. On Thursday morning, I received a phone call from the local post office that they had arrived. We immediately drove over and picked them up. To my pleasant surprise, there were exactly 15 baby chicks in a small box, all very active. We took them home and put them in their small chick enclosure with some Dumor’s chick starter feed, a heat lamp and lukewarm sugar water. Boy, were they thirsty and hungry!! We have had them for a little over a week and so far so good. All chicks are very healthy and active.

A few small, humble pieces of advice when ordering online:

1. Only place small chick orders in the summertime. They need to be warm and have a much better chance of surviving the trip.
2. You might want to stick with the more common breeds when ordering online. I have noticed the exotic ones tend to have more problems when shipped via mail.
3. Call your post office beforehand and alert them. They will appreciate it and are more likely to call and alert you that they have arrived.
4. Have their pen set up before they arrive – you want to make food and water available to them as soon as you can.

This all might seem like common sense, but I have learned a well-laid plan almost always yields the best results. Enjoy those chickens!!

Attempted to order, on a week-end, 20 RIR pullets online for the June 23rd hatch. The website would not take my order... sent an e-mail. Received an e-mail and two phone calls on Monday. Ordered the 20 pullets over the telephone; received 21 of them early on June 24th. These were the liveliest, healthiest, easiest to brood chicks that I had ever encountered. Five weeks into their raising and all remain vibrant, healthy, and very active. I was especially concerned about the East Texas heat and humidity; however, they have handle it well. Simply put, I'm impressed.

We have ordered probably over 200 chicks from Ideal. Out of that 200, maybe 5 have died. Only 1 out of the 5 died in transit. Of the remaining 4, Ideal replaced all in the next shipment. They have been prompt, courteous and very professional. I would not hesitate to order from them and recommend them to all.

Posted on April 16, 2009, updated May 20, 2010
My chicks & ducks just came in at 6 this morning- made it here (VT) from Texas in less than 24 hours! I'm happy to say that every bird in the box survived the trip and they're all doing well so far- very active happy little babies! One of the breeds I ordered was somehow out of stock (even though I ordered in January, they notified me 2 weeks ago that they did not have this breed... I thought ordering should be first-come, first-served) and I think I may have gotten an extra barred rock instead of a GLW... but oh well, my order was small and consisted of a lot of different breeds so I can understand if it got a little mixed up. Overall, I'm happy!

Posted on May 4, 2009, updated April 20, 2010
I recently placed an order to be shipped to a family member in another state. Since this is the first time I have ever ordered poultry I had no idea what I was doing, so I emailed Ideal and they were very helpful. I received an order stating that my order would ship on Wednesday and would get there within 2 days and sure enough they were there on Thursday. They 4 turkeys, 2 ducks and 11 roosters were in good help and chirping away when they arrived. My family member was so impressed that he plans to purchase all poultry from Ideal from now on.

Lost a few chicks out of my order shortly after delivery. I contacted Ideal and they were great. My replacement shipment is being shipped out just a few days after my contact with them. They have been very professional and polite. I intead to be a repeat customer next year!