Bad Experience with Bresse Farms in Pontotoc, MS

[Nolakennedys]

I ordered 24 American Bresse hatching eggs from this place. I did not see the negative reviews and don't do FB anymore. Out of 24 only 10 hatched. The chicks were all weak and I had to nurse a few the first 24hrs and frankly were afraid they would die. Fortunately they all made it. I will not order any more from them. They sent one extra egg, but it was larger than the others and old and watery and not fertile. I had a total of 8 unfertilized eggs from the rest and the rest just did not make. I kept them to day 26.

 

[Nolakennedys]

 

[NCFDeanna]

Anyone local to the farm would be able to pick up eggs or chicks, so there would be no issues with shipping. They would probably have higher survival rates with chicks, and higher hatch rates with eggs.

Of course, it could also be that the people with good experiences happen to be collecting there (FB), and the people with less-good experiences happen to be collecting here (BYC).

It could also be their friends.

 

[NCFDeanna]

This is just not right! That's why I am saying something and refusing the "Refund" I was offered.
Before getting excited about the arrival of my "Healthy chicks", I decided to wait and see how they grow out. The following is the edited email that I sent Bresse Farms (because its a lot to retype but I wanted you to be able to read it). Note- I haven't culled the rest of the flock yet, because it kills me to do so, when I still have (unrealistic) hope. However, today another one of my babies has come down with the exact same symptoms! Apparent injured wing, then unable to walk, then gasping for air... Mind you, I built a very large living space in MY FINISHED BASEMENT to keep them out of the coop in what is usually a harsh Michigan winter. Then, I moved them out and provided heat in mid Feb (Michigan was weird this year).
Also, every new brood goes into a cleaned, sanitized coop with NO access to my other chickens. Sorry, no offense, I need to be certain it's safe before introductions, and I'm glad I do!
In my 15 years of raising chickens, this has never happened to me, and currently, I have A LOT of chickens. I prided myself on my abilty to save chickens, and never lose them. I truly care for my birds, all of them. I also have never had them shipped, and drive to breeders in two states. The chicks did arive healthy, so I was pretty content at the moment... I have NEVER had this experience. People NEED to speak up. So, here we go...

I ordered eleven American Bresse chicks from Bresse Farms in June 2022, and because it wasn't clearly stated otherwise when I ordered them, was expecting them within a couple weeks at most. I decided to reach out and they told me they would be coming in the first week of September. September came and went and when I called, they told me October and I had no other contact, but then they suddenly arrived in November. But to be honest, I understand they're very busy and I wasn't even that upset about the lack of communication. That being sad, I did make it clear back in July when I spoke to Justin that I live in Michigan and I was concerned about the cold winter but if they were coming in september that's manageable. Obviously, with them arriving in November I had to brood them in the house for much longer than I expected. Still, I was optimistic and extremely understanding. That being said, out of the eleven chicks that I received 3 of them had black markings on them, and there were 2 mystery chicks. So out of the eleven we have three that we can't breed. But then the chicks, as they grew out, started having health issues and they were not exposed to any other chickens at any point in their life, and actually spent most of their life in my house. So far I have had two that I have had to cull due to paralysis type situations, and one that died on its own rather suddenly at about two months old. As far as the sick chickens, I am almost one hundred percent certain that it is Marek's disease, but I can't justify spending two hundred dollars per bird for the necropsy to prove it, given that I've already spent over a hundred and sixty dollars on this small flock from them. While I absolutely do appreciate the 2 other breeds that they sent me, that's not what I ordered, and not what I paid for. And, now realistically I am going to have to cull my entire order.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE listen. It's just not right, and my heart is broken for these chicks.

 

[NCFDeanna]

I need to add, the reviews I see on Google are mostly about new chicks. You need to watch your chicks grow out before reviewing.

 

[Nolakennedys]

Out of the 10 of mine that hatched, at 7 weeks I have had two become lethargic and just die. Also plenty of room, keep the coop very clean and clean food/water with oregano oil in water. One is acting like mites are on it now, have it isolated and will treat everything for mites. (Coop/Flock)

 

[cam1963]

I would have ordered some Bresse chicks from these folks, but I'm at 56 chicks/chickens already. I was planning to order from them next spring though.. .until now. Thanks for everybody's input.

 

[Christina G]

I had a terrible experience with Bresse Farms (bressefarms.com) in Pototoc, MS. I ordered 20 Swedish Flower Hen chicks @ $9.99 each on 2/9/21 totaling $259.80 (including $60 for shipping.) I contacted them about a shipping date and Justin (owner) said they were shooting for shipment on 3/8/21. All good! The chicks actually ended up shipping two months later on 4/6/21. So shipping got delayed by a month. That's okay, I know things happen. They were received on 4/8/21. There were 21 chicks - 1 deceased on arrival, 20 others active and healthy. Shipping box was great. Two heat packs and four cups filled with growgel. I thought everything was great until I started inspecting these chicks more carefully. I soon found out my order was completely wrong. Here's what I received:

11 Rhode Island Reds
6 Swedish Flower Hens (2 with vaulted skulls)
2 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes
1 Blue Bresse
1 Mystery Chick (Deceased, did not examine)

Once I realized I had a bunch of Rhode Island Reds in the order, I contacted Justin (owner). I sent him high quality photos of the chicks and asked politely if there was a mistake because these look like Rhode Island Reds. Keep in mind this farm also raises Bresse (black, blue, white), Rhode Island Reds, and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. He reassured me there was no mistake and that I had 20 Swedish Flower Hens. However, contradicting himself he did say there should be 4-5 RIRs there for additional warmth. Well, I only received one extra chick. He said to let them develop and if they made a mistake they would make it right. I left it at that for the time being, but started speaking with Swedish Flower Hen breeders. All of them said these were definitely not Swedish Flower Hens. I then examined the chicks further and found two Blue Laced Red Wyandottes in the group. Their flat combs made it obvious. Lastly, I realized a blue chick was growing larger than the others and had blue legs and beak. Swedish Flowers legs/beaks should be yellow or white. It is definitely a blue Bresse. There were also two chicks with vaulted skulls. I believe these are Swedish Flower Hens. However, this is a trait culled for, but normally you would not get these in the first place as it comes from breeding crested to crested. Only non-crested should be bred to crested so you do not have this problem. The remaining four chicks appear to be Swedish Flower Hens.

After learning all this, I contacted Justin for the second time and called him out on it. He finally admitted that they were Rhode Island Reds. He claimed my order got messed up from a computer system error and that I instead received 9 RIRs and 11 SFHs. Well that was not correct either. He forgot to explain why there are 11 RIRs, 2 BLRWs, and 1 BB chick as well. When I sent him photos clearly showing BLRWs, he admitted that they definitely were BLRWs. He did not comment on the blue Bresse chick. Not only did he reassure me the first time I asked (and sent photos) that there was no mistake, but the packing label on my box also says 21 Swedish Flower Hens. I do not believe this was an accident. I believe he did not have 20 Swedish Flower Hens to fulfill my order, so instead sent what he had on hand. My order had been delayed one month and he also told me in March that they had poor hatch rates at that time due to weather. I have since be made aware that I'm not the only one who has had this same issue from other customers of Bresse Farms.

Bresse Farms has refunded me $120 of the $259.80 I paid them, as of now. Only 6 are the breed I ordered and 2 of those have vaulted skulls (culls). So I should get back at least $140 for the 14 I did not receive. Justin said he would send the remaining $20, but as of now has not. To say I'm disappointed in my experience with Bresse Farms is an understatement. I'm now left to care for and find homes for almost my entire order, along with being out $140!

I ordered a mixed batch of Bresse chicks from them also, and 3 died within 2 days of arrival, unfortunately the ones that were more dark colors which I wanted and one dark one is a dwarf compared to the others, short stumpy legs, 1/3 of the size of all my other Bresse and the Bresse from them. Is very wierd. And someone is laying speckled eggs…which from what I’ve read means someone is NOT a Bresse and I’m not as familiar with all breeds to tell which. The entire order also shipped out a month later than when I originally was told which made me have to scramble to procure a second housing apparatus as I had bought a local batch of chicks to line up altogether and couldn’t merge them until later when they were fully grown. had sent them photos of the dead ones and got no response or refund and they’re pretty pricy compared to all local breeders I’ve ever bought from so he loss and dwarf and a possible mix in the flock is pretty disappointing.

 

[Turbo chickens]

I also had a horrible experience with Bresse Farms and Justin. I didn't do my research and was interested in American Bresse. I ordered live chicks first and couldn't get a straight answer as to when I would receive them. (I should have quit then, but ordered hatching eggs instead)
Out of 24 eggs only 10 hatched. 10 were no good at first candeling. Complete duds. These were not the first American Bresse I had. My first I purchased from a local breeder whose birds came from Greenfire. I could tell there was a definite difference as they grew. Then I looked into Bresse Farms a little closer. Told Justin since I haven't received my chick order and they can't tell me when it will ship, I wanted to cancel. Suddenly my order was going to be shipped in a few days. He lied. It was 3 to 4 weeks later and I kept telling him to cancel. He refused every time.
I received 10 chicks and 2 died within a week. The other 8 all "blues" and blacks. The coloring is bad on all of them. The blacks had gold hackle feathers. A white from the hatched chicks had black bleed and another white looked like someone penciled all his feathers with a dirt marker. Justin called that one a splash hen. It was clearly a rooster, poorly bred. In his own words "I am a producer not a breeder". The man needs to stop ripping people off.