Wrong birds sent-should I expect anything from hatchery?

[Horsern]

I have a question about a wrongly filled order of chicks. I realize this year was a big year for all hatcheries so don’t want to be petty but I am 90% sure my order got messed up and I got the wrong breeds for some of it. They are all very healthy and I’m pleased with that. The question is, if you’ve had wrong orders in the past, have you asked for the correct birds? Money back? Nothing? Just curious what you’ve all experienced. I would wait until they were older yet to be sure if I were to say anything to them.

 

[Iluveggers]

It depends. What was your order? Where did you order from? Do they substitute if your order is short? What chicks/how many do you think are the wrong breed?

 

[Folly's place]

We've had this happen twice; once from MurrayMacMurray, and once from Cackle. Given the numbers of chicks shipped daily, it's easy to understand how this might happen. Both times, called, sent pictures, and had the right chicks sent at no charge, rather than taking the offered refund.
Call your hatchery and ask!
Mary

 

[AprilWC]

It can vary by hatchery. Some have a policy where they will sub in chicks of a different breed if they aren't able to fill your order. I would probably reach out to the hatchery with a picture of what you received and just phrase it as "I was expecting X breed, I just want to make sure I received the correct chicks".

 

[Horsern]

It depends. What was your order? Where did you order from? Do they substitute if your order is short? What chicks/how many do you think are the wrong breed?

It is Mt. Healthy and they had been very nice to me when I added on to my order the week before they shipped and all birds are healthy. I had ordered some cream legbars and a black copper marans which arrived correctly and then there was supposed to be 4 Rhode Island blues and 1 blue Jersey giant. There are 4 that appear to be black jersey giants and 2 which look like they could be the RIB. (They sent an extra) They are all black right now but have some brown coming on their chest. I’m going to wait a bit longer in case they happen to feather out differently but I’m pretty sure there are 4 BJG. I’m not super upset but was def looking forward to the blue giant.

 

[Horsern]

It can vary by hatchery. Some have a policy where they will sub in chicks of a different breed if they aren't able to fill your order. I would probably reach out to the hatchery with a picture of what you received and just phrase it as "I was expecting X breed, I just want to make sure I received the correct chicks".

I had been in contact with them about a week after I got them to see if they could help me identify them since I was splitting an order with a friend and wasn’t sure what I had. They weren’t 100% sure either but I also don’t blame them too much as chicks can def look similar early on.

 

[Iluveggers]

It is Mt. Healthy and they had been very nice to me when I added on to my order the week before they shipped and all birds are healthy. I had ordered some cream legbars and a black copper marans which arrived correctly and then there was supposed to be 4 Rhode Island blues and 1 blue Jersey giant. There are 4 that appear to be black jersey giants and 2 which look like they could be the RIB. (They sent an extra) They are all black right now but have some brown coming on their chest. I’m going to wait a bit longer in case they happen to feather out differently but I’m pretty sure there are 4 BJG. I’m not super upset but was def looking forward to the blue giant.

Sometimes blue can be pretty dark. I ordered a blue bird (from another company) last year and thought for sure she would be charcoal color. She has since lightened up into a dark grey but definitely different from my Black Marans. If the brown is coming through they can’t be BJG, the RIB can definitely have the lighter red/brown leakage.

 

[AprilWC]

So in regards to blue, they don't breed true. Most hatcheries have a disclaimer that when ordering blue birds you could also receive black or splash. Some lines of Jersey Giants do have brown or red leakage (which shouldn't be bred, but some people don't care), so again it's possible.

 

[Iluveggers]

Just looked on their website. The BJG look black in the pic, but the adult looks grey.

 

[Horsern]

Just looked on their website. The BJG look black in the pic, but the adult looks grey.

This is exactly what my chicks looked like when they arrived but they also use the same photo for the Black jersey giants so . I’ve only found a couple pics of blue giant chicks on other pages and they are lighter chicks but I am sure they can vary quite a lot.