Any Experience w/orders from Paris Farmers Union?

[TheGreenManFarm]

Anyone ordered from Paris Farmers Union and feeling willing to share their experience? I'm looking at them specifically for Araucana pullets and (maybe) Embden goslings. I've read plenty of warnings that large hatcheries or retailers sell Araucanas, Easter Eggers, and Ameraucana or Americana hybrids as though they're one and the same, so before I commit it'd be rad if anyone who has ordered from them (bonus points for ordering their Araucanas) would share experience or photos.

 

[keesmom]

@keesmom So you're saying I should trust the internet warnings haha. Google wins!

Yes, feed store "Araucanas" and "Americanas" will always be Easter Eggers. The price will be a clue too, as you can't find Araucanas and Ameraucanas for $3 a chick.

Are you interested in raising Araucanas for the breed or the blue eggs? If you want them for the breed itself you should check into the breed club page http://www.abec.us/ for membership info and there's a link to their FB page.

If you just want blue eggs, there are other options. Meyer, MPC and Cackle offer true Ameraucanas. Cackle has them in several varieties. However it will cost roughly $20 per pullet chick.

Cream Legbars are another blue egg layer offered by those same hatcheries. Those are about $25 per pullet chick.

MPC also has bluebars and super blue egg layers, at about the same cost. McMurray has Whiting true blues. They have a Leghorn build but come in a multitude of colors and patterns. They're $5. I have a few and they all do lay blue eggs.

There's nothing wrong with Easter Eggers either. Yes, they do not all lay blue eggs. Some do but they're more likely to lay green. Brown or pink is also possible. But they are common, easy to find and not expensive. They come in a myriad of colors and patterns, and I can always tell which egg came from which hen just by it's color.

 

[keesmom]

If you want true Araucanas you will have to find a breeder. While a few hatcheries do carry true Ameraucanas, none will have Araucanas. They are a difficult breed to hatch.

 

[TheGreenManFarm]

@keesmom So you're saying I should trust the internet warnings haha. Google wins!

 

[TheGreenManFarm]

@keesmom While I am a pretty big fan of protecting the reputation, health, purity and standards of rare breeds, in this particular case my primary motive is to get a little splash of color to mix into every dozen white or brown eggs I sell. The $3 Araucana seemed too good to be true, Google gave me a whole heap of examples of EE's being hawked under the Araucana, Americana or Ameraucana labels, and you've helped solidify my reservations. However, you also made a great point about the EE's... I actually felt a bit guilty after reading it, I realized I was maybe being a little unfair in my attitude towards them. Sometimes I subconsciously associate unpredictability with a likelihood of problems, and maybe I was defaulting to the notion that a half dozen purebred blue layers would be more predictable than EE's "surprise sucka!" potential.

Thank you for also sharing the links and references for the others. Unfortunately, even though I moved to Maine from Oregon 6 months ago and have filled out a change of address 5 times since then, the local post office randomly has what they claim to be a computer glitch and resets my address back to Oregon. Which means without warning all my incoming mail starts being automatically forwarded to my former address in Oregon, and I only learn about it when someone calls me to ask me if I moved because something they sent me has been returned. Since this has happened 5 times (most recently in March) I am, understandably I think, extremely reluctant to order chicks or ducklings to be mailed to me via USPS. I've just got zero confidence in the postal service in Maine not forwarding my chicks or ducklings to Oregon! That's why I was specifically interested in Paris Farmers Union, there's one 40 minutes from me so the chicks would go to them and I would go to the store and pick them up. Similarly I'll be driving to Massachusetts to pick up six rare breed ducklings in May, I found a really great ethical small flock breeder. I am taking no risks with my chicks and ducklings.

All of which is to say, I went ahead and ordered a few of the "Araucana" pullets from Paris Farmers Union. Granted they'll almost certainly be Easter Eggers, but they'll arrive safely, they'll give my cartons a little splash of color (maybe more than one color), and I have spent hours and hours researching the health of the Easter Eggers (and PFU's reputation). I feel a lot more confident about the latter's reliability as a source, and as I said above I think my initial attitude towards the EE's was just unfairly skittish. Plus this gives me a year to either fix the postal service in Maine so that next Spring I feel safe having purebred rare breed blue layers shipped to me, or to find someone in New England I feel comfortable ordering from and driving to in order to pick up my chicks the way I am with the ducklings. So, really, everyone's winning, and I am deeply appreciative of your input. Thank you!

 

[tiffnichole20]

Easter Eggers are such a fun breed! I’ve had nothing but good times with my pretty little hen. She lays an egg a day and they’re a pretty pale green. She’s also a pretty easy keeper & did pretty well this past winter. She’s got a pretty good temperament too & loves being babied

 

[lazy gardener]

Which PFU are you talking about? Newport? I've been to that store, and can speak well of it. I was there late in the chick season last year. They had a huge area out back where they were brooding chicks of various breeds. I was impressed with their set up, but less so with the management of the birds. From where I was standing, blocked off from them by a fair distance. I could see several chicks with obvious pasty butt. That being said, if you can get the chicks soon after they are delivered to the store, that is your best bet.

Agreed with other posters. You will NEVER see an Araucana at a feed store, and likely not even at a hatchery. They are rare.

Ameraucana are now carried and correctly labeled at some hatcheries. But you will not find an Ameraucana unless you pay more than $10 for a pullet chick. So, you will most likely receive EE from PFU or from any other feed store. I love EE, and consider them to have a permanent place in my flock.