Anyone ever use McCallum's Flock?

[kbgh]

I found them on one of the Poultry Auction sites. Checked out their website. Looked OK SO:

I bought 18 "Salmon Faverolle" eggs in Novermember, 2010. Arrived fast and carefully packed.

That was all that was good. of 18 eggs 3 hatched (6 were clear). Guess what I got 1 Faverolle hen and what appears to be 2 Plymouth Barred Rock hens.

I found this on their web site

Grab Bag Eggs - Simply put, this is a random mix of whatever odds and ends we might have at the moment. Breeds could include: Bantam Phoenix, Bantam Sumatra, Bantam Salmon Faverolles, Serama, Old English, Denizli, Silkies, Showgirls, and whatever else might be running around our place!

AND WHATEVER ELSE MIGHT BE RUNNING AROUND OUR PLACE

Guess that's what they send when they can't fill an order.

Very disappointed, very disgusted.

Contacting them got me a "Nobody else has had these problems" No offer of refund or replacements.​

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
AND WHATEVER ELSE MIGHT BE RUNNING AROUND OUR PLACE

Guess that's what they send when they can't fill an order.

Very disappointed, very disgusted.

Contacting them got me a "Nobody else has had these problems" No offer of refund or replacements.

That stinks. After this thread was started last year and the comments I made, they sent me more eggs for just the cost of shipping, and one hatched. When I contacted them, no response. I also take back what I said about that roo from last year being my best one. He was sweet, but his comb never did grow.

 

[Smallfarmer76]

I am not quite sure it is fair to blame the farms for eggs that don't hatch or hatch well. There are so many variables that are out of their control. I notice that no one ever seems to post what incubator they are using, whether it is a cheap styrofoam model or an $800 Dickey or GQF incubator. I think anyone that buys hatching eggs should know, it is a gamble and you are just hoping for the best, but be prepared for the worst. Just food for thought...

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
I have hatched MANY shipped eggs and others have hatched MANY eggs that I have shipped all over the country. Out of 4 shipments of eggs from them, 4 chicks have hatched. And they have been about the equivalent of hatchery quality, just a lot more expensive. I have hatched their eggs in three types of bators, one of which was a Dickey cabinet bator. You are absolutely correct about shipping hatching eggs, but I am well aware of that particular gamble, and that is why I feel I am justified to post here.

Normally, I do not blame people for poor hatch rates, but when it is very consistent across the board, and EVERYTHING I have heard about a particular source matches up with my own experiences, that's not the USPS, nor is it coincidence, IMO.

 

[kbgh]

While I agree shipping eggs can be risky. Claims of good hatches should be somewhat accurate.

A side note I just got my refund.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:

 

[Henferno]

Ouch. Well... my optimism is pretty much nil at this point, but has anyone had terrible luck with their banty Sumatras? I may still give them a go... dang... I wanted those Denizli...

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
I've only had the LF Faverolles from them.

 

[mmccallum]

A grab bag is a grab bag.
An order of a breed is an order of a breed.
If you ordered say 12 eggs sometimes we will contact the buyer and ask if they mind having a few xtra from another breed
just because their are not enough to sell.
We have been selling eggs for almost a decade on ebay, eggbid, and the pile of new sites.
Despite this, we have few negative feedbacks, look up frogmanatbac on Toolhaus.org (this is where you can check up on ebay sellers).

On a different note, we are planning to import birds from Europe, so in the next year some really cool stuff should pop up on our website.


It kind of bothers me when a person who sells faverolles starts posting comments specifically targeting one of their hypothetically competing producers.
Amazing. I have a good relationship with other's who show faverolles and we frequently trade eggs amongst us. In fact, we sold our white
faverolles to one of these sellers (forgot name, but do a net search and you should find the birds, they are not available in US).
Also, you know the huge silkie producer (Hattrick silkies), they got their showgirl and bantam faverolles stock from us.
At one time, we were the only producer of bantam faverolles with the blue and splash gene in the US, but many have it now, and we stopped carrying blues and splashes.

We take our poultry pretty seriously. I went to school for half a lifetime in agriculture and biology (BS, MS, PHD) and have been around chickens for 40 years.
The one thing I've learned from all of that education and time is that it is of little value, business or moral, to (1) sell poor stock, (2) give bad service, and (3) ignore complaints.
However, some people believe it is ok to exaggerate problems, communicate ill-will, and promote the appearance of bad business practices. If our hobby/operation/business was
that darn bad, we would not have repeat customers (let alone customers who repeat buy every year) and our ebay feedback would be far under 99% with a 5 star rating in every category.
Likewise, our eggbid rating was equally high.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

If you'll notice, the last time I posted anything, was a year ago. Why you are responding now, I have no idea. I posted my EXACT experience with you, and you'll note that as I said above, I only order LF Favs from you. Not the bantams, I have no idea what the quality of your bantams are. BUT I do know a quality Faverolles when I see one, and I know what kind of hatch rates people have gotten from the LF flock I have raised since my dealings with you.

The OP asked for people's experiences that they have had from dealing with you, and I responded according to MY experience, not the experience of others that I know nothing of. I do not personally know anyone else that has ever said they have ordered birds or eggs from you.

On a side note, ebay feedback gets left as soon as eggs arrive, as long as they aren't smashed, you would get positive feedback, that has nothing to do with hatch rates or the quality of the birds hatched.

That is all I am going to say on the subject.