Anyone order from Farwest hatchery out of Oregon??

[SewChaos]

So here's an update on my Farwest Experience. I did receive a call from the owner on last Wednesday, as expected. What wasn't expected is that my order didn't ship the day before. They didn't have the Light Sussex I ordered - or the Golden Laced Wyandottes. He wanted to know what I wanted as substitutes. I was surprised he was still filling ordered the day after the hatch.

We decided on subs and he assured me they'd ship that evening. They shipped that evening via Priority and I got a call from my PO the next morning that they had arrived. All were alive when I opened the box at the post office.

I had originally ordered 15 chicks. After the first conversation, we changed the 3 sexed black copper marans to 4 sr. So I should have received 16 chicks.

They sent 24. I wasn't set up for 8 extra chicks, so I had to scramble to find a big enough container. I ordered from them in part because they would ship fewer than 25 chicks, and even confirmed with the owner when I ordered that my order of 15 was enough. He confirmed that as well as saying that I didn't need to pay the small order fee, since I was shipping in late April. So I laughed at the note at the bottom of the packing slip that indicated he's added extra pullets because he needed 25 to ship safely.

When I received them, the chicks had green poo - which indicates that they were fed some sort of starter before they were shipped, there wasn't anything in the box.

I lost one of the "extra" chicks that night. She was a tiny little thing and wasn't perky to begin with. Last night ( week later) I lost another chick, she had a pasty butt and wasn't growing as well as the others. I did what I could and thought she was doing better, but not well enough.

My original order vs what I received:

Ameracauna - 2 pullets / rec'd 7
Rhode Island Red - 2 pullets / rec'd 4, lost 1.
Golden Laced Wyandotte - 2 pullets / subbed Blue Laced Red, rec'd 6, lost 1.
Black Copper Marans - 2 pullets & 1 cockerel / changed to 4 SR, rec'd 2 SR
Light Sussex - 2 pullets / rec'd none
Delaware - 2 pullets / rec'd 3
Dominique - 2 pullets / rec'd 2

If you include the extra chicks, and not the two losses, what I paid pretty much matches what I would have been charged for what I received.

Overall Opinion?
Would I order from them again? - Yes -

Their communication is horrible. I would call the day after they were supposed to ship to confirm. For me, the fact that the chicks were shipped from within the state, and the reduced shipping cost/time outweigh the hassle. So far the quality of the chicks have been what I expected. I assumed I'd lose one or two, and I did. All the rest of the chick are perky, scratching, eating and pooping like they should.

The prices on their chick are lower than the larger out-of-state hatcheries. Does that affect the quality of the chick? so far, no. but it does reflect on the quality of the customer service.

After reading the previous post, I wonder at the ages of some of the chicks. Being new to chicks I'm not sure, but a couple of the breeds certainly look younger than the others. The Marans and the Rhode Island Reds are tiny little things, while the Ameracaunas are almost twice as big, with much longer wing feathers.

Anyway, there's my two cents. I'll update it should my pullets turn out to be cockerels, or the chick grow up and not look like they should.

 

[angelbabyamy]

I was thinking about ordering some Cornish X from them, but maybe I should try somewhere else?

 

[angelbabyamy]

I learned yesterday that The Eugene Backyard Farmer (an urban farm store in, you guessed it, Eugene) is receiving their chicks from them this year. The last two weeks they've not received all the breeds they've ordered. When I asked them, they said it is FarWest's first full year as a full scale operation and that they are dealing with a learning curve. No one's complaining about the quality of the chicks, and they are finding out BEFORE they are supposed to receive them what they are (or are not) getting.

I'm willing to give them a chance, it's gotta be hard to figure it all out. I'll let you know how it turns out....

This is interesting to know. I drove to Eugene to get 4 Barnevelders and I also bought 2 Welsumners. I lost 3 Barnevelders at about 4 weeks. I haven't a clue why, they had food and water. Their growth has been very slow. They still are small for their ages. I have never lost any older chicks before. I really wanted those Barnevelders!

 

[SewChaos]

So here's another update. The chicks are 8 weeks old now.

1 of the Dominique pullets is actually a roo, as are 3 of the 7 Ameracuana pullets. I'm waiting one more week to see if any of the others start crowing, then I'll write a letter. Their policies state they need to be informed of sexing errors in writing, before 12 weeks.

If you add it all up, I'm completely annoyed and dismayed at the overall experience. I think my letter will explain all of the problems I've had. We'll see what (if anything) they choose to do about it.

 

[hokankai]

I ordered 5 pullets from them. They didn't have the breeds I wanted at ALL. After I got them one died right off the bat, Black sex-link, didn't grow and was weak. Another died from illness shortly after and one of them ended up being a cockerel. My RIR was just production reds as well. One year later all I have left from them is the production red, as the Golden comet I got from them died from being egg bound at only 6-8 months old.

I went to pick mine up the day we scheduled. Drove 1.5 hours to the "office" and NOBODY was there. I wasted my time and gas money. They called apologizing and offered to drive them up to Portland which is still a 30 minute trip. It was terrible trying to get a hold of them, and I had a sinking/eerie feeling while I was waiting for them at the pickup. The area had several flies and a metal shed where I could hear the chicks peeping away.

The place gave me the heeby-jeebies and I will never order from them ever again. I don't care how close they are. The reason I went with them was the breed variety but they didn't even have the special breeds I wanted and I ended up with sex-links and low quality common birds. Their communication is basically non-existent and they obviously need a few more years of practice before bringing paying customers into their mess of a business.

That's all I'm saying about that.

 

[angelbabyamy]

Thanks for the information, I probably won't order from them now.

 

[Steeler Chick]

I almost ordered from them two weeks agoand glad now I didn't. We could not reach them by phone to place the order and I wasn't going to just email my order. We tried for two days to contact them nothing. They aren't even set up with an answering machine. I ended up ordering mine from Murray McMurray in Iowa. Even though I am in Oregon they are suppose to only take two days to get here. I did have to order 25 which was more than I wanted but I do have plenty of room for them. I have a friend that orders from them and he has never lost a chick yet. So I am crossing my fingers.

 

[cjbuchholz]

I've tried on several occasions to order Cornish Cross meat chickens from them, but to no avail. No returned calls, e-mail, etc. I was able to make contact once via phone and the guy was very pleasant/polite so I had my hopes up. I live about 1/2 hour away, so would really like to order from them, but no luck. I've been calling (e-mailed once, as well) since July 5th (it's now July 12) and the message says, "out for the 4th of July" and will not let me leave a voicemail.

 

[Stadeli]

I too ordered from Farwest Hatchery.
I wanted to give the local guy a chance.
Out of the 12 chicks I ordered, 6 are confirmed roosters!
I would say their 90% accuracy rate is more like 50%.
I also got a brahma instead of a light sussex.
I am very frustrated that I have to get rid of these roosters, who is going to want them?
And that I will have half as many hens for eggs that should be ready to lay in September.
My friend ordered 8 chicks, 1 died, 1 is club footed & 1 is a rooster so far.
I have called twice a day & emailed them but no one will respond.
I will not order from them again.
Karen Stadeli

 

[Nelson-90]

I will add my 2 cents! I ordered my chicks over the phone I scheduled a pickup, and i was called early the morning of pick-up date and told that they would not be on the office and that the manager was bringing some ordered chicks to my local feed store and he would bring them by and call me before he got there. O.K I though that would be fine, I waited all night for the phone call to met the guy, next morning got a phone call that the chicks had been taken to Seattle, and we could schedule another hatch at no charge the following week and a pick up time. So i did so, the hubby and i drove up to the hatchery only to find out they only had our standard chicks, and that we had to wait for the rest to show up from the other part of that hatchery. So we waited and then were told that the driver was running late and had a scheduled drop off at columbia feed and seed here in my town and that they would drop the chicks there with darlene the store owner who i know personally and she would call me around 4pm when he was scheduled to deliver. as i was driving home i checked out the chicks he did give us. The mottled java was getting really week, so i held hi the drive home and noticed his wing feathers were way to advanced for a 2-3 day old chick. but thought nothing of it except to get some save-a -chic down it. I called the feed store to talk to darlene but she wasn't in and the dude who answered said that that they would not except the chicks because they would have to take care of them. I was furious. I got a call back from Darlene saying that they had already delivered their chicks @ 11 am and there was no chicks for me and she was fine with holding the babies for me. the problem With the time slot that far west delivered the chicks to my feed store is that is the time he supposedly got the phone call saying the driver was running late because they were still sorting chicks. I still cannot get ahold of them, i am missing over 2/3 of my order and and $95 in the whole.
The second scheduled pickup date was march 25th, I sent email and left messages, I gave them til after easter to reply before serving them with papers to go to small claims court, but now can't afford it, it would cost me more money then i am in the hole.

Oh and of the 5 Light Sussex chicks ordered are not Light sussex, they are light brahma Sussex cross they have the beautiful columbian pattern but some have pea some have straight and some wonky combs all with feathered feet and mean to all the other chicks until we separated them into their own breed, the speckled sussex pullets we ordered are the meanest little ***** as well they look like crosses are not letting nobody else eat and are little bitters, i can't grab the waterer with out the biggest one attacking my hand or the others biting me or jumping on my arm and scratching it with their little feet. Of all of the chicks ordered, most of them are nothing like the breeds were ordered, and I am short over 2/3 of the order, really wondering what the others would have been like.

it seems you are having a hard time...