Bad Experience with Bresse Farms in Pontotoc, MS

[Quailsman]

Oh I would be livid. Not just because of the wrong breeds (I've unfortunately had that happen a few times) but it makes you wonder how their breeding really is since you got deformed chicks. What a shame. Good breeders are hard to come by.

Any recommendations where to get breeds chicks or eggs

 

[ChristinaH18]

Jumping in here to add my experience with Bresse farms as of yesterday:
Ordered: 6 white bresse, 2 svarthona, 4 blue or black amaraucana.

2 extra bresse were included in my order. Two were crushed to death in shipping. So that part is a wash.

I sent Justin photos of the dead birds and he said he included the two extra but he’d still credit me for the two dead. I have no idea what I’m expecting by way of credit. Pause on the bresse for a moment.

The svarthona look like svarthona maybe. But we will pause on those for a second too.

The amaraucana… which I DO have experience with… are NOT Amaraucana. And they are neither blue nor black.
They’re feathering and the feathers are brown. They all (except the svarthona) have feathering already. Not day old chicks by any means.

I called him immediately with photos. Said he’d credit for the dead two.
I kid you not, he first told me these chicks are for sure amaraucana and the brown feathers will change color.
Talking a little more, I noted that there’s no way they’re full because aside from the color, two of them don’t have cheek fluff even.

He then told me he expanded his lines and someone may have sold him an ee or an oe in there somewhere.
but “for sure they hatched out of blue eggs”.

I went to bed calm. Woke up today nothing short of furious. And I’m completely doubting the bresse, did not get the lineage report that I requested when I ordered. Was told it would arrive with the birds. It did not. He also, after I sent photos last night, told me “most of them will turn blue as they age, maybe one will not.”

Um, k… but I paid for all of them to be that. And feathers don’t change colors?!?! I have amaraucana and my birds got the feathers that they have. They didn’t start off gray and turn pink. Wtf.

All the chicks that lived through shipping made it through the night. He warned me that the svarthona may have pasty butt and one did. I had to remove the feces plug last night.

I want to just be like ok… I lost money, got a bunch of healthy (so far) birds and I should just chalk it up to a lesson, BUT I have very limited space and I want what I ordered. I don’t think anything is anything at this point.

So I’m struggling with going full fraud report on my card and making this guy so famous, and just letting it go.
Right now- anger is winning.

 

[NatJ]

They’re feathering and the feathers are brown. They all (except the svarthona) have feathering already. Not day old chicks by any means.

How many feathers?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/feathers-by-3-days-old.1261037/
Here is a thread with a photo of chicks that are three days old and have obvious wing feathers already. That is about the age chicks usually are when you get them if they were shipped at day-old. That thread also has a picture of a day-old chick with pinfeathers in the wings, and a four-day chick with quite a lot of wing feathers.

Given Post Office regulations (chicks must reach the post office before they are 24 hours old) and the reason (chicks that just hatched will be fine for a few days without food and water, but chicks shipped later will probably die during shipping), I think the chicks probably were the correct age when they were shipped. So the company may have gotten that right, even while they had issues with so many other things.

 

[ChristinaH18]

The “bresse” are about that. The svarthona have less, and the fugazi amaracauna have way more.
The box shipped out at 5pm Tuesday and arrived at my post office yesterday at 10am. I picked them up at 2pm.
Unless they sat in a box the whole night or two prior, the amaraucana are older. Then the feathers on the rest don’t make sense.
So I’m not questioning the age of the bresse or svarthona- but for sure the whatever the heck they are mutts that magically change colors.

 

[ChristinaH18]

The “bresse” are about that. The svarthona have less, and the fugazi amaracauna have way more.
The box shipped out at 5pm Tuesday and arrived at my post office yesterday at 10am. I picked them up at 2pm.
Unless they sat in a box the whole night or two prior, the amaraucana are older. Then the feathers on the rest don’t make sense.
So I’m not questioning the age of the bresse or svarthona- but for sure the whatever the heck they are mutts that magically change colors.

 

[ChristinaH18]

Those are the ones that were crushed.

 

[NatJ]

The “bresse” are about that. The svarthona have less, and the fugazi amaracauna have way more.
The box shipped out at 5pm Tuesday and arrived at my post office yesterday at 10am. I picked them up at 2pm.
Unless they sat in a box the whole night or two prior, the amaraucana are older. Then the feathers on the rest don’t make sense.
So I’m not questioning the age of the bresse or svarthona- but for sure the whatever the heck they are mutts that magically change colors.

I see why you would wonder about the "Ameraucana" ones. Maybe they hatched a day or two earlier than expected? But if they did, the hatchery should not have shipped them with the rest, because they would be older than they are supposed to be at shipping.

I'd be curious to see pictures of the "Ameraucana" ones when they are fully feathered, to see what color they do end up being. (I'm not expecting a color change, just curious what they really are.)

 

[ChristinaH18]

I mean there’s two with zero face fluff at all- so those are for sure not even amaraucana, and one is black with a red mask. so that’s going to be a redhead.

So what would you do? Wrath or write off?

 

[TexasBlues]

Always sad to hear about chicks dying in the mail. No local producers available?

 

[ChristinaH18]

I’m sure there are, but I was trying to avoid exactly this situation. Everyone seems to “make their own”, and I wanted guaranteed pure.

Re: Bresse

Justin, before I even ordered, told me my Bresse would have lineage papers. I asked for them and he said they came with the birds. They did not.
Just now he told me he’d send them on my next order- but I have the 2015 lines.

That was the final straw. I just demanded a refund.

Here’s some of the communication.
He’s straight up lying.