Does anyone have Marans from breeder: SoCal Marans from bayhorsebonne?

[crazy4eggsJulie]

Hello,
I'm researching different marans breeders before I choose who to purchase from. I ran across this one that is a member of the Marans Club of America. Does anyone have experience with this breeder? Were you pleased with the egg color and temperment of the birds? Please share your experience here.

 

[onthespot]

Yes. Not all laid super dark, some carried wheaten. I have only hatched one chick with fused toes, but one of my egg buyers also hatched one. I love my chickens from her. I have eggs and started chicks available if you are interested in local pickup.

 

[lotzahenz]

BayhorseBonnie is one of the nicest breeders you will ever deal with. She is just a fine person. I LOVE my Wheatens from her.

 

[ruth]

I paid a high price to win one of her E-Bay auctions and she was kind enough to include extra eggs. Not a single one even began to develop. I contacted other E-Bay winners of her eggs from the same time period and they reported the same results.

Edited to add: Donna saw this post and contacted me and is sending replacement eggs for the cost of shipping. How great is that!!!!

It isn't really the breeder's fault if shipped eggs don't develop or don't hatch. As a breeder who ships eggs, I do know that. It's a big risk - the packages are shaken and tossed around; they are left in hot/freezing trucks and on docks and loading stations; they are x-rayed - it's a miracle they even hatch at all.

 

[MikeJanet]

I purchased BC Marans eggs last spring from her. Eggs were packed well and 4 of 8 hatched (auction was for 6). Was fortunate to have 2 hens 2 roo's. The Hens are wonderful, calm quite, consistant layers of x-large dark eggs when they aren't broody. They are wonderful mothers and also had nice leg feathering. I just re-homed them to a wonderful family who enjoys breeding and 4H as I was mostly interested in the dark eggs which seemed a waste for these wonderful girls.

I would purchase from her again - but autions can go quite high so it's a bit of an investment and there are never any guarentee's with shipped eggs - what am I saying? when do eggs ever come with a guarentee?

 

[drom]

I'll admit, I'm a big fan. The chicks I got from her were very nice. My pullets ending up laying very dark eggs. I brought them to my first egg show and got pinned. After 6 months of laying, they are still laying dark.

I lost my very best hen at the beginning of this month, it was because of the heat spell here. I was so broken hearted and so mad I hadn't hatched out any of the beautiful eggs she had been laying for months. I don't have an incubator. It was a very hard lesson learned.

I called her and she said send your last eggs down to me. So, I packed them them up and sent them; some were over a week old and some from the refrigerator. She just e-mailed me and I have 4 CHICKS!

Anyway, I got good birds from her so if I ever wanted more BCMs I would go back to her.

 

[crazy4eggsJulie]

Quote:
So sorry about your hen! But that is awesome about the breeder. NOW THAT is what I am looking for in a breeder. Someone not just in it to make money but who really cares about the birds and the people she deals with. Thank you for the neat feedback!

 

[halo]

I got some cuckoos from her off of ebay, and had a very good hatch. Very nice eggs, too. I would buy from her again.

 

[EweSheep]

She used to be in here often and yes, she is a good person to work with, as I heard!

 

[Pathfinders]

Honestly, this is not the best time of the year to purchase hatching eggs that must be shipped. I would think extremes of temperature during shipping would be very detrimental to hatching eggs, which might explain dismal hatch rates.

Of course, there's always a risk when shipping hatching eggs, the USPS is not known for its delicate handling of packages of any sort. I consider a 20% hatch rate excellent on eggs that have been shipped, fwiw. And it's certainly much cheaper than having started birds shipped!