Feather Lover Farms Ayam Cemani Experience?

[CiaBia]

Yes, the people who bred my Ayam Cemanis got some of their breeding stock from FLF and had nothing positive to say about the experience. Overall, they were unhappy with the line and didn't feel it was all it was hyped up to be.

Hm interesting, well that definitely seems like the consensus. I almost didn't decide to post the question but figured hey, what would it hurt? I'm so glad I did Thank you for the reply!!

 

[ANightPerson]

I recently ordered the three-pack Ayam Cemani chicks from FLF. I contacted them several weeks in advance AND the day my chicks shipped to make sure that they would be going to the post office and not my house, as it's fall and I'm in New England, and I wasn't going to be home until an hour after they were supposed to come (I told them this, they said that it would all be sorted out.) I figured that they would be fine in a heated building for an hour until I could come pick them up. The post office called me (leaving a message) asking me to come pick them up. I called back several times and they didn't answer me. I got home an hour later and there they were, freezing on my porch. I believe that this is entirely the fault of the post office, and has nothing to do with the hatchery, as when I told my friend about the quiet, rude "Oh god" in the postal worker's message, she said that she'd had a lot of issues with that worker, and has been using the post office in the town over just to avoid her. Again, I'm not blaming the hatchery for this bit, but it just adds to the negative experience overall. The heat pack was still lukewarm, but the chicks were all shivering and huddled up. All of the chicks were okay in the end except for one, who was very sluggish and barely eating/drinking. The chick perked up after I held her closely under the heat lamp for a little bit, so I think she was just too cold. I was very excited about my new chicks, as I'm just starting with Ayam Cemanis and they're my first ones. I even got an extra one, which I believe is a Black Maran. Again, I'm new to ACs and they're still very young, but two of them are very grey. They still look lighter than the ones I see in pictures, but we'll see how they turn out once their feathers are in. The day after they arrived, two of the Cemanis (of course the darkest, beautiful one and the other one that I suspect is female) got sick. They both got very bad diarrhea, and the dark one died two days later. The other one is okay, but had a slightly stunted growth for a few days. All I have left is the (alleged) Black Maran and the two light ACs. The vitamins that I requested (and paid for ) to come with them never showed, and one of the ACs that I paid what I now know was way too much for died soon after purchase. Of course, they never got back to me on seeing if I could replace the chick (I even offered to buy two more so that they could come in the pack of three.) My chicks were in complete quarantine from the outside birds, so I believe it was a problem either with the chick's vaccination or with its immune health overall. All things considered, I'm not happy with my purchase and I wish that I had looked at more reviews and checked with breeders on BYC before I bought them.

 

[ANightPerson]

That was longer than anticipated! Sorry about that, it's mostly ramblings. Does anyone know of any reputable AC breeders I could buy from? I know it's late in the season, but I'm looking for chicks/no older than 6 weeks. I'll take any last batches I can find if they're from good lines. (I'm in MA, preferably breeders who will ship.)

 

[Crow Mountain Chickens]

I bought 6 chicks from their GFF line. Ended up with 4 roosters and 2 hens. 2 roosters had fair type and decent color. 2 roosters had poor type and a lot of mulberry. All had light gray mouths. Both hens had good type, 1 of them had yellow on the pad of 1 foot.

Unfortunately they ended up all getting killed by a murderous racoon family one night.

I wish I had done more research prior to buying. I was excited to get into AC's, there still arent many in my area. There are better places to buy higher quality birds. I wouldn't recommend them personally. I didnt have a bad experience. I just don't think their birds are the best quality.

 

[ANightPerson]

I bought 6 chicks from their GFF line. Ended up with 4 roosters and 2 hens. 2 roosters had fair type and decent color. 2 roosters had poor type and a lot of mulberry. All had light gray mouths. Both hens had good type, 1 of them had yellow on the pad of 1 foot.

Unfortunately they ended up all getting killed by a murderous racoon family one night.

I wish I had done more research prior to buying. I was excited to get into AC's, there still arent many in my area. There are better places to buy higher quality birds. I wouldn't recommend them personally. I didnt have a bad experience. I just don't think their birds are the best quality.

Yeah, looking at their page compared to others', most of their best, featured birds have mulberry and grey on them. Even some backyard breeders I've seen have better stock. My living GFF ACs will unfortunately probably need be thrown in with my personal birds

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

I'm so sorry to hear of your experiences but glad that we have been warned for the future. We have 4 Cemani chicks to raise and they come from good lines. We bought the parents and unfortunately the mother was killed but not before we hatched out four of her eggs. Seeing these review made me wish we had more cemanis because ours are quality but we don't have enough to sell at the moment. We still have the father (who is our prized rooster and will never sell), as well as four 3 month olds that we will use later for breeding after finding another quality line to go with them

 

[ANightPerson]

I'm so sorry to hear of your experiences but glad that we have been warned for the future. We have 4 Cemani chicks to raise and they come from good lines. We bought the parents and unfortunately the mother was killed but not before we hatched out four of her eggs. Seeing these review made me wish we had more cemanis because ours are quality but we don't have enough to sell at the moment. We still have the father (who is our prized rooster and will never sell), as well as four 3 month olds that we will use later for breeding after finding another quality line to go with them

Thank you! Honestly, I blame myself for not researching more about them before I purchased. I LOVE the look of HennyPenny Inn Hatchery's stock, but they haven't gotten back to me yet on FB so I don't know how busy or available they are. If your stock is good, there's no harm in a little bit of line breeding; at least a tester batch just to make sure they're okay. Obviously, you'd still need to introduce more birds, so it may not be entirely necessary. Do whatever you're comfortable with as a breeder. Best of luck!

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Thank you! Honestly, I blame myself for not researching more about them before I purchased. I LOVE the look of HennyPenny Inn Hatchery's stock, but they haven't gotten back to me yet on FB so I don't know how busy or available they are. If your stock is good, there's no harm in a little bit of line breeding; at least a tester batch just to make sure they're okay. Obviously, you'd still need to introduce more birds, so it may not be entirely necessary. Do whatever you're comfortable with as a breeder. Best of luck!

Thank you so much! If you don't find what you're looking for, let us know later. We should have eggs by spring and are always hatching out chicks. We may even acquire more before then. Always looking for more to add to our flocks! "Escambia County Flocks" is our FACEBOOK page if you'd like to see ours. We'll have an updated photo of our Cemani roo soon. As well as the chicks we do have! If you like it please like and share as we are growing. Even if you don't purchase, it's our family's little blog page about our Chicken journey lol. We currently sell eggs and chicks

 

[ANightPerson]

Thank you so much! If you don't find what you're looking for, let us know later. We should have eggs by spring and are always hatching out chicks. We may even acquire more before then. Always looking for more to add to our flocks! "Escambia County Flocks" is our FACEBOOK page if you'd like to see ours. We'll have an updated photo of our Cemani roo soon. As well as the chicks we do have! If you like it please like and share as we are growing. Even if you don't purchase, it's our family's little blog page about our Chicken journey lol. We currently sell eggs and chicks

Awesome, I'll definitely keep an eye out! I'm still trying to expand my Cemani flock before I start selling. I only have a few at the moment, but my end goal is to get Svarts too and experiment with some new fibro project breeds. Fingers crossed I'm ready to sell anything in the next year

 

[FlomatonsFlocks]

Awesome, I'll definitely keep an eye out! I'm still trying to expand my Cemani flock before I start selling. I only have a few at the moment, but my end goal is to get Svarts too and experiment with some new fibro project breeds. Fingers crossed I'm ready to sell anything in the next year

Good luck to you! If you get a good stock before us maybe we will be your customers! Lol. We were hoping to have more of all breeds to sell by now. Buying chicks in fall would have been better than in spring (for layers to be ready by spring) as ours don't lay much in winter. Lesson learned! We plan on having many different breeds to start but our Cemanis are a favorite here.