Gabbard Farms?

[chicken-wish]

Ok, I'm thinking about ordering some chicks from Gabbard Farms, but they claim they are new to shipping chicks. This is ok to me since I don't want chicks from a big comercial hatchery any way. I was mostly curious to see what the BYC ppl think of thier birds. Are they in good shape? Do they seem like well bred birds? Are they true thier word with the love and care they express to thier breeding flock ect.? If anyone here has some experience with these guys, please share, I would love to know.

Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!

I can't help you much. I live within easy driving distance of Gabbard Farms and sent an e-mail about possibly picking up some hatching eggs from them. They don't do direct pick-up any more. It's a family farm and she has small kids. Direct pick-up eats into her schedule too much was the reason she gave me for not allowing direct pick-up. I'm not into shipped hatching eggs, especially when they are less than a half hour away.

I don't know anything about the quality of her birds. We did not get that far. But Julie was very friendly by e-mail and directed me to someone else local that has what I want and does allow direct pick-up. Not very helpful to you, I know, but from our brief e-mail exchange, Julie seemed like someone I'd enjoy doing business with.

 

[EweSheep]

Not me.

 

[chicken-wish]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you joined us!

I can't help you much. I live within easy driving distance of Gabbard Farms and sent an e-mail about possibly picking up some hatching eggs from them. They don't do direct pick-up any more. It's a family farm and she has small kids. Direct pick-up eats into her schedule too much was the reason she gave me for not allowing direct pick-up. I'm not into shipped hatching eggs, especially when they are less than a half hour away.
I don't know anything about the quality of her birds. We did not get that far. But Julie was very friendly by e-mail and directed me to someone else local that has what I want and does allow direct pick-up. Not very helpful to you, I know, but from our brief e-mail exchange, Julie seemed like someone I'd enjoy doing business with.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome!

Thank you also for telling me what you do know. It helps more than you might know.

 

[egg-cellent]

Most hatchery's from what I understand, they will back up their order if there is a problem.
Good luck!

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

I think Gabbard Farms must drop-ship some of their live chicks. When you look at their hatching eggs breeds and varieties, the pictures are obviously of their own stock. The chicks, however, have a lot of stock images to show the breeds. I've only ever ordered hatching eggs from them (with mixed results).

 

[chicken-wish]

I think Gabbard Farms must drop-ship some of their live chicks. When you look at their hatching eggs breeds and varieties, the pictures are obviously of their own stock. The chicks, however, have a lot of stock images to show the breeds. I've only ever ordered hatching eggs from them (with mixed results).

Hmmmm...... I like the sounds of most of this. I'll put some thought into this. Thanks!

 

[EweSheep]

Be careful about her so called Ameraucanas, past threads has revealed the sorry state of the business.

If you just want hatchery type birds, she can fill the order for you. Personally I'm not impressed with her stock and neither are the older BYCers that has been around for a long time.

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

Okay, I feel a bit emboldened by EweSheep and will tell you in detail my experience. All I ordered were hatching eggs, mind you- no live chicks. I specified when ordering that the box be held at the post office with my phone number written on the outside so they could call me. I live on a rural route and though our mail lady is wonderful and conscientious about how she handles boxes marked fragile, there are just too many things that can go wrong on a long, bumpy ride in the mail truck. Both times the boxes were delivered right to my house without the instructions "Hold at Post Office" on the box. The first batch, I ordered 12 Wheaten Marans, 6 Blue/Black Ameraucanas, and 3 Australorps. I hatched 1 Australorp, 4 Ameraucanas, but just one Marans that was not Wheaten. It came out black, so maybe it was a black copper. I ordered more Wheaten Marans eggs and ended up with 1 pullet and 2 cockerels. The pullet died before ever laying an egg. She was probably about 8 months old when that happened.

I will say I was very happy with the Ameraucanas. I wound up with 1 black cockerel, 1 black pullet, and 2 blue pullets. We had a terrible heat wave come through that summer, though, and all but one blue pullet died despite our fans, shade, and 2-liter bottles of ice. There's just not much a chicken can do when it's 104 for nearly a week straight. The remaining blue hen is my favorite bird out of my whole flock. She's extremely friendly, a good layer of light blue eggs, and is pretty good looking. She's not show quality because she doesn't have the right lacing, but I'm putting her in with a black cockerel I got from John Blehm of Chick Hatchery to hopefully get some of her offspring. I know that hatching eggs are a gamble. While they were packed carefully, I've had better results with other shipped eggs. It could have been the timing, handling en route, any number of things. I just want to tell my story in as objective a way as I can because I'm sure there are other folks who have had both better and worse experiences with Gabbard Farms. Good luck whatever you choose to do!

 

[chicken-wish]

Okay, I feel a bit emboldened by EweSheep and will tell you in detail my experience. All I ordered were hatching eggs, mind you- no live chicks. I specified when ordering that the box be held at the post office with my phone number written on the outside so they could call me. I live on a rural route and though our mail lady is wonderful and conscientious about how she handles boxes marked fragile, there are just too many things that can go wrong on a long, bumpy ride in the mail truck. Both times the boxes were delivered right to my house without the instructions "Hold at Post Office" on the box. The first batch, I ordered 12 Wheaten Marans, 6 Blue/Black Ameraucanas, and 3 Australorps. I hatched 1 Australorp, 4 Ameraucanas, but just one Marans that was not Wheaten. It came out black, so maybe it was a black copper. I ordered more Wheaten Marans eggs and ended up with 1 pullet and 2 cockerels. The pullet died before ever laying an egg. She was probably about 8 months old when that happened.

I will say I was very happy with the Ameraucanas. I wound up with 1 black cockerel, 1 black pullet, and 2 blue pullets. We had a terrible heat wave come through that summer, though, and all but one blue pullet died despite our fans, shade, and 2-liter bottles of ice. There's just not much a chicken can do when it's 104 for nearly a week straight. The remaining blue hen is my favorite bird out of my whole flock. She's extremely friendly, a good layer of light blue eggs, and is pretty good looking. She's not show quality because she doesn't have the right lacing, but I'm putting her in with a black cockerel I got from John Blehm of Chick Hatchery to hopefully get some of her offspring. I know that hatching eggs are a gamble. While they were packed carefully, I've had better results with other shipped eggs. It could have been the timing, handling en route, any number of things. I just want to tell my story in as objective a way as I can because I'm sure there are other folks who have had both better and worse experiences with Gabbard Farms. Good luck whatever you choose to do!

Thank you for the detailed experience. I'm very sorry to hear about the nasty heat wave putting a tole on you chickens like that.

It really does sound iffy with eggs. I wonder if there chicks would arrive in better condition? It's nice to know that they have some decent Americana's. In your opinion did they look pure or mixed some?