Has anyone purchased chicks from Hilltop Farms in California? *Do not buy from Hilltop Farms! Negative experiences are in the thread!!!*

[shober]

I got a couple of Buff Brahmas and 2 Barnvelders a few years ago. I also live in So Cal but farther away. They are healthy and super friendly.

 

[greylee]

Well so far I’m not having a good experience… I brought 8 chicks home, 2 died within 20 hours. Then my two orloffs died out of the blue a few days apart. Then my little lavender Ameraucana who I named Frankie (she was also $50!!!) just suddenly died last night… she acted perfectly fine and ran with the others and ate and drank but seemed small for her age. I have raised many batches of chicks before the same exact way and have never ever had a mortality rate this high. Batches before were shipped chicks and other than ones that arrived doa, I only had one death out of those batches. No signs of illness like coccidiosis. Each chick was eating and drinking and hanging out with the others before suddenly dying!! Now I’m left with 3, who are bigger and feathering in nicely and who will hopefully make it. I was supposed to go replace the two chicks that died within 20 hours tomorrow but now I’m not sure I want to do that because if all of these deaths.

Same happened to me. Picked up 4 chicks. One died in 48 hours. Got a replacement. The replacement had bloody stool. I changed to medicated feed. Then the other 3 died. I thought it was because I'm inexperienced with raising chicks and I felt awful about it. I only have the replacement chick left and it's starting to look like a cockerel.

 

[MotherClukr]

I'm sorry you lost so many chicks I personally have not gotten birds from Hilltop Farms but I have gotten birds from Dare 2 Dream Farms in Lompoc. I'm up north in the Bay Area and have only bought a few older pullets at a time (12-16 weeks old) on a couple of occasions. Every bird we've gotten from them lived between 8 months to 3.5 years old (two died within a year and a half due to cancer/reproductive issues). They offer deliver and do local pick-up at their farm, which I've personally been to and is so cute (they have a far stand and you can stay in one of their AirBnBs on the property!). They get their chicks from NPIP hatcheries and practice strict biosecurity. They vaccinate their chicks and guarantee hens--if you end up with a rooster, they will come pick it up and exchange it at no extra cost. They also offer a health guarantee--not sure what it entails. They're definitely more expensive but just the sex guarantee is worth it to me. They offer a variety of breeds and multiple ages, so if you're looking to add older birds to your flock, you can buy from them. I highly recommend checking them out.

 

[BurbMum]

Same happened to me. Picked up 4 chicks. One died in 48 hours. Got a replacement. The replacement had bloody stool. I changed to medicated feed. Then the other 3 died. I thought it was because I'm inexperienced with raising chicks and I felt awful about it. I only have the replacement chick left and it's starting to look like a cockerel.

So is it a boy?

I got my first 4 from Dare2Dream in Lompoc, delivered to my house in Fall and they are doing well. One turned out to be a roo and got picked up to go back to the ‘gentleman’s club.’ They were great about it.

I just got a mix of 4 baby chicks from Hilltop Farms on Tuesday and on Thursday I was seeing bloody poop from the blue-red laced Wyandotte. I was told they were vaccinated for coccidosis but I went ahead and started them on Corid by Friday morning.

Wynona the Wyandotte is really struggling, super skinny and malnourished. I’ve been hand feeding her yolk and probiotics as well as Corid drench. This morning she looked so sad I almost asked my partner to cull her, but she amazingly perked up a little a few hours after Durastat oregano treatment. Fingers crossed everyone makes it.

Hilltop staff was great, but if you do buy from them consider either medicated food (nulling the vax, from what I understand) or a preemptive Corid course esp if mixing breeds.

 

[BurbMum]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who was having this issue!! I felt horrible for having 5/8 chicks die on me with seemingly no issues. I raised multiple batches of chicks the same exact way and never ever experienced loss like this before. I wonder what happened with them this year because all of the good reviews seem to be from last year and before. Im really hoping it’s not a contagious illness of some sort causing all of these chicks to die.

How are the remaining 3 doing? Any signs of contagious illness?

The 4 chicks I picked up from them last week seem to be doing okay now (coccidosis mostly under control) but the one tiny baby Whiting True Blue has not grown at all

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

How are the remaining 3 doing? Any signs of contagious illness?

The 4 chicks I picked up from them last week seem to be doing okay now (coccidosis mostly under control) but the one tiny baby Whiting True Blue has not grown at all

The other 3 are doing good. My Ameraucana had a bad case of coccidiosis from them and an intestinal bacterial infection caused by coccidiosis that needed antibiotics but now she’s finally really healthy and growing a ton. She’s a bit stunted behind the other two but she’s doing well now. It seems like all the chicks I saw on negative reviews from them came with coccidiosis some how? My chicks have been in contact with my flock for a month now and no signs of illness of any sort has been passed thankfully.

 

[BurbMum]

The other 3 are doing good. My Ameraucana had a bad case of coccidiosis from them and an intestinal bacterial infection caused by coccidiosis that needed antibiotics but now she’s finally really healthy and growing a ton. She’s a bit stunted behind the other two but she’s doing well now. It seems like all the chicks I saw on negative reviews from them came with coccidiosis some how? My chicks have been in contact with my flock for a month now and no signs of illness of any sort has been passed thankfully.

Aww that’s good to hear. How did you diagnose the intestinal infection? What are signs/symptoms?

We are on day 5 of Corid and someone still has slightly bloody poop (may be intestinal lining shed but I also read that can be bacterial infection of some sort?) so I’m not sure if I should continue or wait and see. I ordered some sulfa stuff from a place in OC but it’s not here yet.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Aww that’s good to hear. How did you diagnose the intestinal infection? What are signs/symptoms?

We are on day 5 of Corid and someone still has slightly bloody poop (may be intestinal lining shed but I also read that can be bacterial infection of some sort?) so I’m not sure if I should continue or wait and see. I ordered some sulfa stuff from a place in OC but it’s not here yet.

I initially treated them with corid and it made them better but they still had a lot of intestinal shedding and a few days later my Ameraucana was all hunched over again. Another round of Corid made her better again but it still didn’t make her 100%. Someone suggested the sulfa drugs, especially because the chicks had more than average intestinal shedding. A few days after the sulfa antibiotics she was a whole new chick. I treated for the full 7 days to be on the safe side. She had stunted growth for the 2 weeks she was sick and after the antibiotics her weight and growth in general shot up!

 

[BurbMum]

I initially treated them with corid and it made them better but they still had a lot of intestinal shedding and a few days later my Ameraucana was all hunched over again. Another round of Corid made her better again but it still didn’t make her 100%. Someone suggested the sulfa drugs, especially because the chicks had more than average intestinal shedding. A few days after the sulfa antibiotics she was a whole new chick. I treated for the full 7 days to be on the safe side. She had stunted growth for the 2 weeks she was sick and after the antibiotics her weight and growth in general shot up!

Thank you for the details. I think I’ll wait and see after today’s dosing and hope the sulfa gets here soon.

So once they’ve been treated with Corid does that nullify their coccidosis vaccine? Should they go on medicated food? I’m using the non-medicated stuff (Star Milling) I got directly from them right now. What did you do?

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Thank you for the details. I think I’ll wait and see after today’s dosing and hope the sulfa gets here soon.

So once they’ve been treated with Corid does that nullify their coccidosis vaccine? Should they go on medicated food? I’m using the non-medicated stuff (Star Milling) I got directly from them right now. What did you do?

I think it does nullify their vaccine. I just still gave them non medicated feed though since they should have built up the resistance to it after the corid! I haven’t had any more issues since! They’ve been out on soil for over a month now!