Hatcher cheats 4-H Kid

[theemon]

i may be wrong, but look into ideal poultry, i think there min order is small... i would also try craigslist.... craigslist is great, i live in the country and still find great deals....

 

[Oregon Blues]

It's for 4-H. Hatchery birds aren't going to work.

I am sorry I am so far away. I would give a gift of a couple of show birds. But shipping costs make it impractical.

 

[NYREDS]

Not sure why hatchery birds wouldn't work for 4H? I judge 8-10 4H shows every summer & 99% of what I see are hatchery birds. In 4H the emphasis is much more on the care the birds receive than on the birds themselves. The intent of 4H poultry programs is to teach good husbandry practices & responsibility. In the rare instance where I see a well bred, show type bird it is almost always a bird that was purchased just for the show or a parent's bird the child is showing. Almost universally the children showing these birds have much less poultry knowledge than the child that raised an order of hatchery birds. 4H is about learning not competing.

 

[sierras mom11]

I am really impressed with your outlook and wish more judges thought that way, hear time and again about judges just jumping at kids telling them their birds are "crossbred" when a leg color might be alittle off, or feather color not quite perfect. Instead of explaining what was wrong with the birds and how they might choose a better bird from their flock next time, how they need to order more than 2 or 3 of a kind to have enough to choose from. Help them with explainations on how genetics of even the best birds dont produce 100% excellant quaility. Seen kids in tears because of judges putting down their birds that they worked so hard to raise. Kids need to learn about the fun first and the compitition later. I commend you for staying so true to the kids.

 

[huppfarm]

I had made a post this last spring on the lack of quality and care a certain name brand famous hatchery was sending my 4-H Poultry Project kids.
Very few hatcheries are careful to send purebreed hatchery quality on correct days so chicks arrive alive when they arrive at the post office.
What you see as pictures on the pamphlets or handouts are just pics from the "Standard of Perfection" which is really false advertising. Many of the parents from my Poultry Project were very unhappy that the birds they paid for, were not the birds or breed promised. Many birds grew up to be mixed breeds and were unable to be used or shown at the county fair or junior poultry shows.

I am very simpathetic towards all the kids who have experienced the cheating and low doings of the several so called "Pure Breed Hatcheries"

I am unable to name the hatchery as it is one of the sponsers to this site.

 

[heartlandhatch]

My son took his own allowance and bought a Emden goose from Heartland Hatchery/Alan Nieder in April. He was hoping to breed it with his other Emden goose and show it in 4-H. I don't know what the goose is but it is not a purebred Emden. It looks like a crossbreed between an Emblen and African goose. My son cannot show it in 4-H or breed it with his other goose. Long story, short, after several phone conversations with Mr. Nieder, he refused to give my son a refund. $13 is alot for a child to be out of. He did not deliver what he was selling. He has no heart, he is just in it for the money and he doesn't care who he hurts.

Hi, Heartland Hatchery here. I remember this transaction, and I am confident that you got an Embden gosling, not a cross breed. Your bird was healthy and not deformed. We promise to sell healthy birds. We do not promise that every one of them will be show quality. Having said that, we have had many of our birds end up at the Mo State Fair, but again, we don't claim that our birds are show quality. If we had of, there would be a reason to refund your money. We didn't claim that, so therefore, that is why your request for a refund was denied. We are not out to cheat people, and we do genuinely care about our customer's satisfaction. If my memory is right, my husband offered you another gosling at a reduced price, but I can't say for sure. You didn't want that, you wanted a full refund of your money.

My husband and I have raised three children who were very active in 4-H, and FFA. While it is true that our children raised pigs and lambs to show and not poultry, we are still very familiar with the program and can relate to this situation on a personal level as well. 4-H is a learning experience, and all too often used as another venue for parents to be the ones competing, and it can be big business and very costly. As stated later on in this thread, 4-H is a learning experience. Having had 15 years experience in the 4-H and FFA world, I can tell you that the way to get a show quality animal is to get them from breeders who specialize in selling show quality animals. My son travelled to Iowa several years to purchase show quality pigs. My daughter purchased show quality lambs from breeders who specialized in show quality lambs. You ordered from a hatchery that hatches chickens, ducks, guineas, turkeys, and goslings. We do not specialize in any one type of poultry or any specific breed. Breeders that specialize in selling show quality birds are just like those that specialize in show quality pigs, lambs, and steers. They spend lots of time and effort and money to improve their blood line for perfect attributes of their animals, and most often just raise one or a few breeds to perfect their product.

We regret that you did not feel as if your bird was something your son could show for 4-H, but we are confident you got what you paid for. We are sorry about your son's experience, but we do not feel as if we have done anything wrong.

Businesses, including poultry hatcheries, are often thought of as the bad guys. Maybe that's because it is easy to think of them as faceless names. I just wanted to put our side of the story out there. We are a small business. My husband is a farmer as well as owner of the hatchery, and he has 40 years experience raising poultry and hatching eggs. I work outside the home as a bookkeeper and also own my own small business. We are just regular people, trying to make a living. This may not mean a hill of beans to some of you, but I thought it was important to get that out there.

Thank you for your time.

Jackie & Alan Nieder
Heartland Hatchery
R.R. 1, Box 177-A
Amsterdam, MO
660-424-0408

 

[Cheats Kid]

Excuse me but your husband did not offer my son any discount on a new goose. And an emblem goose which is what you claimed to be selling to a 4-H kid does not have black wings and and white body. It was a cross breed of some type. Not a purebred that you claimed to be selling to a 4-H kid.

 

[heartlandhatch]

I guess our memory is incorrect. As I said, "but I can't be for sure". I am sorry for that mistake, Alan and I both thought you were offered another gosling at a discount. Since this was almost 2 years ago, we can't be for sure, so I won't say that for sure. In regards to the gosling you got having black feathers in it's wings, as my husband said he explained to you several times on the phone, once in a while an Embden will throw a few black feathers, not many are completely white feathered unless you get them from a show breeder. Again, a show breeder would have been a better place for you to buy a show quality bird. I am sorry you did not have a good experience.

Jackie Nieder
Heartland Hatchery

 

[Cheats Kid]

It was more than a few black feathers. All of the wing feathers were half black and half white. Not an emden goose that we thought we were purchasing. Some crossbreed that you sold to a 4-H kid who thought he was getting a purebred emden goose.

 

[hope4rainbow]

I realize that any place should sell well... What they say it is. Period.
But I'm curious why you keep saying they sold a wrong goose to a 4H kid. And they sent the wrong goose to a 4H kid. Why does him being a 4H kid make it so much worse somehow? Do they specialize in 4H showing birds or something? I'm just not understanding why it matters that he is/was in 4H or why that's such a big deal. To me, them sending the wrong type of goose would be a big deal period??