Hoffman Hatchery, Amazing Customer Service (Not)

[speckledhen]

Thank you, Michele. I miss him every day.

 

[wilds of pa]

Check your feed sources......With what they put in the stuff today you never know what may or be in there.....

Advice:::Best be spraying your feet when going to and from feed supplyers...People coming in there that have sick birds drag the dang stuff right along with them on there shoes..... we always keep a bottle of bleach mix in a spray bottle in our truck..even going to poultry auction you should spray your shoes when leaving at the least..I know it sound like over kill, but beleive me you just never know what your gonna drag home with you..that is a fact...

Charlie

 

[speckledhen]

Charlie, you are so right and I never thought about spraying my feet after going to the feedstore. I've never been to a poultry auction, at least not yet. Thank you for that suggestion. My DH wondered what about the feed, but no way to know what is in the feed. Its good quality name brand feeds and not dusty, so I dont know how I would know what was in it that wasn't right.

 

[wilds of pa]

I like to at least check the dates on the bags of feed, we buy a name brand also starts with a P..if i get a bag with an old date i refuse it..

Also you got to watch your scratch grains..
somtimes when they are harvesting get bad weed seed mixed in and that will kill a chicken it poisens them slowly...
You got to know what to look for, ive aready found a few castor beans in a bag of scratch grains..those are a no no..i know what they look like, as a friend of our grows castor bean..he doesnt have chickens..

Look at the last recall on that last brand name..makes you wonder about things when they dont catch it...

*There this page will give you some info on grains*
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS052

Charlie

 

[speckledhen]

Castor beans? OMgosh! I know what those look like, too. That's awful, Charlie. I have a feeling if it's the feed, it's the scratch. We're going to quit feeding it and change to a plain scratch from another source for awhile. Thanks!

 

[ozark hen]

Here is an update from Hoffman Hatchery:

read the email on the bottom first:


Dear Mr. Hoffman,
thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my email.
Again, it was the manner in which calls were received that was disturbing from your customer service. I would suggest that you make a note on your web site as to which states/areas you cannot ship due to postal services. I completely understand, as our members will, your concern for shipping the birds safely. We want safety to prevail also.
Again, Thank you for your response, which will be posted on our site.
Carrie Compton/Ozark Hen
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: 'carrie compton'
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 8:45 PM
Subject: RE: customer service


Carrie: We apologize if you or anyone else who does business with our hatchery was treated unprofessionally. We strive to provide excellent customer service and quality poultry and poultry products, which we have for over 60 years. We are currently short staffed in our office due to the fact that our business is seasonal, so everyone is overly busy – this is no excuse for rudeness – but we are very rushed to answer phone calls, process orders, and ship poultry in a timely manner. We are constantly addressing the same problem --one that maybe your over 10,000 members can help with is the service we currently receive from the post office. For many years, we have shipped through the United States post office with very few problems – we shipped all over the continental United States. As a matter of fact, our postal service was so good that we did not even feel the need to insure shipments because they were always guaranteed to arrive safely and timely. However, over the last several years that has changed – we have contacted the postal service, other hatcheries (who are having the same problem), state legislatures, etc., to no avail. The way the post office ships poultry and moves them along has changed and is not to the hatcheries or your advantage. Because of this, we have had to limit the areas to where we can ship due to previous knowledge that the shipments will not arrive safely – we WILL NOT ship poultry where we know they will not arrive safely. It is unethical to do so. What I would ask is that your organization contacts the post office, your congressmen and women, or any other organizations that you think can improve the service that the post office is providing to the poultry hatcheries still doing business in the United States.



Again, my apologies for anything other than exemplary customer service, and if you feel the need to contact our hatchery again (and we hope that in the future we may be able to provide poultry across the United States as before), you may either contact me by e-mail at this address or by telephone at our hatchery. Please ask for me.



Thank you,

John Hoffman, President

Hoffman Hatchery, Inc.

 

[RoyalHillsLLC]

I had major issues with them last year. I, too, had trouble finding Muscovies so ordered thru them. They shipped on a Monday and they didn't arrive until Friday. I got on this forum and several people told me they do not raise them, just order from other hatcheries and that was part of the problem. Either way, they were extremely rude to me and to the post office. Our local postmaster tried to find out when they were shipped, and from where, and Hoffman would not tell them. I presume it was because they sold someone else's birds.
This year I ordered from country hatchery in Oklahoma and they arrived quickly, via US mail.

 

[hinkjc]

I'd have to say I agree with Mr. Hoffman's concern about the changes occurring at the USPS. Every single shipment of lives I sent this year via Express did not meet the guarantee delivery time. I chose to ship them express to ensure some accountability from the PO. They refunded shipping in every instance, but that is not the point. They are putting our birds lives at risk with every delay they cause. We need to find out why it is happening. This is not acceptable for live shipment handling. You would think with the rates continuously climbing, we would get better service.

Jody

 

[blue90292]

i'm not exactly sure what year this was passed, but i know it's fedex that delivers my live adult birds out of houston if i ever decide to ship adult birds. i called our usps, they accept the birds, then fedex delivers to the city, the usps delivers to the post office.


Post Office Tells FedEx to Start Carrying Live Animals

On August 26th, Paul Vogel, Vice President of Network Operations Management of the USPS wrote a letter to FedEx demanding that they begin carrying live animals under its mail contract with the USPS within 60 days. This is a major breakthrough for the poultry industry. If FedEx complies, shipments of adult and day old birds will be much faster throughout the United States.

The Bird Shippers of America was successful in having Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) author legislation that mandated that an airline carrying mail must carry "day-old poultry and other such live animals as postal regulations allow to be transmitted as mail matter" unless the airline "commonly and regularly refuses to accept any live animals as cargo." This legislation passed the Congress in 2001. However, FedEx has never carried live animals for the USPS as it maintains that it does not carry live animals as air cargo. Research by the Bird Shippers of America and their attorney, Stephen S. Boynton, shows that FedEx does in fact carry live animals on a regular and common basis. FedEx even has a live animal desk identified on their website and many examples of live animal shipments have been found.

Shipsments of live animals have been very difficult for portions of the US over the past several years as the other commercial airlines that do carry lives as mail are reducing flights, using smaller planes that have less cargo carrying capacity and have instituted restrictions that limit their ability to carry live animals. As FedEx carries a tremendous amount of mail now, its ability to carry lives will increase tremendously the ability of the USPS to transport your live birds. FedEx has not yet responded to Mr. Vogel's letter.

Congratulations are in order for the Bird Shippers of America, Senator Grassley, his staff and Mr. Boynton for their work with the USPS on this problem.

John Metzer
Metzer Farms

 

[blue90292]

you really need to write to your congressman about these concerns because two years later, it's still going on....



Bird Shippers of America Answers organization Charges

In a letter dated November 21, 2005, Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of Humane Society of the United States (organization), wrote Postmaster General John E. Potter citing "long-standing concerns" of the practice of the air mail of birds because of the "sever humane implications for millions of birds mailed across the county every year." Pacelle indicated shipping of day-old chicks currently "warranted attention on the possibility of a worldwide pandemic related to avian influenza" caused organization to bring the issue to the attention of the Untied States Postal Service (USPS).

Citing the discretionary aspect of legislation authored by Senator Charles Grassley R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and passed by the Congress that mandates air carriers to accept live animals as mail if the carrier "commonly and regularly" carry animals as cargo, Pacelle urged the USPS to immediately rescind its current policy of requiring airlines to accept live day-old chicks for shipment. 39 USC §5402(e)(2)(A).

At the urging of Senator Grassley, on August 26, 2005, Paul Vogel, Vice President for Network Operations Management of the USPS wrote Federal Express demanding it carry birds under its mail contract since FedEx does, in fact, carry animals as cargo and is, therefore, covered by the statute. FedEx replied on September 30, 2005 that since it "commonly and regularly" refused to carry certain animals, it is exempt from coverage by the statute. This issue has yet to be resolved but in the organization letter, Pacelle also urged the USPS to continue to permit FedEx not to carry birds under its mail contract.

Pacelle stated that bird breeder companies are catering to "backyard poultry" customers that has resulted in "organization and other animal protection organizations regularly [receiving] complaints about birds dying after they were sent by U.S. Mail." Pacelle further claims that an official of the USPS was told by the Bird Shippers of America (BSA) that "last year more birds arrived at their final destination (sic) dead than alive."

Firstly, no one representing BSA ever said that statement as it is not a fact. Secondly, the official at the USPS denies he ever made that statement to organization or anyone else. In another factual misrepresentation, Pacelle claimed the Northwest Airlines (NW) "decided to no longer accept baby birds on commercial flights after 300 chicks died from exposure to rain on a routine lay-over." However, NW has told the BSA that the reason it declined to carry ANY air mail on domestic flights is that its share of the total air mail market went from 12% to 2% after the USPS went from negotiated contracts to bid contracts. More significantly, however, NW does, in fact, carry day-old chicks by airmail out of Minneapolis-St. Paul and Detroit and continues to carry poultry as cargo. And finally, the USPS and NW have been in discussions relative to NW again carrying lives by mail throughout its system. In another inaccuracy that organization used in opposing the successful effort to obtain the legislation mandating air lines to carry lives as mail, it Firstly, organization ignores the science acknowledged by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other veterinarians that since chicks are hatched in 99° F and brooded in 95° F. Consequently, shipping them a day after birth in 95° F is not inhumane. Secondly, day-old chicks feed on the unabsorbed yolk for at least 72 hours after being hatched. Thus, the food and water issue is not an issue for day-old chicks.

The thrust of the letter is clearly to raise the issue of a H5N1 strain of avian influenza outbreak. To date, there is not sufficient data to cause any drastic action resulting in a ban of interstate commerce in shipping day-old birds. More significantly, however, there is no scientific evidence any where in the world to indicate that day-old birds have been a carrier of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

BSA will be contacting officials of the USPS and Members of the Congress regarding the misinformation and statement raised in the organization letter. Further, the members of BSA pledge to work with federal and state health officials to insure that only disease free poultry will be shipped in interstate commerce whether by surface of air transport.