I purchased day old ducklings in early August. One of them was a fawn and white female duckling to go with the drake I aleady had. However, she isn't fawn and white. She is fully feathered now and is snow white. I called yesterday and the rude woman told me that they didn't even carry white runners so it wasn't possible and that due to her only being 2mths old that those are not her true colors yet and that the feathers would change later. I have a hard time beleiving that an all white feathered 2mth old is going to get brown later. My other runners I have didn't do that. They feathered with fawn and white. I do understand that the juvenille feathers can be somewhat different, maybe not has brilliant of a color, but I haven't read anywhere that they actually change colors. I have picked her up and looked through her feathers and there is no sign of not one brown feather. I mean she is SNOW WHITE! She is pretty and all, but it bothers me that the lady was so rude to me about her and I ordered a fawn and white. I even told her I would be happy to email a picture and she still said that I should wait until next year for her true colors. Opinions please???? WWYD?
Her feathers may very well change but there is no excuse for rude behavior. Call and ask for the owner or a manager.
Report rude behavior. The duck may very well change with a moult and maturity. If you would rather just exhange her, let them know that.
I purchased two f/w runners from Metzers in June. One looked snow white when she got her feathers in. However, when she molted, she looked just like the other one.
I purchased fawn and white runner eggs from McMurray 1 1/2 years ago. Only one egg hatched and it was a solid black Runner?/mix - though we loved her dearly. I won't blame the bad hatch record on them as I think we had too many eggs under our hen, but the one other egg that came close to hatching also contained a black duckling. So I don't have the greatest faith in them.
well i found this kinda funny because not only by 4 weeks can you see the fawn clearly but also i just added a post the other day about my cayuga i got from them about 7mths ago her first eggs came out white. not only that but the sun hit her real good a min ago and she has a LOT of brown in her! she was always black and beautiful but now has a lot of brown in her wings and tail feathers! i think for now on all my ducks will come from haldereads! good luck and dont let them push you around they really have half butt ducks i beleave and out of the 15 i ordered 1 died within a day or 2 another died of seizers at 2 weeks and 5 had twisted wing
I think any time you order from a production breeder you're going to have some mistakes and some poor breeding mixed in. All in all, I've been pretty happy with my orders from McMurray, but there really is no excuse for rude behavior, so I agree you should report it. I am also ordering from Holderread's from now on, now that I know they're out there, because I like the idea of supporting the type of work they do rather than just a "sell as many as we can" type hatchery like McMurray. On the other hand, I would still order from McMurray if I needed something I couldn't get from Holderread, because I have had pretty good experiences with them. They're bound to make mistakes from time to time, and it seems right that they should put it right for you, and if they don't, that you should insist on it. Hopefully, they'll sort it out for you.
Quote:Wait for her true colors like the 'rude' woman said. Even 4th generation ducks will sometimes have a throwback and there isn't much way to tell by looking at the egg or duckling. I have known of BV winners as pullets (thats what showpeople call first year female ducks) that were poor looking hens(adult ducks) and the reverse is also seen. Frankly I would have been rude to you too if i received your call and you would not listen to reason (good thing that I don't have to deal with the public I suppose) If your duck is still pure white in the spring, then you have a valiid complaint but keep in mind that throwbacks happen in the best of flocks.
There is no excuse for people being rude. I got my eggs from Metzer Hatchery and they have been great. I think I have called back a couple of times just to ask questions. Post a picture of your duck. I remember mine looked a lot lighter when they first started getting the feathers, but then darkened up quite a bit. They are definately fawn and white now.
