well, I got a reply. In the interest of fairness, my email to her read:
Wanted to let you know my eggs arrived today. The box had no exterior damage and no signs of rough handling but inside I had one completely smashed egg and another that has quite a lot of cracking and a shiny stickiness to it. While I can appreciate that you are not responsible for how the PO handles the eggs I also am not at all impressed with the color of the eggs. I do not feel the color of your eggs is representative of your ad, even the picture taken 9/9/09. I am well aware that Marans eggs lighten up over the course of their cycle but these are not even a 4 on the scale and no where near what I would expect from the VP of the MOAC, especially someone with photo credits of eggs ranking an 8 on the scale. It is quite a swing for your hens to go from an 8 to less then 4 over a cycle. I would like to give you a chance to respond before leaving any feedback.
thank you
her reply:
"I'm sorry that you are unhappy with the color of the eggs, but I assure you that they are from the same hens that laid the eggs pictured in my ad, it's the only hens that I have. I try and pack them with care, but I can't help what happens between my house and yours. The ones that lays the eights have quit laying except for the one, it's probably the darkest egg you have, but the other hens lay around 6-7, which is still good for marans. Hens that lay the 6-7 are breed with rooster that are hatched from darker eggs, so that the off springs will produce darker eggs. Just because the egg shell is light, does not mean your chick will lay light colored eggs. Some of the darkest eggs hatched, those chicks can lay even lighter than they're shell they came from. Mine are breed to be dark layers, even if the shell color is light right now. All the eggs have the same DNA goal inside, and that for dark layers. I can't replace any eggs right now because they are going to be stopping any day. As a single mom, I depend on the income for living expenses. I hate it too that my dark layers have stopped laying, but there's nothing I can do about that, that's nature. These are what I have left and I clearly state in my listing that they are lighter. I would sincerely hope that you would not leave me negative feedback, as it is impossible to regain 100% again. Hens cannot produce dark eggs every single day of the year. But you are still getting high quality chicks, that will lay darker that their shell color. I've had several people try to get me to resend eggs to them, even though they were dark. I feel it's a shame that people would judge a chick by the color of the shell. I don't think they fully understand what that little chick is capable of. Shipped eggs are a high risk. And as far as the cheap shot about being a VP..I will admit I'm still learning, but atleast I'm trying to help the breed and get it approved by the APA. Thanks for shooting down the one thing I could be proud of"
seriously? SERIOUSLY?!? wow. buyer beware. learned MY lesson. I'm sticking to BYC from now on.
I bought a dozen from bargain (day 13 today) that look SO much better. also really wanting some from wynette now after seeing her website pics.
Wanted to let you know my eggs arrived today. The box had no exterior damage and no signs of rough handling but inside I had one completely smashed egg and another that has quite a lot of cracking and a shiny stickiness to it. While I can appreciate that you are not responsible for how the PO handles the eggs I also am not at all impressed with the color of the eggs. I do not feel the color of your eggs is representative of your ad, even the picture taken 9/9/09. I am well aware that Marans eggs lighten up over the course of their cycle but these are not even a 4 on the scale and no where near what I would expect from the VP of the MOAC, especially someone with photo credits of eggs ranking an 8 on the scale. It is quite a swing for your hens to go from an 8 to less then 4 over a cycle. I would like to give you a chance to respond before leaving any feedback.
thank you
her reply:
"I'm sorry that you are unhappy with the color of the eggs, but I assure you that they are from the same hens that laid the eggs pictured in my ad, it's the only hens that I have. I try and pack them with care, but I can't help what happens between my house and yours. The ones that lays the eights have quit laying except for the one, it's probably the darkest egg you have, but the other hens lay around 6-7, which is still good for marans. Hens that lay the 6-7 are breed with rooster that are hatched from darker eggs, so that the off springs will produce darker eggs. Just because the egg shell is light, does not mean your chick will lay light colored eggs. Some of the darkest eggs hatched, those chicks can lay even lighter than they're shell they came from. Mine are breed to be dark layers, even if the shell color is light right now. All the eggs have the same DNA goal inside, and that for dark layers. I can't replace any eggs right now because they are going to be stopping any day. As a single mom, I depend on the income for living expenses. I hate it too that my dark layers have stopped laying, but there's nothing I can do about that, that's nature. These are what I have left and I clearly state in my listing that they are lighter. I would sincerely hope that you would not leave me negative feedback, as it is impossible to regain 100% again. Hens cannot produce dark eggs every single day of the year. But you are still getting high quality chicks, that will lay darker that their shell color. I've had several people try to get me to resend eggs to them, even though they were dark. I feel it's a shame that people would judge a chick by the color of the shell. I don't think they fully understand what that little chick is capable of. Shipped eggs are a high risk. And as far as the cheap shot about being a VP..I will admit I'm still learning, but atleast I'm trying to help the breed and get it approved by the APA. Thanks for shooting down the one thing I could be proud of"
seriously? SERIOUSLY?!? wow. buyer beware. learned MY lesson. I'm sticking to BYC from now on.
