My Pet Chicken / Gabbard Farms Hatching Eggs BEWARE!!!

[OrpObsessed]

I did, they refunded money for the two that was rotten and popped. By said their were two many variables to guarantee the hatch. I wasn't expecting any money back at all, just wanted them to know that the rooster didn't appear to be doing his job. The funny thing is, the ones that were no good were the prettiest, darkest eggs I have ever seen. The ones that hatched were the ones I was questioning. Out of the 18 I purchased on BYC, I had 13 hatch and doing great. The other ones started developing but something happened to them and they died in the shell. I ended up with 11 Black and Copper Marans, and what appears to be 2 Blue Laced and Copper Marans. These are the blue ones

Lovely!!

 

[OrpObsessed]

Yeah...so only four of the eight Gabbard farm hatching eggs are developing normally. I had also ordered 18 hatching eggs from a lady on this site and ALL of those are developing. I'm wondering if the others are just not that fresh when they ship out?

 

[Rnbwbrite1207]

I have been checking around for silkies, planning my spring chick order, I noticed that gabbard farm and meyer use the exact same pictures on their websites. Is that a coincidence? Or an implied connection? Or did they both just buy their photos from some stock photo place? I guess I thought that hatcheries put pictures of their own chickens on the website to show you what your getting. I don't know that it means anything but it does make me uneasy.

 

[OrpObsessed]

I have been checking around for silkies, planning my spring chick order, I noticed that gabbard farm and meyer use the exact same pictures on their websites. Is that a coincidence? Or an implied connection? Or did they both just buy their photos from some stock photo place? I guess I thought that hatcheries put pictures of their own chickens on the website to show you what your getting. I don't know that it means anything but it does make me uneasy.

I am so checking into that right now...

 

[OrpObsessed]

I was worried about that because I figured if I only get one partridge Penedesenca from this Gabbard farm hatch then I will order another couple chicks from Meyer. I looked on there and compared pics, they are different on the Penedesenca breed.

 

[Rnbwbrite1207]

Since I was curious I asked Meyer about the pictures. Here was their response:
"The pictures in our catalog and on our website - are all our pictures we have taken of our own stock. Gabbard Farms happens to be a customer of ours, and we have given them permission to use our photos.
I hope that clears the issue up for you!"

 

[buckbye]

So sorry to hear about everyone's troubles, especially given the MPC prices I've seen, OH MY! MPC is based (like, the lady's house, office, whatever) very close to my dad's house in SW Connecticut, and I've seen more than one glowing article about the owner and the booming success of her "operation," in local newspapers, as well as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, and a great number of other business-oriented publications. They were also on the Martha Stewart Show. The media exposure, as well as their Web site, breed selection (and the prices!) would give one the impression that they're somewhat "boutique," or ever so slightly up-scale, but I guess that's just their clever branding at work. However, I've read more than a few posts complaining about both chicks and eggs not quite measuring up, which brings me to my question. A lot of BYC people seem to order from MPC. But if MPC is merely a high-priced broker/drop-shipper,or whatever, and isn't exactly peddling show-quality stock, let alone fertile eggs, what's the point of ordering from MPC at all? (Aside from the low min. of 3 standard chicks per order and silkie sexing--which they themselves are not even doing, of course.) They seem to have no shortage of customers. I've turned it over and over in my head, and I guess I just don't understand their appeal?

When I realized the MPC "office" was close to me, I thought "Cool, I can just swing by and skip their shipping charges!" And then I found out that there aren't actually any chickens at that address....at least not to buy, LOL. (And now I realize why that address was not publicized, hahaha.) So yeah, if they just have chicks sent directly from hatcheries, such as Meyer and Gabbard's, why do customers bother to pay for the MPC middleman? I guess the very model just seems to me to be kind of...silly?


Article in Entrepreneur, "How Mail-Order Chickens Became a Multimillion-Dollar Venture": http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225943

Intuit Small Business Blog, "How My Pet Chicken Reaches Its Flock": http://blog.intuit.com/marketing/how-my-pet-chicken-reaches-its-flock/

And here's a video from Bloomberg TV: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/bloomberg-enterprise-my-pet-chicken-10-9-Tw~LKy1pSJGH3e9c718YoA.html

 

[buckbye]

Since I was curious I asked Meyer about the pictures. Here was their response:
"The pictures in our catalog and on our website - are all our pictures we have taken of our own stock. Gabbard Farms happens to be a customer of ours, and we have given them permission to use our photos.
I hope that clears the issue up for you!"

I appreciate that Meyer uses their own pictures. I caught the fine print in Cackle Hatchery's catalog, which indicates that the photos may well be of somebody else's show birds.

Made me feel kind of "eh."

 

[OrpObsessed]

Since I was curious I asked Meyer about the pictures. Here was their response:
"The pictures in our catalog and on our website - are all our pictures we have taken of our own stock. Gabbard Farms happens to be a customer of ours, and we have given them permission to use our photos.
I hope that clears the issue up for you!"

That makes sense. They do that in the goat world too.

 

[OrpObsessed]

Today is my hatch day of my Partridge Penedesencas from Gabbard Farms. Out of 8 eggs, only one looks like it might hatch. The other likely candidate pipped at the wrong end and suffocated before I knew how to handle the situation. After doing a lot of research on the subject I have come to my own opinion about this whole Gabbard farms thing.

I don't blame them, having eggs shipped is a huge gamble, no matter where you order from. I think ordering locally has better results, but since Gabbard farms ships to so many places and the eggs travel by plane, it's gonna alter what's inside the poor eggs.

I've also read stories about them selling people the wrong breeds. On their website they sell Auricanas AND Easter Eggers. Traditionally, when we think of Easter Eggers, we think of Auricanas, BUT some people (such as Gabbard Farma) claim a difference in the two. Easter Eggers are merely chickens that lay a green, blue, or pretty colored egg. It doesn't necessarily mean they will have the Auricana tufts under their chins. That's why they offer the Auricana breed, they are set apart.

I am by NO means defending them! But what I am saying is that they clearly state the difference in what they are selling with their EE on their website. Their EE are mixed mutts that lay pretty eggs, basically. OR you have the option of purchasing the Auricana breed.

I spent $60 (with shipping) on a dozen rare breed hatching eggs, thinking I would get the same hatch rate out of theirs as I was my own. I obviously didn't do the research. They sent me 8 eggs, I wasn't expecting the extra! Only one of them was possibly infertile, but the rest started doing something...They upheld their end of the deal and the rest I will blame on shipping, lesson learned, I will only buy locally from now on.

I won't be buying from Gabbard again, just because I don't think I will ever have a need to. But I wouldn't necessarily tell someone else not to order from them. I've read a lot of articles about them, but in my own experience, they did nothing wrong. I shouldn't have thrown $60 down the toilet ordering from so far away. That's just my humble opinion.