notification of subsitution

chickmashnoon

Songster
8 Years
Jun 3, 2011
449
26
129
Champaign County, Illinois
Do hatcheries/ farm stores usually tell you what they subsituite with when they sub birds? I ordered 5 BO straight run and 5 Austrolorp pullets and they came in may 5th. Being new to chickens, I didn't think anything when I picked them up and there were two chicks that looked like chipmunks. I had 5 black chicks that I assumed were my Aus. hens and one gray fluffy chick, two pale grey with a darker grey stripe down their head and back, and the two chipmunks. i assumed all the greys were my BO and they subbed 2 with the chipmunks. Well, now that they are over a month old my "Aust. hens" are a set of what looks like barred rock, 3 of which appear to be roosters. I have one BO(streaked with white) and the other four are mysteries- they all have green legs so I'm assuming they are easter eggers. I got these thru the feed store and I'm curious if you people who have ordered before from places that have subsituited were told what type/breed of chicken was swapped for your order. I guess I just want warning for next year on how common is this mystery bird phenomenon.

Thanks
 
The reputable hatcheries are pretty good at sending out what is ordered or notifying you if it is not available. When they are shipping 100,000 chicks a week, mistakes will occasionally occur, but most established reputable hatcheries are pretty good. That's how they stay in business.

Farm stores are different. Sometimes you have people running them that know what they are doing when it comes to chickens. Sometimes. You may have employees that understand chickens and you may not. Some don't even know that chickens come in different breeds or sexes. Handling baby chickens is not the main money-making business of a feed store. Don't get me wrong. Some feed stores are pretty good too, but it is not their main line oif business like it is with the hatcheries.

I don't know what handling procedures were supposed to happen at the feed store, but it sure sounds to me like somebody at the feed store messed up your order. I think I would take photos of the chicks and photos of what the chicks are supposed to look like at that age and speak to the manager.
 
Thanks. I guess that was my other question- how much of this is the feed store I ordered them thru and how much is the hatchery? They order from Cackle hatchery and their website says that they will subsitute unless you request otherwise. But the feed store did not pass this info along to me, nor did they mention it when the chicks came in. The supposed grey fluffy BO all had an orange marker spot on their head so I assumed they were marked for identification by the hatchery. I'm going to let the store know about the mix up- should I tell the hatchery even tho I didn't order directly from them?

On the plus side, I haven't lost a single one and they are all growing happily. And if they do end up being EE, I guess I'm okay with that.
 
Good news! Went to store and told them about my issue and they offered to refund me for ALL my chickens! I feel guilty doing that, so I had them refund me for the roosters out of the supposed 5 pullets I was supposed to get. The BR are an okay sub for the austrolorp so whatever- since they are all healthy and the guy promised to bring it up with their hatchery and find out what was going on, I was happy. I mean, it's not like I'm going to give the chickens back! I'm kinda attached now.

Anyway, i was happy about their customer service and offer to fix the problem any way they can.
 

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