Poultry Hollow Hatchery Experience and Poultry Hollow Hatchery Chick "Growth Chart" (PIC HEAVY)

[wolfpak]

Based on what had been reported concerning this place's practices, it is literally diseases looking for a place to happen!!!! HORRORS!

Okay, NO WAY could they possibly be NPIP certified, with multitudes of chicken owning customers traipsing through their barn, sickly birds, etc. Whatever chicken diseases are on the property of any & all customers will likely be found there, too! As a bonus, any diseases present there could also be brought home with you. To infect your existing flock!!!

NO biosecurity, NO way!!!!
You are looking at bringing home untold myriad fowl diseases that could well infect your birds, and any birds you hope to own or raise for YEARS to come! PLEASE educate yourselves on the importance of CLEAN stock! That is basic & fundamental to owning any number of birds.

Indigosands & Pele, couldn't agree with you more!

 

[nichag]

she does have USDA inspection ratings around the farm and the 3 I saw had ratings from 96-99. I was there today and it seems that the goverment thinks her palce is ok, as do I. It was 90+ degrees today and the place had little to NO odor. I hate that this sweet ol country gal is getting such a bad wrap. She is so knowledgable and kind. Please remember this is a farm and not a sterile, medical facility ...she breeds birds, they are dirty for goodness sakes. She does have a harsh personality, but if you just talk to her, she is a great person and very willing to help. This is MY experience.

 

[nichag]

Some people are quick to judge, and it saddens me, that you would say such horrible things about a farm that most of you have never been to. The farm was not gross!!!! Having grown up around farms, this place is very well maintained! It was really nice. She had thousands of birds and they were not overcrowded. The only thing that was overcrowded (been there 2x), were all the customers she had. I find it hard to believe that so many people would buy birds, JUST to get them out of the deplorable conditions that you speak of. AND if I was an owner of small operated farm, I would also be "HOTHEADED"!! This is a place for her business to thrive and you all are maming her without EVER asking, if the buyer was practicing proper conditions and raising, shame on you. COME ON PEOPLE!!! DONT be so quick to judge!

AND please let me set the record straight on the 3 roosters in the one cage. There are 2 Polish and one Sultan in a cage near the front of the farm. They are exquisite! She has them there because of their beauty! They are so beautiful! THIS DOES NOT mean she doesnt breed for color. That is a ridiculous assumption and should be clearly discussed instead of assuming the worst!

Judy is heartbroken by these posts! I assure you! I spent a lot of time with her TODAY, and it broke my heart. Although it hasnt hurt her business one iota, this thread has hurt her to the core, because she LOVES her birds. 100% LOVES her birds. The sparkle in her eyes when she talked about the breeds I was curious about. This is a woman that is TOTALLY BIRD PASSIONATE! I hate that ANYONE has a bad experience in any exchange, however, I am curious to know if a call was ever made to Judy?

By the way, your birds are beautiful!

I just want you to remember that you are putting your hand on someones livlihood, are your chickens not great? In times like this, a kind suggestion can go a lot farther than berating someone on a site that can have a huge inpact on their small farm. I just have a HUGE feeling that if you had called Judy she would have been more than happy to help you with your concerns. As well, if you think a place is deplorable, buying from them will only continue to keep them in business.

 

[NYREDS]

Based on what had been reported concerning this place's practices, it is literally diseases looking for a place to happen!!!! HORRORS!

Okay, NO WAY could they possibly be NPIP certified, with multitudes of chicken owning customers traipsing through their barn, sickly birds, etc. Whatever chicken diseases are on the property of any & all customers will likely be found there, too! As a bonus, any diseases present there could also be brought home with you. To infect your existing flock!!!

NO biosecurity, NO way!!!!
You are looking at bringing home untold myriad fowl diseases that could well infect your birds, and any birds you hope to own or raise for YEARS to come! PLEASE educate yourselves on the importance of CLEAN stock! That is basic & fundamental to owning any number of birds.

Indigosands & Pele, couldn't agree with you more!

I love the notion that "biosecurity" will protect chickens from contracting disease. Those of you who don't let people near your chickens for fear they'll spread disease are hopefully also telling wild birds they can't come on your property. Birds spread much more disease to poultry that people do. So, unless you've banished birds you're wasting your time banishing people.

 

[wolfpak]

Hmmm... Guess I'd assumed most here had at least a rudimentary understanding of the fundamentals of the concept of biosecurity, at least as it pertained to procuring new birds for the flock.

Sorry for the obvious lapse!

It really has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with any person, farm, or organization, as these are universal concepts. Most of us are well aware that chickens can be somewhat disease prone. Many of the discussions on this site center around caring for sick, diseased birds, and the importance of preventative measures & flock wellness.

Given the importance of not introducing diseased birds to one's flock, there are some pretty basic - if not elementary - prevention measures that apply. NPIP, or National Poultry Improvement Program, is a designation that basically means biosecurity measures are in place at a hatchery, & the birds are most likely to be disease free, and eggs hatched there are from disease free laying/breeding stock. Forgive me if I've oversimplified, please feel free to elaborate on this point. Its important.
That being the case, when getting new birds for one's flock, its of EXTREME importance that these new birds be healthy. Once infected, chickens CAN become disease carriers FOR LIFE. This is why it was common to completely kill off the flock each year, and bring in new, NPIP CERTIFIED DISEASE FREE STOCK. However, many of us here are a bit attached to our birds, and prefer to treat them to a greater, or lesser degree, as pets. If one adopts some basic disease prevention measures, on a small, free-range, "backyard" type basis, fine!

Okay, please stay with me here! One of the most serious mistakes the small scale bird keeper can make is to introduce sick birds to the propery/flock!!! This CANNOT be over-emphasised!!!!! You can single handedly infect your entire flock, and possibly wipe them out, by the introduction of ONE sick bird!

So, WHERE do sick birds come from? They come from places that engage in PRECISELY the types of practices described at "Poultry Hollow Hatchery." Yes, its really not relevant how annoyed, or upset, or angry the owner is concerning these facts. The emotional state of the vendor is irrelevant. It is strictly a matter of what their practices are. To let hundreds of customers, who own birds of unknown health status, traipse through barns with 1000's of chickens kept in close confinement is simply disaster waiting to happen, from an illness, disease, and disease prevention/protection standpoint. The "beauty" of the birds is irrelevant... as are your personal feelings.

Simple facts, my dear! If YOU don't want to introduce disease, (some of which are incredibly difficult to eradicate, and some that the State will come in with a MANDATORY requirement to destroy all of your flock), then its pretty important to purchase chicks/birds from vendors/hatcheries who DO participate in NPIP, and ARE involved in STRINGENT biosecurity measures at their hatcheries & locations. Please familiarize yourself with these basic requirements for introducing disease free replacement stock!

I'm far more concerned with maintaining the health of my flock. This is the overriding priority, far more so than other's feelings, regardless of how well meaning, or misguided they are! Certainly far more important than the feelings, and profits, of anyone that sells birds, as has been described, or their "livelihood," no matter how much she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her birds.... as was stated, this place is busier than ever.....

 

[halo]

This statement that Poultry Hollow Hatchery posted on another thread was enough to turn me off to them:

Chicken disease is not as bad as people believe, they should talk to the state vet who will tell them disease is uncommon cause of deaths. If disease is susspected to have caused a death I encourage people to send the bird in for autopsy to determine cause of death. Lastly, poultry does get colds and this will cause death if not taken care of. Colds get mistaken for disease all the time...



Generally very new people in poultry end up with sick chickens which they describe it as a cold. They then find out what they are really dealing with, and the various respiratory diseases can decimate a flock, and leave birds carriers for life. Do you not wonder why commercial chicken farms have so many layers of bio security involved? Because they know what a disease can do to a flock. For a hatchery to state that poultry get colds and that gets mistaken as a disease is really scary.

 

[wolfpak]

Wowzer, halo! Thanks so much for your research. Your Hatchery Hollow quote pretty much speaks for itself.
OMG, how frightening that someone of such a level of knowledge, understanding, & comprehension is involved in a business selling poultry, and has 1000's of birds in their care.

"Poultry does get colds... colds get mistaken for disease all the time..." Where does one even start with a statement like that, that is if the literacy level of its author is overlooked?!? Clearly, anyone making such a statement is (at best) profoundly lacking in even basic limited understanding of the concept of poultry resiratory disease fundamentals, and likely ethics as well, particularly if they're in it for the money!

VERY scary, indeed!

 

[Grumpy old man]

I just have to jump in here because in a perfect world each chick would have room to roam and beautiful sunny days to live out a long happy life free ranging , but in reality these birds are bred for a purpose "food" And to compare conditions from a high volume hatchery to your back yard "chicken condo" is just unfair ! The sheer volume of birds processed thru a hatchery will undoubtedly have it's casualties and in no way should it ever be compared to owners raising show birds or high quality breeder stock , these chickens are bred for one reason to produce eggs and when the time comes to provide a nice home raised chicken dinner .I recently purchased a number of birds from Poultry hollow after a few conversations with Judy as to what I was looking for and expected to get for my money and they delivered exactly what I asked for, I have healthy birds and have had no problems with them whatsoever ! if you are looking for perfect birds Then I would encourage you to purchase from a high quality show breeder and spend the money it costs to produce such a bird , If you are looking for a pet so be it ,just don't buy a hatchery bird and expect them to place at the show ! I wanted healthy birds that would produce eggs and when I decide to replace them they will end up in my freezer . I will continue to purchase birds from Poultry Hollow and I understand these birds are not show quality and will never be I don"t eat pretty feathers .And to one of the other posters who said another hatchery would not allow visitors to their farm , there may be a reason for this and I can see no reason other than they don't want anyone to see their operation .So if your looking for pretty feathers for your back yard chicken condo buy show birds if your looking for eggs and chicken dinners buy from Poultry Hollow !

 

[poultryhollow]

We just got this email and pictures from a customer. You can see here the quality of of breeds. As most know Wilson County Fair has a BIG poultry show.
Here is the email, cut and pasted:

Hello Judy!

Here are the pictures of the winners we had at the fair this year that we originally got from Poultry Hollow.

Second place winner in breed for our Red Blue Old English Game Bantam.

First place in breed and variety to our Blue Belgian Quail D'Anver

First place in Breed to our White Black Tailed Japanese Bantam

And first place in breed to our Gold Neck D'Uccle

The wins have made us very happy and we wanted you to know.

God Bless,
Heather and Chris Littles

And here are the pictures:

 

[Grumpy old man]

There is the quality you are wanting and pictures to prove it .