Really frustrated!!! Email from breeder...

[LadyBeartoothMamma]

wow maybe its a good thing i read this before i went ahead and processed my order. I was about to spend $75.00 on six silkies from that lady, but something told me to hold on for a few days and think about it. But I got on here and saw that boy im glad I didnt do that now. That would of been a waste of money plus it would of ticked me off(pardon the french) had I bought them and they all died..

if it was me i would tell hey it wasnt my daughter's fault the chick died just because she held it and loved it. I have five chicks now that are a month old i got from my pet chicken and my daughter held them right away when they got out of the box. Course one died but not because it was smothered to death it died cause it was a long trip. And when a chicken wants to die it will die, not because it was held too much.. If I were you I would say something to the Administrator on here and mention and forwarn others in a nice way that hey.. But thats me. The right people should be informed and hopefully they will do something about it. Anyway my daughter still holds them and socializes with them and they are still alive. I am ordering seven more from Ideal Hatchery. If i were you from now on I would go online and order, which is sad, because of one person's actions all people who breed their own and sell them will get a bad rap.

Which isnt cool.. Sorry that it happened and that your daughter had to see that its sad.. ((((((((((hugs))))))))))....

 

[suzettex5]

Quote:
WOW! Yeah, I'm betting thechicks would not have survived the trip from California to your state- very long trip! Especially with the OP's chicks testing positive for Cocci, they would never have made it between the heat and possible disease. Glad you were warned before it ended in dissapointment.

 

[speakup4kids]

It is interesting that you have had emails ignored as well, that is not acceptable to me and probably upset me more than almost anything else. It's funny, in the beginning my emails were answered almost instantly and then this happened and now I send 3 or 4 before I see a response. I already know what she will say about the cocci, based on past conversations... It is obviously from my facilities, couldn't be from hers! Forget the fact that that there wasn't enough time for them to have contracted it and tested positive from being with me...

I am interested in that white silkie....

 

[suzettex5]

PM me, send your email and I'll try to get a pic of her today or tommorow and send it to ya!

 

[HHandbasket]

Obviously the breeder is not on BYC... that right there is a red flag to me (grin).

You know, I almost called that breeder before I got my birds. I bought mine from the guy in Rio Linda ... Daylen's Ladies pullets. They're not as old as we thought they were, but they're healthy birds so it's okay that we paid $3 apiece more for them than we would have otherwise. I'm overall pleased with the birds I got from Daylen and his parents. Nice folks, very down to earth, got tons of fowl in their backyard. Live in a subdivision. You'd never know they had the birds until you go into their back yard, and it's basically one giant poultry/duck farm.

When we bought our birds from Daylen, one of the birds we picked up was supposed to be a barred rock, but on second look, they said it was a cuckoo maran. We said it was ok, doesn't matter, brought it home anyway. It was a MEAN bird and picked on the other 2 that were smaller than her and wouldn't let them near the feeder or the waterer. I called Dale (Daylen's dad), told him the situation, and he had no problem whatsoever letting me bring her back and exchange her for whatever else I wanted. So, I got a leghorn... which I am going to post about on another thread because I am beginning to think my little Felipa is a Felipe.

Anyway, they had no problem exchanging a bird, so maybe try giving them a call.

 

[suzettex5]

Quote:
Ahhhh, yes, Daylen.... I bought some birds from them awhile ago. Nice folks, but I'm not sure they know their breeds real well. And they get some of their birds from the Roseville auction at Denios. I bought some "Jersey Giant" hens that are, in fact, black Australorps. I only wanted giants, darn it!! Its an easy mistake to make, I know, I didnt know the difference until I started doing my research and found out what they really are. They are decent layers, but not what I wanted or paid for. Also, they told me they had more birds of a certain breed, but once I got there, they didnt have them after all, kinda a bummer. Very nice people though- easy to work with. I see them as kinda chicken 'flippers', since they pick some (or most) of them up at auction and re-sell. They did tell me that, so its not like they were dishonest about it.

Now that I am a more aware chicken owner, I would NEVER buy a bird that was from a third, or 4th hand party- just toooo dangerous for my blood. I honestly didnt know about all the diseases and pests that chickens carry that could kill or injure my flock back when I got those birds. (Thank God for BYC!!) I know that auction well and they dont practise hardly any bio-safety for their livestock- the cages are jammed right next to each other, food and water is often dirty or scarce, and they sometimes put alot of animals/birds into one small space, waaaaay to much chance for cross-contamination, IMO.

Nowadays, all my flock is either raised from innoculated feedstore chicks, or hatched here at home from eggs I either bought from a BYC'er or my own hens. I very rarely take in an outside bird, and then they get the quarentine treatment.

 

[HHandbasket]

Wow, they told me a completely different story about how they got their birds!

Between that and my birds not being anywhere NEAR the ages they told me they were, I probably will not refer anyone else to them. One of the reasons I went to them is that I do not want to get chickens from Denio's. I've heard some of the things you mentioned & wanted to get them from a private party rather than get auction birds.

They told me they bought their chicks from the feedstore out there off Elkhorn, that Daylen ordered them as chicks and they would raise them and sell them. I asked them specifically where they got their birds. Hmm.

Well, they were nice to me at the time & let me exchange a less-than-ideal bird. I would still always be nice to them if I ran into them, but I won't refer anyone else out there.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[suzettex5]

Oh, yeah, I'm sure they did get some of their stock from the feed store- they sent me there too! So I could try to get some of the breed they told me they still had. No way they raised all those different aged birds in that small backyard! I did like their walk in 'coop' though! I think it was over crowded, what with rabbits, quail, and chicks and chickens, But, who am I to judge??? Nobody, thats who

They absolutely get some of their birds from Denios- thats what the mom told me, (she specifically told me the birds I was buying were from Denios auction) I think the Australorps she sold me were probably mis-labeled and sold to her at the auction as Jersey Giants, so I choose to give them the benefit of the doubt that they didnt know any better. I'm not real keen on the whole "Its my sons business, he's only 9 or 10 (cant remember age) and he keeps all the records, etc." I think if youre in business selling chickens, its ok, but take responsibility, dont tell people your business is run by a child, or hide behind your kid.

I think it was not cool that you paid extra for something that was not exactly what you wanted, nor what was advertised. I hate the ol' bait and switch game it seems we both fell for a tiny bit. I paid quite a bit for those "Jersey's", and they werent even laying yet, but I was ok with it since I wanted Jersys so bad at the time. Oh well, I like them anyways and they are really sweet birds who lay everyday, even if they are over a year old and still laying pullet bullets!!

 

[HHandbasket]

When I got my birds, I was told 2 of them were between 3 and 4 months, and the last 3 were between 2 and 3 months. I thought I would have eggs come July, and they said the last of them would probably start laying in mid to late August, maaaaybe as late as September.

Now that I am much more educated about chickens, I realize the only one that was actually 3 months old was the ameraucana, and the rest were about 4-6 weeks. I have had them almost 2 months. None of them even really has wattles yet, a couple of them have very, very small white combs, and I don't think I'm anywhere near having eggs. I have considered buying a couple of older laying hens because we really thought we would start seeing eggs by now. We will be lucky if we see an egg before September or possibly not even until October when the birds are 6 months old.

 

[JustOneMore]

speakup4kids, I am so sorry to hear about your experience. If I read your posts correctly, your children handled the chicks at the breeder's facility, in front of the breeder. If she had any questions or concern about their ability to safely handle what were then HER babies, she should have raised them at that time. If she saw rough handling that had her worried about chicks being killed by the children she should have addressed that then and NOT sold them to you. Since you DID take chicks home that day, it seems that her concerns came after the death.
I breed dogs, I do not breed chickens, so the comments I make below may not apply to birds. If they don't, please feel free to correct me. As a dog breeder I screen for a variety of health issues that could potentially be passed on to our puppies. We only breed to dogs who have had the same. That said, genetics is a crap-shoot and sometimes an undesireable trait does sneak through. We believe that by doing clearances on our dogs we can eliminate those with known heritable issues from our breeding program by spaying/neutering them. I breed with my own needs (showing/performance) in mind first, hoping that each pup available to a companion home will also make a wonderful, beautiful, healthy pet. We ask that full families come to see our dogs and visit the puppies. If I have ANY concern about a family member's handling or behavior around the dogs I DO NOT SEND A PUPPY WITH THEM.
I believe that there are few chicken breeders out there who screen for genetic defects beyond traits that are visually notable. (Extra toes is visually notable, cardiac defects are not). Keep in mind the huge numbers of people out there who have hens and a roo producing chicks for sale compared to the RELATIVELY FEW who have true dedication to producing a "line" for either showing or production and longevity. This is not a criticism of chicken breeders ... animals produced for agricultural use are often raised differently than those bred as companions. If someone raises spring chicks with the intent of putting them in the freezer in the fall, what does it matter if they don't have a natural life expectancy of 15-20 years ... I'm not criticizing, merely pointing out that agricultural vs companion are totally different uses!
If one of my puppies died while with its new owners I would push for a necropsy ... not because I thought that children killed it, but because I would worry that we'd unknowingly produced a health problem. If we had, I would strongly consider NOT breeding the parents again and I would "replace" the puppy with one from my next available litter. On the two occasions in the last 30 years that one of our puppies has died, we replaced both. One had ingested poison (presumably set out for rodent control at the family camp) and the other had ingested fluff from a toy, causing peritonitis. Neither was "my fault" but I provided replacement, treating those families as I would want to be treated if it were me that had lost a loved companion.
The law of averages would say that once in every "x" many offspring a genetic health glitch may happen. Consider the hen that produces hundreds of potentially hatched eggs each year. Odds are in those numbers will be a few with "failure to thrive", either in the egg or after hatching. Maybe your child's pet was one of those poor chicks destined to not make it. Regardless, I fully agree with the person that said it's bad business practice to not replace the lost chick and to INSULT THE CUSTOMER.
We raised 20 hatchery day-old chicks this year. One was weak upon arrival and didn't survive overnight. The hatchery has no idea of how many children I may have had handle them or ages/behavior of them. Regardless, upon notification they did offer a refund on that chick. We also had one chick that has a few "issues" and has not thrived as the others have (very late to feather, much less energetic). I am sure I could contact the hatchery and complain, or I could have culled her within their 48 hour window and gotten a refund. We chose to give her a chance and she's now 8 weeks old, with odd posture and behavior, but an excellent pet. I think she was from a "bad egg" from that 1 in "x" many that will come along.
It's too bad that the one lost was one that had been selected by your 9 year old.
speakup4Kids, I believe you did the right thing by contacting the breeder. If it were me, I would ask for a refund of the purchase price of that bird and would seek another chick elsewhere, despite the considerable inconvenience of quarrantining a new chick.