Receiving roosters with a "Pullet Only" order.

[Pixie]

I sent them another photo as the boys are easily discernible at this point even to my kids.

This is the response I received today:

Quote:

Thanks

They look like 2 different kinds??!?! WTH does that mean? Denial is not just a river in Egypt.


Here is the photo....

 

[donrae]

Well, thank you for posting this. Hopefully it will help others avoid this hatchery in the future. What horrible customer service! And lack of knowledge. The reason they look like two different kinds is the double barring, the hallmark of a male barred Rock. And never mind that if they were pullets, they'd have to be like 4-5 months old to have that much comb

 

[Folly's place]

I'm amazed too; what idiots! Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

Note to self: Never do business with Estes Hatchery.

 

[Pixie]

Just to be fair, the lady posted me a refund for 10 hens within the hour of her reply. I still cannot fathom her assertion of them being a different breed though as they are 5 weeks old. They are totally males.

 

[lazy gardener]

Was it a total refund, or a refund for the difference between the price of male and female? Wonder if she was aware of the bad publicity on BYC? Bet she was. Bet all the hatcheries keep an eye on this site, probably do a thread search for their hatchery name.

 

[Pixie]

She did a full refund for 10 hens (as 5 roosters were considered within their 10% margin of error).

 

[learycow]

Interesting. If she believes they are 2 different types of chickens (regardless of hen vs roo) isn't that her admitting that she didn't even send you the correct birds in the first place? Since you ordered PULLETS of all ONE breed?!!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Thanks for sharing this situation. I had considered ordering from Estes this coming spring, now I think I'll look elsewhere.
Even given that she ended up giving you a full refund, this all read like a really, really bad customer service experience. If you're in the business of selling chickens, then I think you should be knowledgeable about your product. I'd think even the most novice hatchery worker would be made aware that breeds like barred Rocks are sex linked, to make genders easily identifiable AT HATCH. I do realize that not all chicks conform to that the way they're supposed to and that mistakes are made (we're only human, after all) but those emails almost sound to me like they were attempting to brush you off and hoped you'd just go away.

Anyway, I've ordered from Ideal, McMurray and Cackle in the past and they not only sent me what I ordered (plus extras) but they were also kind enough to answer any questions I had and helped me identify which breeds were which even though I feel like they didn't have to.

Good luck.

 

[lazy gardener]

Barred rocks are not sex linked. They are auto sexing. The difference being that Barred Rocks, like all barred and cuckoo patterned birds will be sexable at hatch, and this will continue for successive generations as long as you don't introduce an other breed. Sex linked birds are a specific hybrid created by putting a specific breed of rooster over a different breed of hen. The resulting chicks, males will bear the feather pattern of the mothers, while the females will not. They will not breed true in next generations. Given that the OP received male birds when she ordered pullets, and they are an auto sexing breed, and the hatchery argued the fact with her, that does NOT speak well of their customer service. For a fun read regarding sex linking, check out the Sex Linked Information thread.