Recent Alchemist Farms Experience?

[Kikwi]

The ones who died around maturity were a BCM and an Isbar, and curiously enough, they were both males. The babies came from a pair of the mixed boxes and could've been more or less anything, so I'm afraid I don't know about those. It's entirely possible I just had really bad luck with them; lots of folks get really beautiful birds from them and never have any problems. I've gotten really beautiful birds from them with no problems. I'd probably even give them another chance if they were having a good sale. Best you can do is love them and give them the best care you can and hope everyone thrives; I'm wishing you all the luck!

Well, crossing fingers they all make it! One of the BCMs is a cockerel and I’d very much like to keep his genetics going.

 

[metarachel]

Well, crossing fingers they all make it! One of the BCMs is a cockerel and I’d very much like to keep his genetics going.

Ours was such a sweet, well-tempered boy. So good with the girls and with us. We miss him

 

[Stephine]

I am currently babying my second little Azure Egger from Alchemist. Both came down with Pseudo Botulism (a form of Marek’s) as chicks and recovered. Then I lost one to Marek’s at 2 months (after integration) and the second got sick right around time of lay. She started with having trouble walking and progressed to lying on her side, barely eating and not drinking for 3 days. Then she started taking a few treats again, devoured the fresh greens I found her, and started standing up again. Still mainly existing on a parade of ever changing treats (raisins, oatmeal, grubs, fruit, greens, scrambled eggs…) she will like one day and ignore the next, but I just saw her finally eating some pellets again. So maybe she will survive this. We’ll see. Still will never get unvaccinated birds again, this is just too tough.

 

[Disheygirl]

Oh my goodness!! I love them!! The gray one looks almost exactly like my Xena. Xena has been the star egg-layer, along with her sister, Lucy, even though they’re our smallest hens (We only have two alchemist blues). She was the star, until she went broody. But it wasn’t hard to break her of it. Just had to take the fake eggs (golf balls) out of the laying boxes. Suddenly she wasn’t interested in being broody any longer.
But she hasn’t laid since she went broody. Hopefully she’ll get back to laying before winter temps.

Do yours lay blue? Both of mine lay greenish - the same color as the Isbars!

 

[MountainMarans2012]

I got Silverudd’s and Alchemist Blues from them this year - so far so good. They’re about five weeks old and no problems…healthy babies!

What do your Silverudds Blue look like now?
Did you get any pullets to confirm egg color?
I wanted to order some from them but have heard their SB's have issues and some lay Tinted Eggs

 

[ChickieLadie]

I have had 3 smaller batches of chicks from them. We love their philosophy, that they are close enough to pick up chicks from, the beautiful eggs and their customer service has been fine. The issues we have had are not knowing which chick is which breed, and getting an unusual amount of roosters in each batch, almost like because we have gotten chicks at a discount we are given obvious roosters (undeveloped tail feathers and larger combs from the beginning). So far of the 15 chicks we have gotten 2 died within a day, and only 3 have been pullets, one was an azure egger so it was guaranteed. So much for buying double. We have yet to get a female BCM or Blue Copper Maran of the 5 ordered. It is a lot of money to be spending on roosters that I have to stress about finding homes for. Also I have had trouble with a lack of communication. In the future if I want straight run, I will probably just hatch some, otherwise I will order from a hatchery that guarantees females.

 

[Disheygirl]

What do your Silverudds Blue look like now?
Did you get any pullets to confirm egg color?
I wanted to order some from them but have heard their SB's have issues and some lay Tinted Eggs

Sorry, didn’t realize I missed this! One of the SB lays mint green and the other lays a beautiful blue. Like, more blue than my CLB and EE. Let me see if I can find some pictures from this summer of them. Still great birds - healthy as can be.

Edit: batting zero here. You asked about the SB, not the Alchemist Blues. Derp. I’ll post pics - they both lay pretty speckled green eggs. I don’t think they’re breeding stock because the splash has blue skin and yellow is preferred, but they’re healthy, great layers, and cause zero issues in the flock so they work for me!

 

[Disheygirl]

What do your Silverudds Blue look like now?
Did you get any pullets to confirm egg color?
I wanted to order some from them but have heard their SB's have issues and some lay Tinted Eggs

The splash (the gray w/her is an AB), and the gray SB - she’s blinking or something; her eyes are normal. Also the splash when she was younger - she has blue skin (yellow is preferred) but they’re great layers, lay a pretty specked green egg, and are healthy so the skin color doesn’t matter to me.

 

[forty north]

I am noticing this conversation late but wanted to share my experience for other's people reference. I ordered chicks from Alchemist Farm and lost every single one of them. At about 4 weeks I lost the first one, and over the next few months continued to lose them. After four months, every chick I ordered from them had died (15 total). It was my first time ordering from somewhere other than a hatchery and first time ordering unvaccinated chicks. I learned the hard and expensive way, so wanted to share with others. I have raised Black Copper Marans for many years. I wanted to try Alchemist Farm's BCMs, which was an unfortunate decision for me.

 

[MountainMarans2012]

I am noticing this conversation late but wanted to share my experience for other's people reference. I ordered chicks from Alchemist Farm and lost every single one of them. At about 4 weeks I lost the first one, and over the next few months continued to lose them. After four months, every chick I ordered from them had died (15 total). It was my first time ordering from somewhere other than a hatchery and first time ordering unvaccinated chicks. I learned the hard and expensive way, so wanted to share with others. I have raised Black Copper Marans for many years. I wanted to try Alchemist Farm's BCMs, which was an unfortunate decision for me.

I've read about others having issues with AF chicks, even when they were vaccinated.
Sadly their chicks and shipping are pricey, sorry you lost a lot of money. Hopefully others read your comment and steer away from AF.
Thank you for the response, I won't be purchasing any from them now.