Shipped in Birds - Heavily Mite Infested

[heirloomorps]

We are after some advice on what to do...

After purchasing a not very cheap trio of birds ($300), they arrived all very heavily infested with Mites.
This clearly didn't happen during the shipping...

How would you approach the seller and what if anything would you expect them to do?

 

[beausonge]

I would send these pictures to the breeder and assume they don't know about it. I don't know how big their farm is and whether they have hired help. They may not see all of their birds as hired help may be handling and shipping the birds. They are obviously not aware of this mite infestation and I am pretty sure they will be quite embarrassed when told about it. They do need to be told as they need to treat the birds at their farm.

If you are otherwise happy with the birds, that is all I would do. The embarrassment will be punishment enough for sending infested birds. If you are wanting birds from them in the future, I would leave at that.

Vickie et al
Kelso, WA.

 

[dutchbunny83]

I don't breed or anything, so I've never bought birds nearly that expensive.
Obviously I would expect them to be in perfect condition at that price!
I don't know if there was any guarantee, but I would definitely tell them.
Honestly I would expect to either be able to return them or a partial refund and an apology.

Where do you even find mites like that, is it at the base off all feathers or a certain area? I just got some birds the other day and they're in confinement I need to go look for this, I was only told to check the vent...

 

[dawg53]

Those are lice eggs. I've read that coconut oil will remove them. I also recommend you keep them in quarantine and dust them with sevin dust, redust again in 7-10 days.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[Michael Apple]

Those are lice eggs. I've read that coconut oil will remove them. I also recommend you keep them in quarantine and dust them with sevin dust, redust again in 7-10 days.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

X2 on the Sevin for lice. As much as I don't like powders, Sevin-5 wipes them out. I knew an old guy who removed them with motor oil once. Poor birds. Coconut or even mineral oil is much better.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Tell us what you end up doing and the end result.
I'm so sad this happened to you!!!

 

[tlagnhoj]

Bird treatment aside, I think the seller needs to be made aware of the problem at a minimum. I disagree that it's obvious the seller is not aware of the problem. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But he needs to know that you as a paying customer did not receive the goods you contracted for. What you do beyond that is really up to you. Do you want to keep the birds or return them? Do you want to be refunded a portion of the purchase price? Reimbursed for the cost of treatment (though I can't imagine that amounts to all that much monetarily, does it?)? If he is a trustworthy supplier, he will make an honest attempt to make it right according to your wishes. Within reason, of course. If he refuses or gives you the run-around, chalk it up as the price of buying the merchandise sight-unseen. I don't know BYC's policy on reviewing chicken/poultry suppliers, but if it's allowed, share that information in the appropriate forum. Make others you know that might purchase from seller aware of the circumstances. I'm not suggesting bad-mouthing, just a review. Like on Amazon. And there's always small claims court, but I reckon the cost to file is just not worth whatever judgment you might expect. $100/bird (average) is a lot for me, but even at that, it wouldn't meet my threshold to go through the hassle of suing. I get enough of that as a landlord.

 

[Michael Apple]

Breeders should be made accountable including the one the OP got birds from. Be glad you didn't get any birds from him with MG or some other virus though. That happened to me once.