Totally Truthful Breedersj

[crocco]

Do people throughout the BYC community think most breeders know what they are raising,showing and most of all selling to new chicken owners.Of course they do!! I recently purchased three STRAIGHT RUN chicks from a local breeder who should remain nameless, they were getting along until a couple of weeks ago when the bigger of the of the three was pushing the other two around call the breeder up, suggested get another larger fowl bird to balance my little flock.So I went to pick my pullet large fowl egg laying wonder of the world.After posting pics on BYC and getting feedback everyone agrees alot of cocks in the hen house.To some it all up I think the breeder knows very well how to get rid of her cockerels if you catch my drift.Please let me in on any info thanks.

 

[sourland]

Poultry fanciers are just like all the people of the world. They range in integrity from good to bad to indifferent. Caveat emptor applies for sure. Deal only with those whose reputation is known.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

There is always a chance of a less than honest breeder, but in this case it seems to me the buyer had some unreasonable expectations.

You only purchased three chicks and straight-run at that. Probability says at least one of them will be a cockerel and at least a 50-50 chance two of them will be. You did not state the age of the fourth bird you picked up later so I'm presuming it was old enough to be sexable by then.

Straight-run means just that. As they come out of the hatcher. It's not always a 50-50 proposition. Sometimes it runs as high as 75-25 (either way) and I've seen the occasional batch run even higher. For just three straight-run chicks it would not have surprised me at all if two of them were males.

 

[chickmashnoon]

have you ever hatched eggs? I've got 7 roos out of 9 hatchlings, so I wouldn't be too hard on the breeder. sometimes it just happens.

 

[BaconNEggsFarm]

I agree that it really sounds like you wanted hens but bought straight run chicks insted.Its not rocket science,but I wouldnt be upset unless I bought some sort of sex-link bird,other wise you got exactly what you payed for and that is unknown sex chicks.

 

[crocco]

Even now after seeing the birds she is trying to tell me she can't tell its to early,and yes I bought them as straight run but did she know the sex trying to get rid of some of her less desired show birds.I was there to buy pullets and she was aware of that. Sounds fishy thats all.....

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

cant blame a breeder for this. In most cases, young chicks have to be vent sexed or feather sexed. IF you bought straight run, it really doesnt matter. Now if you bought pre sexed chicks and she told you YES this is a male these 2 are pullets, and they turned out all cockerels, then you'd have a leg to stand on. But saying I want pullets and buying straight run chicks, well you said what you wanted, she said what she could do, straight run.
in this case, straight run is straight run.
I have done this for may many years, almost 30, and I'll be honest with you, I cant tell one from another in the breeds I work with even now til they are starting to take on the sexable traits. I deal mainly in rare bantam breeds, and they are harder than large fowl. But the fact is, unless you have been trained to sex them, or they are a sex linked breed or color, you just cant tell until they are starting to feather out.

As for ethics, yes as was stated above, you are dealing with people, there's all kinds. In birds it's no different than buying anything else. You have those who are well known, respected and can talk your ear off about their breeds ( these are the ones you want to buy from)

then you have the ones who just do it to do it, dont care either way. If your happy good if not o well.
Then you have the down right shady ones who try to slip stuff past others. These dont make it long, and usually are what I call back yard keepers.

The term breeder in my book is used too liberally to start with. Breeders would be what I described in the first group. Those that have been around, know the ins and outs of their birds, the genetics behind them, and love to share info about the birds in their hobby.

To me all others are just chicken owners. Having a few and selling off them doesnt constitute being a true breeder.

As for hatch ratios, Lord that can go either way. I hatch about 200 a week for my own breeding projects. Some times an entire group from a breed or color will be just 1 sex, or extremely heavy on one sex. Now If I were to sell off these as day olds, as straight run chicks...how would I know they were all one sex.... would I be accused of shady selling?? I guess what I'm saying here is it just happens. Next time find sex chicks or well started birds so they can be 100% ID ed and there wont be an issue.

From what has been said here, I honestly feel the breeder in question has done no wrong. There could be stuff going on we're not aware of, but from what I have read so far this is just one of the odds games played with buying straight run. especially with just a small handful of chicks.

 

[NYREDS]

Even now after seeing the birds she is trying to tell me she can't tell its to early,and yes I bought them as straight run but did she know the sex trying to get rid of some of her less desired show birds.I was there to buy pullets and she was aware of that. Sounds fishy thats all.....

If you " were there to buy pullets", why did you buy straight run? If they were chicks there would have been no way for her to know they were"less desired show birds". I think someone else got it right, your expectations were unrealistic.

 

[Oregon Blues]

You wanted pullets but you bought straight run. Now you are complaining because what you got was straight run and not pullets.

That's like really wanting a Ferrari, but telling the dealer you want to buy a Volkswagen. Then going home and calling the dealer dishonest because you got a Volkswagen and didn't get the Ferrari you wanted.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I know one breeder who sexes goslings, but other than that, every show breeder I know simply waits for their hatchlings to grow up to see what genders they got.

Chickens are difficult to sex and it takes special training and special skills to sex chickens. Chicken sexers are very well paid, because not many people are capable of doing the job.