Why? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? "True Bantam Ameraucana's" 😡🥺

[RememberTheWay]

I'm sorry for your disappointment.

And NOT to side with the lady you got them from, but from my own experience, I had to teach my friend about Americana and Ameraucana and the differences. She honestly thought they were all the same and that she had hit the jackpot on them from TSC. It honestly took a few conversations to get it through.

We have a local Amercucana breeder close by and can get chicks(blue wheaten) but we are full up on Easter eggers right now.

It's almost soul crushing when something doesn't go how you wanted. ((I got EE hatching eggs and got 3 roos and 1 hen died)) Sending prayers and hugs(or air hugs)

Did you intend to buy EEs or were they supposed to be Ameraucana's?

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Did you intend to buy EEs or were they supposed to be Ameraucana's?

We intended to buy EE. I'm saying space and money for the Blue Wheatens : )

 

[RememberTheWay]

I agree. I don't always leave a review for normal or mediocre goods and services. But, I almost always leave a review for good, very good, or great goods and services. And, always for poor or worse. I suppose that is the reason I was invited to participate in Amazon's Vine review program.

I like to think that my reviews help to put bad businesses out of business, while helping good businesses to grow.

I'm not even sure where I could leave a review?

 

[Hungry Chicken]

I'm not even sure where I could leave a review?

I might not have read everything through carefully and I'm sorry if I sound stupid asking this but does she have a website?

 

[RememberTheWay]

I might not have read everything through carefully and I'm sorry if I sound stupid asking this but does she have a website?

I'm not sure. She advertises on her personal page on FB, as well as LsN, and Craigslist, plus all the poultry sales pages locally. I honestly don't know if she has a website

 

[Bean1028]

Sorry for your disappointment. Her response is just down right terrible. We've had our own battle with the Ameraucanas as well this year. My young daughters saved up their own money from chores to buy chickens. My husband found an ad for "purebred Blue Ameraucanas"...my daughters had enough money, so we took a 5 hour round trip drive to get them...they did tons of research & the older one wanted to show them as well. Turned out on week 2 the obvious rooster developed severe crossbeak & died around week 10. Another chick with mild crossbeak, who turned out to be roo #2 with an overgrown floppy comb...looks more like an Australorp roo with muffs & beard. 3rd roo has bad leakage in his hackles. The 2 girls...one is smaller, both lay lightish green eggs...one has more of a gray tint to it. Both have different combs. None of them are blues either...all blacks.
Round #2 we lost $100 on a scam...no birds arrived.
Round #3 we ordered from McMurray Hatchery & recieved ALL EEs.
Round #4 we will find out next month. They're a semi local reputable breeder 2.5 hours away...this is the last time I try to purchase this breed. I just sold 1/2 our layer flock to get the money to purchase...over $400 invested so far & no Ameraucanas yet...maybe we shouldn't try round #4...I'm still on the fence. We LOVE our first flock, even tho they're not perfect...they're the reason we've been chasing this breed. Their attitudes & personality are sooo amazing. It's a big gamble trying to find true Ameraucanas as we've found out & read. Best of luck to you! I hope everything works out.

 

[RememberTheWay]

Sorry for your disappointment. Her response is just down right terrible. We've had our own battle with the Ameraucanas as well this year. My young daughters saved up their own money from chores to buy chickens. My husband found an ad for "purebred Blue Ameraucanas"...my daughters had enough money, so we took a 5 hour round trip drive to get them...they did tons of research & the older one wanted to show them as well. Turned out on week 2 the obvious rooster developed severe crossbeak & died around week 10. Another chick with mild crossbeak, who turned out to be roo #2 with an overgrown floppy comb...looks more like an Australorp roo with muffs & beard. 3rd roo has bad leakage in his hackles. The 2 girls...one is smaller, both lay lightish green eggs...one has more of a gray tint to it. Both have different combs. None of them are blues either...all blacks.
Round #2 we lost $100 on a scam...no birds arrived.
Round #3 we ordered from McMurray Hatchery & recieved ALL EEs.
Round #4 we will find out next month. They're a semi local reputable breeder 2.5 hours away...this is the last time I try to purchase this breed. I just sold 1/2 our layer flock to get the money to purchase...over $400 invested so far & no Ameraucanas yet...maybe we shouldn't try round #4...I'm still on the fence. We LOVE our first flock, even tho they're not perfect...they're the reason we've been chasing this breed. Their attitudes & personality are sooo amazing. It's a big gamble trying to find true Ameraucanas as we've found out & read. Best of luck to you! I hope everything works out.

Man- I am groing to come back to this later when I am done with chores. But THIS is EXACTLY why I should be breeding Ameraucana's. This type of stuff will not happen to my customers. I just care TOO MUCH. And my name and reputation means far too much to me, that is something money doesn't buy and I work very hard to have strong principles and good morals

 

[NagemTX]

I'm going to suggest Cackle hatchery here. They have the pure Ameraucana. Owner is in both the clubs and other breeders have said the stock while hatchery can be foundation stock. I myself have stock from them. If you don't get sexed chicks they are a decent price.

 

[RememberTheWay]

@NagemTX

Thank you for your help and advice. I think I am just going to wait until the fall when I have more options from some of the small breeders and show breeders. Mainly Lindsay Helton. Had the lady from Alabama allowed me to use a transport service I would have gotten birds from her already. Unfortunately it didn't work out.

As an UPDATE- I did find some suitable self blues (supposedly from John Blehm lines- but I seriously take that with a grain of salt)

I went on an EXTREMELY LONG day trip yesterday to get them and was supposed to be picking up blacks from another person as well. Unfortunately, when I got there and actually took a look at them hands on- they all had terrible type. What I can't wrap my head around is how they looked so good in the pictures and so not good in person? When I looked at the photos the birds looked great, especially the rooster. He had proper comb, good wing set and wing angle, the tail was right, his chest looked full, transitions looked good, legs, MB was awesome. How can a bird go from looking so good in photos to not good in person? Has anyone else experienced this? Can the angle of the camera in a photo really be that deceiving? Also how long does it take for squirrel tail to show up on a bird?

They all had pretty bad squirrel tail, both roosters, and the hens! Most of the birds that I did see that were in any way decent for type ended up being the crosses they had so that immediately threw them out of consideration. Some of them had super long tails (hens) and some of them had weak tails or possibly wry tails- didn't observe long enough to know for sure. Both males had way too short legs and most of the females did too. Honestly I think it was only the hybrid hens in their that had proper length to the legs. Also saw pinched tails. The only thing they all had going for them was full muffs and beards and I think the eye color was right. But honestly I was evaluating from the tail up because I already have some hens with tail issues and of course that was where my eyes went first so I knew I was picking birds that would counter balance the issues I already have.

I was so excited about the blacks. They were supposed to have been from a very well known breeder that no longer breeds (which I'm already well aware that there are lots of scammers around that love to throw out big names so unsuspecting people who buy them then think they have birds from big names, and really have no clue- I don't think this was someone trying to intentionally scam anyone at all- I think maybe some one misled them when they got their birds, maybe ) . Would of loved to have continued those lines. Unfortunately what I saw when I got there I just couldn't go through with it. Which is a huge for me, considering I really have a hard time backing out of something or telling people no ESPECIALLY when I am face to face to with them (it's just a super uncomfortable feeling for me) , and I had also drove quite a ways to get them. But when I thought about not saying anything and purchasing anyways, I would have been more upset with myself then leaving empty handed, so I mustered up the courage to disappoint them and left empty handed

This definitely makes me even more weary of driving long distances to get birds now. I am terrified I'm going to land in another situation like that where I am leaving empty handed because they aren't what I thought they were by the photos I looked at. So disappointing as I really thought I had finally found what I was looking for and that my quest was over and that the real project would finally be starting. So the quest continues. It is looking like I will be waiting til the fall on a Master breeder and just postponing my projects a little longer.

I am quite pleased with the pullets I got yesterday from the other person though. I will post pictures later today (so everyone can rip them shreds online ). I need to re evaluate them anyways now that I am home and not on someone else's time. My intentions with the birds are to "build the barn, before I paint" so right now I am focusing on correct type.

Also as a side note- the two birds from "kick rocks lady" are filling out. The cockerel will definitely not be able to be used for ANYTHING! He has TERRIBLE - and I mean absolutely terrible wry tail will post pictures later. Not sure what to do with him at this point actually. I also think that he actually either a blue or a splash. The pullet on the other hand is growing into maybe a not so terrible bird? Now neither of them are actually self blue- I suspect the pullet to be a splash (and not a good one) or she is possibly a self blue and blue expressing at the same time? Not really sure. At this point I am only looking at her body type and build- Not necessarily the colors. If she continues to shape into a nice bird I might consider taking her to a line of blacks? If she actually is a self blue, if not then maybe another color? I will have to look at her again later because I can't remember what her tail set is looking like, but I've also been told not to evaluate tail sets too soon because they can change drastically with maturity. IF her type stays okay then maybe I use her for some bantam olive eggers or something? Too bad the Cockerel had wry tail because I wanted to use him for a blue sexlink cross for bantam olive eggers but i refuse to uee a bad cockerel, i would essentially be locking wry tail into all my lines.

I do have a question though about the self blues- when breeding them, if I bred to a black bantam instead of another self blue, the resulting offspring of course will all be black- my question though is whether 100% of the offspring would be split for self blue or whether it would only be a certain percentage of the offspring?

 

[NagemTX]

@NagemTX

Thank you for your help and advice. I think I am just going to wait until the fall when I have more options from some of the small breeders and show breeders. Mainly Lindsay Helton. Had the lady from Alabama allowed me to use a transport service I would have gotten birds from her already. Unfortunately it didn't work out.

As an UPDATE- I did find some suitable self blues (supposedly from John Blehm lines- but I seriously take that with a grain of salt)

I went on an EXTREMELY LONG day trip yesterday to get them and was supposed to be picking up blacks from another person as well. Unfortunately, when I got there and actually took a look at them hands on- they all had terrible type. What I can't wrap my head around is how they looked so good in the pictures and so not good in person? When I looked at the photos the birds looked great, especially the rooster. He had proper comb, good wing set and wing angle, the tail was right, his chest looked full, transitions looked good, legs, MB was awesome. How can a bird go from looking so good in photos to not good in person? Has anyone else experienced this? Can the angle of the camera in a photo really be that deceiving? Also how long does it take for squirrel tail to show up on a bird?

They all had pretty bad squirrel tail, both roosters, and the hens! Most of the birds that I did see that were in any way decent for type ended up being the crosses they had so that immediately threw them out of consideration. Some of them had super long tails (hens) and some of them had weak tails or possibly wry tails- didn't observe long enough to know for sure. Both males had way too short legs and most of the females did too. Honestly I think it was only the hybrid hens in their that had proper length to the legs. Also saw pinched tails. The only thing they all had going for them was full muffs and beards and I think the eye color was right. But honestly I was evaluating from the tail up because I already have some hens with tail issues and of course that was where my eyes went first so I knew I was picking birds that would counter balance the issues I already have.

I was so excited about the blacks. They were supposed to have been from a very well known breeder that no longer breeds (which I'm already well aware that there are lots of scammers around that love to throw out big names so unsuspecting people who buy them then think they have birds from big names, and really have no clue- I don't think this was someone trying to intentionally scam anyone at all- I think maybe some one misled them when they got their birds, maybe ) . Would of loved to have continued those lines. Unfortunately what I saw when I got there I just couldn't go through with it. Which is a huge for me, considering I really have a hard time backing out of something or telling people no ESPECIALLY when I am face to face to with them (it's just a super uncomfortable feeling for me) , and I had also drove quite a ways to get them. But when I thought about not saying anything and purchasing anyways, I would have been more upset with myself then leaving empty handed, so I mustered up the courage to disappoint them and left empty handed

This definitely makes me even more weary of driving long distances to get birds now. I am terrified I'm going to land in another situation like that where I am leaving empty handed because they aren't what I thought they were by the photos I looked at. So disappointing as I really thought I had finally found what I was looking for and that my quest was over and that the real project would finally be starting. So the quest continues. It is looking like I will be waiting til the fall on a Master breeder and just postponing my projects a little longer.

I am quite pleased with the pullets I got yesterday from the other person though. I will post pictures later today (so everyone can rip them shreds online ). I need to re evaluate them anyways now that I am home and not on someone else's time. My intentions with the birds are to "build the barn, before I paint" so right now I am focusing on correct type.

Also as a side note- the two birds from "kick rocks lady" are filling out. The cockerel will definitely not be able to be used for ANYTHING! He has TERRIBLE - and I mean absolutely terrible wry tail will post pictures later. Not sure what to do with him at this point actually. I also think that he actually either a blue or a splash. The pullet on the other hand is growing into maybe a not so terrible bird? Now neither of them are actually self blue- I suspect the pullet to be a splash (and not a good one) or she is possibly a self blue and blue expressing at the same time? Not really sure. At this point I am only looking at her body type and build- Not necessarily the colors. If she continues to shape into a nice bird I might consider taking her to a line of blacks? If she actually is a self blue, if not then maybe another color? I will have to look at her again later because I can't remember what her tail set is looking like, but I've also been told not to evaluate tail sets too soon because they can change drastically with maturity. IF her type stays okay then maybe I use her for some bantam olive eggers or something? Too bad the Cockerel had wry tail because I wanted to use him for a blue sexlink cross for bantam olive eggers but i refuse to uee a bad cockerel, i would essentially be locking wry tail into all my lines.

I do have a question though about the self blues- when breeding them, if I bred to a black bantam instead of another self blue, the resulting offspring of course will all be black- my question though is whether 100% of the offspring would be split for self blue or whether it would only be a certain percentage of the offspring?

Cackle is all John Belehm lines.

Lavender to black all splits.