… did I get what I paid for?

[Slothinc]

In those pics, 3, 4, and 7 look blue to me and possibly 1 and 8. Hard to tell with the red light but yes sometimes blues look very close to the blacks and it can be hard to tell!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Very unprofessional and unethical to give you a sick chick. How is it doing? Watch the others don't end up sick as well. Too late to ask for a refund or replacement I suppose. I hope they do well, they are adorable!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Two thoughts...

One, blue is not a consistent color. Blue can range from a pale grey to nearly indistinguishable from black (in adult birds sometimes the only tell is that blue lacks the green iridescence that black has).

my blue laced red wyandotte at about 1 week. It took almost 2 months to determine that she was blue and not black

she grew out into a lovely, undeniable, shade of blue!

Second, blue is not a gene that breeds "true." It is a partially dominant (co-dominant? I can't remember the exact term rn) dilution gene. One copy of the gene diluted black to blue. Two copies diluted it even further to splash (very pale grey-white with flecks of blue (grey)). So if you breed two blue birds together, each parent can pass either one copy of blue or no copies of blue to their offspring. So from two blue birds, there is only a 50% chance of blue chicks. The other 50% will inherit 2 copies and be splash or no copies and be black.
Breeders can skew the likelihood of certain colors by how they set up their breeding pens. For example, a splash bird (with two copies of the gene) and a black bird (with 0 copies) will produce 100% blue chicks (one copy). Splash to blue will produce blue or splash chicks, but no black chicks. And if you breed blue to black, there is a 50% chance of blue.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It’s kind of hard to tell in the images because of the darn red light but yes these are the images I took.

Get photos without the red light (always turn off red for photos) if you want a better ID. At a glance it looks like there's more than 2 lighter colored chicks in the mix.

My black (1st) and blue (2nd) chicks, for comparison:

 

[MidgardrAcres]

Very unprofessional and unethical to give you a sick chick. How is it doing? Watch the others don't end up sick as well. Too late to ask for a refund or replacement I suppose. I hope they do well, they are adorable!

thank you! she ended up passing away the same day i got them all and i also received no replacement chicks in case that did happen. so I am disappointed and currently trying to save the rest of the chicks from coccidia one currently isnt doing okay but hopefully in the next 24 hours she will be okay. Safe to say i dont think i will ever order from these breeders again. I do agree it is unprofessional of them to grab a sick chick and claim their chicks are not guaranteed, but i mean if they dont vaccinate then its entirely understandable to be not guaranteed, but dont use it as a technique to pass out sick chicks and steal money from people. the rest are doing okay i have 8 left and just trying to keep the rest healthy.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Good luck. The big hatcheries may not have the most awesome birds but they do generally guarantee live arrivals and will give you refunds or replacements on chicks that fail from the get-go. I'm sorry for your experience.

 

[MidgardrAcres]

Good luck. The big hatcheries may not have the most awesome birds but they do generally guarantee live arrivals and will give you refunds or replacements on chicks that fail from the get-go. I'm sorry for your experience.

thanks I think it will be okay Im very on top of it because these girls are going to be layers and what girls i have left or get out of what grows up will be bred to produce more chickens. so this is a journey. and i have learned just be mindful of who you buy from because not every breeder is a good breeder, nor honest or in it for quality production. so yeah

 

[BulldogsNChickens]

I didn’t get them from a hatchery I did get them from a breeder. But some red flags to me came up about the breeder especially after they sent me off with a sick chick and no replacements after spending 100 on the in total it was just odd but I’m sure every breeder has a policy and I’m just choosing to learn from this rather then bash them and just wanted to make sure I got actual copper marans of blue and black because I had requested 5blue and 5 black from them but it looked like I only got 2 blue and 8 black

I also purchased blacks/blues from a local Boise breeder and have really struggled with the blues - lost 2 and and constantly ‘nursing’/cleaning up the only remaining blue … I too feel it’s unfair to trash the breeder right out of the gate, but have seriously been wondering why they are the only ones with problems? Curious if you could/would be willing to tell me who it was? Also wondering, what kind of sickness did you lose your little one to?

 

[MidgardrAcres]

I also purchased blacks/blues from a local Boise breeder and have really struggled with the blues - lost 2 and and constantly ‘nursing’/cleaning up the only remaining blue … I too feel it’s unfair to trash the breeder right out of the gate, but have seriously been wondering why they are the only ones with problems? Curious if you could/would be willing to tell me who it was? Also wondering, what kind of sickness did you lose your little one to?

Yes I’d be willing to share the name I will say I’m still not sure but I have seen people recently talking about their birds they got from them being sick and I’ve had better luck with Raley farms BCM but hers are black though. I only have 2or 3 surviving blues (some of them are dark blue) I just lost a black copper from the bunch I got from Boise breeder they sent me off with a sick chick in my batch when I picked up my 10 that I held the entire way home. So I personally am in the same boat as you as I got my chicks from Harper family farms and one of these bcms they gave me is either a cuckoo Maran or an Easter egger/ Maran cross or an olive egger Maran cross because she has barring on her wings. I’m not sure what is happening but I definitely won’t be back sadly

 

[BulldogsNChickens]

If you are concerned that you only have the two blues you could certainly ask them about it. Are they local to you? Sorry about your sick chick

Oh and the sick chick yes thank you it was my first for learning that chicks can get stressed out get pasty butt and then respiratory issues for sure due to stress I just am not sure what stresssed the poor thing out since it was ill when they stuck it in the box at pick

I didn’t get them from a hatchery I did get them from a breeder. But some red flags to me came up about the breeder especially after they sent me off with a sick chick and no replacements after spending 100 on the in total it was just odd but I’m sure every breeder has a policy and I’m just choosing to learn from this rather then bash them and just wanted to make sure I got actual copper marans of blue and black because I had requested 5blue and 5 black from them but it looked like I only got 2 blue and 8 black

I saw from one of your photos that you were in Boise, I too live in Boise and purchased both black and blue Copper Marans from a local breeder. Unfortunately, I’ve had trouble with all 3 of the blues, I have lost two and the third has been struggling. when I read that you received a sick chick, it made me really wonder about the breeder as well, particularly because the only chicks I’m having trouble with at all are the blues.
Just for reference, I have raised multiple sets of chicks over the last eight or so years, and I’ve never had any of the problems I’m having now…