Windchyme Silkie Breeder - Paula Sheppard Sold Me Sick Chicks Ione California
Last August my sister bought me four silkie chicks from Paula Sheppard of Windchyme Silkie Breeder. Within a few weeks three of the chicks became very ill and, despite my best efforts to save them (ie vet care at UC Davis Avian Hospital, hand feeding, etc) two of them died. A necropsy at UC Davis Avian Infectious Disease Center determined Mericks disease to be the cause of death. As such my entire flock has been exposed.
Fortunately, the little buff chick responded well to antibiodics and eye treatment and he has made a full recovery. However, I spent over $600 to save him $500 trying to save the other two. It was heartbreaking to nurse them along and still loose them.
Paula told my sister that if we got any roosters, she would take them back. I got two roos. Given my experience, I would never return an animal to her. As it turns out, I LOVE my boys!!! OMG, they are such a hoot. Yes they crow. Yes the scream. But they add a unique dimension to my small flock that is really quite a joy. This has quelled my initial anger a bit.
Paula knew the birds she sold me were sick because a vet from UC Davis contacted her. At present, her website states that she still does not vaccinate. It costs 50 cents to vaccinate against Mericks.
My sister also bought 6 eggs. Since I did not have a broody hen to sit on them, I do not do the incubator route, we returned them. Paula stated that she felt badly about what had happened and that we have a credit, which of course, is laughable and worthless to me. This was a terrible experience that I don't wish to repeat. A 75% sickness rate and 50% mortality rate can't just be bad luck. It's irresponsibility.
A few weeks ago my neighbor decides she wants a snowy call duck. She came across Windchymes web site advertising the duck. I told her not to buy from Paula. Apparently they are difficult to find and she wanted to forge ahead despite my warnings. My sister emailed Paula inquiring about the ducks. Paula responded promptly that yes, she has some and they are $20. My sister emailed back reminding her of the fiasco last year and her credit, which she wanted to use to get the ducks. No response. Several subsequent emails yielded the same non-response.
It would appear that Paula was quite happy to sell the ducks if she would receive cash but lost motivation at the mention of the credit. It's my opinion that a truly caring breeder would be more than happy to do whatever she could in an attempt to "make things right" after what happend.
I don't care about a credit or a refund, which is why my sister never pushed the issue. I do care very much about poor little sick chickens and their plight. Puppy mill v Chicken mill. Both are deplorable.
Sacramento silkie
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Windchyme
Ione,California,
U.S.A.
I'm sorry, these things sometimes happen.
#2
Sun, August 30, 2009
Yes this is true. I did sell her chicks and they did turn out to be sick and for that I am heartily sorry. I did not know they were sick until the vet called AFTER the sale and informed me that they had merricks. She chose and took home apparently healthy birds to her and to me. If I was aware that they were sick I would have not offered them for sale nor any others until I figured out what was going on.
I offered to work with them to make it right immidiately and never heard from them again. As it was I immidiately suspended all selling of both eggs and birds until I went through my own flock to see what was going on- I lost another here due to the same thing. Apparently I had an outbreak, likely from the birds that roam from the hunting club down the road. It does not surprise me that these birds all became ill. One is all it takes and as soon as it has contact with the others that is the end of that- they'll get it or they'll throw it off due to resistance and these birds lived together for some weeks before they went home with this lady. What surprises me is that they all got it, all I can think is it was a particularly virulant form.
It is correct I do not vaccinate like the majority of the breeders out there and I won't. Most of my birds are merrick resistant but every year a handful are born without the magic gene that protects them by lack of luck of the draw. Merricks is very very common in chickens- in the soil, in the air, can be carried by wild birds, and almost cannot be avoided which is why resistance is better then vaccinating a bird that might go on to simply produce babies that are not resistant. Furthermore, with most of the vaccinations with chickens, if you vaccinate it makes the bird a carrier for life which will then shed the virus during times of stress and infect non vaccinated birds you have. I don't see any good reason to make my birds carriers of death to another flock on purpose, sure my bird will live but will the rest of the flock. Commercial hatcheries of course don't care about this as long as they don't lose breeders- it's easier then biting the bullet and breeding for resistance. This has been clearly stated on my website since the website first began- long before this sale. If a buyer wants vaccinated chicks then it is better for them to go to a commercial hatchery but be warned I have heard of several instances of vaccinated hatchery birds taking out whole unvaccinated flocks.
I recieved no emails asking to use credit for the duck. If I had, that would be fine with me and I would offer an extra as well for free. Perhaps they ended up filtered out??? I'm not sure. All I know is that I never recieved any emails asking to use the credit. A phone call might have been better and I think they probably had my phone number. I would replace bird for bird on the ones she lost plus another for free but if she doesn't want to work with me and would prefer just to be angry, then there is very little I can do to make it right. I think a little bit of education on the subject would have been helpful in this situation.
I never said I was perfect or that I don't have issues come up but I do have a very good reputation of dealing with people fairly if there is a problem. I'm sorry I wasn't given a fair chance in this case to do so.