Consent and Acknowledgment of Policies
By using or visiting our site you acknowledge our privacy policy and Policies related to this site. With the reference business name as Sugar Feather Farm/Sugar Feather Farm LLC, sugar-feather.com (also referred to as “provider”, “we”, “us”, “our” or “they”, “I”).
Site Policies and Modifications
Sugar Feather Farm may revise these terms and conditions anytime without notice. By using this website, you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of the Policies.
Sugar feather has the right to cancel or refuse order anytime
Ship and Fill Dates
We fill all orders on a first come first serve basis, in the order of received payment. Typically orders for chicks and other fowl babies can take 2-8 weeks, sometimes longer depending on the number of pending orders or of times during lower egg volume and in peak season. 1-5 weeks on hatching eggs, and fully feathered birds 3 months or more. Fully feathered birds need first to be incubated, hatched (that’s a month) then grown, this is a process. We try to be as flexible as possible if you have special requests, we can bump orders back if you want chicks or eggs after a certain date but cannot bump orders ahead of others already in order. Chicks will hatch and ship every week throughout the year (excluding November-February). Due to Covid-19 issues with the Postal Service this might not always be the case. Shipping is based on weather conditions at the time, safety of the birds and the farm’s schedule. Shipping is at our discretion.
Shipping to Canada: Due to postal regulations, hatchlings cannot be shipped via the postal service into Canada. Our Canadian customers have their birds shipped to a stateside post office for pick up. Let us know in comments that you are from Canada so we can assist!
Cancellations
Any orders that are canceled within one week of purchase will qualify for a full refund from Sugar Feather Farm minus a $5 credit card processing fee.
If you choose to cancel your order, you can decide to receive store credit (excluding shipping cost) or 30% re-stocking fee. If you need to cancel your order, please email us the reason for your cancellation and your order number, please don’t cancel over text or chat. We can take certain situations on a case-by-case basis. We work really hard to take care of all our birds and this takes lots of labor and love. Our farm is our livelihood. In the event that Sugar Feather Farm can’t fill an order, we reserve the right to cancel an order, and a refund will then be issued with explanation.
See example below:
$100 of orders
$25 shipping
Option A:
you will get $95 out of $125 ($100 Orders-%30 Stocking Fee=$70 + $25 Shipping= $95)
Option B
$100 is turned to store credit with $25 shipping costs are refunded only
Cancellations Prior to Shipment: Any orders cancelled 1-2 weeks before shipment will not be refunded no exceptions.
In case a customer has a deposit and wants credit on the site, the customer can substitute deposit for credits.
Returns and Refunds
Returns: Due to USPS office regulations, we cannot take back any live animals such as chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas or quail. Only things that can be returned are un-opened feed, kombucha starter, oil of oregano, pure raw honey, quail egg scissors and t-shirts. Everything else is nonrefundable.
Refunds: When requesting a refund and it is issued, all refunds will be issued using the payment you used on your order. Sugar Feather Farm when contacted may take a week to process this request, please be patient. Refunds on the payment side can take anywhere from 3 days to one week, we don’t have control on the processing of that refund, please contact your bank to check on this status. Sugar Feather Farm when a refund is issued on our end will send you an email and text message notifying you the order has been refunded.
Filing disputes or claims with PayPal or Credit Card: We ask you please consider NOT doing this. Please call or email and we will gladly explain or help. We are here to assist. When you file a claim or dispute this tarnishes our business, costs us money and compromises our farm. If you are disputing the shipping fees due to USPS errors, we need to wait out their process, this takes time. Filing a claim with PayPal or bank card hurts us and does not help the situation. If you choose to file a claim or dispute you will lose the right to shop or buy with us.
Feed
Unopened bags of feed can be returned to Sugar Feather. Any opened bags will not be able to be refunded or returned.
Hatching Eggs
All hatching eggs are shipped via USPS. For shipping speed, you can select 2 options. USPS Standard Priority Mail, insured up to $50 included. Second option is Priority Mail Express 1-3 day guaranteed with insurance up to $100. We ship hatching eggs generally on Monday or Tuesday, never at the end of the week, as we want our eggs to leave as soon as possible to get to you fresh! Due to Covid-19 things are taking longer with us and USPS. We package our eggs securely to prevent breakage, but rough handling during shipping and some may still break. Our birds are healthy and produce nice strong eggs that ship extremely well. We test fertility here at our farm, but because of conditions beyond our control (Including USPS handling, fluctuation of temperatures, your incubation practices, etc…) we cannot guarantee development or hatch rates after the eggs have left our farm. A fertilized egg can’t show development for various reasons including those listed above, and once the egg has been incubated you cannot tell by cracking it that it was an unfertilized egg. Please only purchase hatching eggs from us if you understand our hatching eggs policy! Shipping eggs is always a risk. We recommend purchasing live babies from us if you want a guaranteed number of live fowl. Any eggs that are damaged during shipment are nonrefundable, however if mishandled and damaged we can try to file a claim with USPS for the damage. You will need to submit a claim directly with USPS, be sure to take pictures of the eggs, and box damage.
Babies
There is generally no minimum for shipping and local pick up, however we recommend at least 3. 5–20-day olds are shipped via USPS Priority Mail Express and delivered to your post office, normally 1 to 3 days after they leave us. As part of the cost of shipping we include the extra insurance on the babies. This insurance covers any issues in transit, and special handing. All babies are sold straight run unless otherwise noted. We ship babies early in the week, and please be prepared to pick up babies promptly from the post office when they arrive. They are not delivered to your home. We do a minimum for the safety of the babies, less and they are not warm enough and issues can arise. If you want less, we can accommodate but you will need to understand the risks associated with that. When shipping we do our best to equip the babies with all they need for safe travels – food, veggies/fruit/eggs a gel that is like water and food for them, heat packs if needed and a nice floor pad. This is all included in the shipping price.
Sugar Feather Farm believes in giving you the strongest babies so they can have a good start to their new life. We don’t ship or offer newborn babies of any breeds here on the farm, chickens, ducks, turkeys, guinea, geese and quail. We keep them an extra week or two so they can transition well to their new home. If you would rather have newborns, like day old’s, please let us know and we can accommodate this request.
Insurance and Guarantee
Ducklings and goslings ship very well. We have no control over the treatment the fowl receive once they leave us, all shipments and fowl are insured for loss, damage, or shortage occurring in route this is a basic insurance up to $100. If your order is over $100 additional insurance is purchased. If any issues occur during transit, please make your insurance claim though the USPS. We suggest opening that box right there in front of the postal worker, if there is an issue have them make a claim right there! If any chicks arrive with complications not incurred by the post office, promptly send us pictures of the chicks and the box/label with explanation to our email (contact@sugar-feather.com) with your order number in the subject line. We will review and if determined our errors, a credit will be issued. Extra babies sent not included. No refunds/credit will be given for the shipping charge, if sending out any replacements, you will need to pay shipping fee.
Fowl Quality
Sugar feather Farm has sought after stock from what we can tell are reputable breeders. We put all birds through rigorous farm standards to test out their environment, health, and genetics. With that this takes years of work. We do our best to seek the highest quality but many times we find this is not the case and must start over. Raising these breeds are challenging – why they are rare!
You should never expect a cosmetically perfect bird. In fact, you should expect to find some defects in virtually every bird you raise, out of 100 chicks for example only a few will be breeding quality. Just as every child is not destined to become a supermodel, every bird is not destined to win ribbons at shows or be suitable for breeding. Only a tiny fraction of fowl conforms to their breed standard in all respects. We do not represent that every bird we sell is show quality or is flawless. You should receive birds that can be the foundation for a breeding program that with enough time and skill can produce show-quality or breeding quality birds, if that is what you are seeking.
If you want to know any issues or faults with the individual breeds and plan on breeding or showing reach out to us and we can provide some of those details and suggestions. Sugar Feather Farm is not responsible for your program and what happens.
Deposit Policy
Only certain animals are part of the deposit policy. Right now, only the geese and turkeys are qualified for deposits.
Sugar Feather Farm offers a deposit service where you can put down a deposit of 50% of the purchase price on a fowl or product that is out of stock or back ordered to reserve that item when it becomes available. We also offer Zip where you can make payment plans for free. Sugar Feather Farm will keep in close contact on status and time frame for product to be in stock. We typically have a limited stock supply because we are a small operation not a hatchery and stock is dependent on several circumstances that can be out of our control. We are unable to control any unforeseen issues with the birds, weather or seasonal changes. If the bird is not producing or something happens – sickness or death, we can raise a new fowl for you depending on the current hen breeding schedule. Our popular breeds tend to sell out fast. If we can’t accommodate due to any reason on our end a credit will be issued and in very special circumstances a refund. If you need to cancel your order and you have put down a deposit you will forfeit your deposit.
Waiting List (without deposit)
On the product page of the item there is a section where you can sign up for notifications on our stock status of that particular breed(s) you are interested in. This a great option for stock notification when you are ready to order. We also offer a newsletter, Facebook Page and Instagram account where we regularly post updates!
Zip Customer Agreement
Farm Pickups and Visits
We require appointments for all fowl pickups. Please don’t just show up, we might not be able to accommodate you. For Biosecurity there will be no visitors allowed on the farm premises where the birds are fenced or breeding, NO EXCEPTIONS EVER. We have signage indicating this and fencing, please don’t go past this area. It is for the birds and your safety. However, you are welcome to look around at all the birds outside through our fencing prior to selection, it is quite a site to see! Selecting farm pickup at checkout is free of charge. DUE TO COVID-19 and Avian Influenza our pickups are a lot stricter, please see our blog article on this.
UPDATE: 2-2022 There will be no farm tours at this time due to the Avian Influenza Outbreak. When you come for pickup we ask you park at the lower end of drive don’t wear any shoes you wear on your farm or homestead that deals with poultry or waterfowl.
Ayam Cemani
Our Ayam Cemani breeding stock were selected from pure Ayam Cemani chickens for their black features and type. We follow the proposed standard of perfection and members of the Ayam Cemani Breeders Association. However, not all Ayam Cemani offspring grow up to be solid black, even with solid black looking parents. They have a special pigmentation called fibromelanosis. We cannot guarantee the distribution of black pigment in the offspring you receive, because the offspring might not carry the double gene for the fibro. These are project birds, which means there is no approved APA standard of perfection. We are constantly working on our breeding program here and each generation brings us closer to this standard. Our birds are very popular, so stock does fluctuate. Be prepared to wait for your bird, they are generally backordered. We will do our best to fill in a timely manner. For returns or refunds on Cemani – there are never returns for any chickens due to biosecurity and NO refunds on Cemani (sexing fee clause does not apply).
High Demand Breeds
Certain breeds we carry have a higher demand than usual. This can be because of popularity, rarity of bird, flock size or egg lay rates. So, this means for hatching eggs we assess the orders already placed and determine when we can fill it then work on collecting eggs. For babies, we set the eggs then it will take at least 22 days till hatch (quail/20 duck/turkey/guinea 29, goose 34). Then we give them a week to acclimate. If there are orders ahead those will be filled first. For fully feathered it is those days plus the typical 5-8 week growing period, so roughly 3 months. The general timeline above applies but can be extended if there are already orders in place or we have a bird that is in higher demand (Ayam Cemani, Polish, Serama, Icelandic). Expect to wait longer than usual for these breeds during the seasons, the farm is not required on these breeds to abide by the normal timeframes. Pre-ordering the high demand breeds is a good idea so when the season arrives your order processes first.
Payments
We take all forms of payment including Checks, PayPal, Credit Card and Cash, and Money Orders. Checks and cash are reserved for Farm Pickups only. We also include several deposit and payment plan options on our site. Full payment is due before any orders are shipped.
Sexing Birds
Chickens – Sugar Feather offers sexing, identifying if the bird is male or female on our Fully Feathered birds (.) When placing your order and selecting: “Fully Feathered” click the Sexing Agreement if you chose a female bird, males are no charge extra. This fee is $5 and it states:
Sexing Agreement
Sexing birds is hard to do and only 80% accurate. We base this assumption on behavior and feathering. We don’t vet sex any of our birds. If you do end up with a male and wanted a female there are some options: we can offer you 30% credit off the purchase price of your original bird to put towards your Sugar Feather Farm account or a refund of $10 to the original form of payment. Due to biosecurity on the farm and state regulations, we are not allowed to except any birds back. You are more than welcome to order another bird, but shipping rates apply.
Ayam Cemani, Seramas, and Pavlovskaya there are no refunds or credits of any kind.
Silkies are not sexed at all so the sexing fee does not apply.
Have a rooster and don’t know what to do? There are options. Typically, if it is a bird from our farm and a rare breed you will be able to resell the bird. There are also farms that take roosters, sanctuaries, Craigslist. Keep them! They are important to a flock! Consider having one or 2 if you are allowed. Our farm believes in animal welfare and loves our boys. Not all roosters are mean or bad. They can be an asset to your flock. Ask us for advice we can help.
Auto-Sexing Chickens: These are chickens where at birth the offspring can be identified as male and female by colorings. This is a guaranteed Male/Female
For ducks/turkeys: Our farm believes in farm welfare practices and all sexes of ducks and turkeys are important in a flock. By vent sexing a duck you can injure their reproductive systems.
Quail: offer 2 choices on quail – fully feathered which are around 6 weeks and adults, when we see an egg! For fully feathered sexing is not guaranteed at all. For adults we do vent sex and confirm egg layer, but there is a chance for error. Chicken sexing policy/terms applies to quail.
Store Credit
Store credit bought on the site can be redeemed for purchases on Sugar Feather Farms site. Store credit CANNOT be redeemed for CASH. STORE Credit is valid for 3 years. Sugar feather farm reserves the right to change this policy anytime.
Gift Certificate
By purchasing or using a gift certificate (Including codes) issued by sugar-feather.com, you agree to these terms and conditions. Our gift certificates are redeemable for purchases made on sugar-feather.com. To redeem a gift certificated, a valid account needs to exist.
Gift certificates are not refundable and cannot be redeemed for cash except required by applicable law. Gift certificates cannot be used to purchase other gift certificates and cannot be reloaded, resold, or transferred for value. Gift certificates do not expire and are not subject to any fees. Sugar Feather farms has the right to cancel a purchased gift certificate if we suspect it been used or obtained unlawfully or otherwise violation of these gift certificate terms of use.
Abandon Policy
SHIPPING POLICY
Our shipping policy is made in English meaning that all items sent will have an English language
Orders made on the website are not guaranteed to be arriving at the estimate date that your tracking number has. Sugar Feather Farm will not refund shipping costs for items that do not arrive by the estimated time. Go on the USPS website for more information for USPS refund policy and look in 9.5.5, g. on this link. Sugar Feather Farm doesn’t receive any refund amount from USPS. Included in the shipping varies on animal type.
As a customer, it is your responsibility to pick up your product at the post office when they arrive.
An idea is when you receive your shipping email, it be best to contact your local USPS to give them a heads up about your order of chicks. They should call you when the order can be picked up. Estimated time that the chicks can be there is 1-3 days after shipping them from Vermont.
Shipping Information Policy
Sugar Feather Farm will ship animals and products on Monday or Tuesday generally, so products don’t arrive on the weekend. We can’t guarantee this but make a best effort on this.
During checkout process, you may have options depending on animal/product. Some items such as chicks have a flat rate depending on how many are chosen at checkout. Other flat rates vary on products. Additional shipping charges apply to larger orders. As products are being shipped, customers will be emailed with a tracking number. As mentioned in the shipping policy, do not use the tracking number as estimate date. Few of the products have Priority Mail Express as the fastest option in the USPS, Sugar Feather Farm does not guarantee that shipment will be overnight anymore
Shipping Estimate
Predicting rates for live animals is something that isn’t easy to tell because of various factors. At Sugar Feather Farm, we work hard to give an estimate of time when products could be there however, note it’s only a guess. Buying rare breeds has a wait of several months to deliver due to them being rare and or more effort to raise. Have patience with us as animal’s behaviors could change production.
SMS Policy
By adding your cell phone number at checkout, you consent to receive automated text
Sugar feather farm will not be liable for any delays of SMS delivery because it all varies on transmission from us to your number
SMS MESSAGE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS, AND WE MAKE NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED.
To cancel, you can change the number in your account to +00000000 (aka 10 “0”)
Messages and data rates may apply
Consultation
By consulting with The Fowl Guru, you agree that she is not responsible for deaths caused by her advice. Death can happen any time to anyone or any animal, so blaming The Fowl Guru or Sugar Feather for death will be waived automatically. If an animal is hurt before you consult with The Fowl Guru, it’s best to take it to a veterinarian for best results. If an animal is damaged after you consult with Nicolle, then still seek veterinary care.
Sugar Feather Farm offers consultations from Peter Brown, AKA the Chicken Doc on our website. By consulting with The Chicken Doc, you agree that he is not responsible for deaths or injury caused by his advice. If an animal is hurt before you consult with the Chicken Doc, it’s best to take it to a veterinarian for care. If an animal is damaged after you consult with The Chicken Doc, then still seek veterinary care.
Live Arrivals
Sugar Feather Farm works hard to ensure your orders arrive there on time and in healthy condition. When the birds or eggs leave our farm, they are healthy, alive and packaged very well to ensure a safe travel. Unfortunately, there are unpredictable times with USPS when something such as longer delivery dates get in the way. Please notify your local post office you have an order coming, expected date and tracking information.
