Review Guidelines
Reviews Should Help Other Keepers Make Informed Decisions
Reviews on The Breeder Registry give keepers a place to share their experience purchasing poultry or hatching eggs from a breeder listed on the Registry.
They aren’t here to decide who is a “good” or “bad” breeder. They’re one piece of information another keeper can consider alongside the breeder’s profile, policies, communication, and their own research.
A useful review tells people what you purchased and what your experience was actually like.
Who Can Leave a Review?
Reviews are intended for people who have had a genuine purchase experience with the breeder they’re reviewing.
You don’t need to have had a perfect experience to leave a review. Positive, neutral, and negative experiences are all welcome but reviews aren’t the place for second-hand stories, rumors, disagreements in Facebook groups, personal disputes, or opinions about a breeder you’ve never purchased from.
If you didn’t purchase from the breeder, please don’t review them.
Keep It About Your Own Experience
Tell us what happened to you.
Useful things to include might be:
• What you purchased
• How communication went
• Whether the birds or eggs were as described
• Your experience with pickup, delivery, or shipping
• Whether the breeder’s stated policies were followed
• How an issue was handled if something went wrong
You don’t need to write an essay. A short, specific review is much more useful than a long review filled with information another keeper can’t verify.
Be Fair About Things a Breeder Can’t Control
Not every disappointing outcome means the breeder did something wrong.
Hatching eggs don’t come with guaranteed hatch rates unless a breeder specifically offers such a guarantee. Shipped eggs face additional risks after leaving the breeder’s hands. Straight run poultry can turn out to be male. Even birds sold as sexed can occasionally be incorrectly identified.
Reviews should take into account what the breeder actually represented, promised, and agreed to rather than holding them responsible for an outcome they never guaranteed.
If you’re unsure what is reasonable to expect, our Poultry Buyer Guides may help.
Health Concerns Require Some Care
If you believe birds you purchased were unhealthy, you’re welcome to describe what you personally observed and how the breeder responded when you contacted them.
Please distinguish between what you know and what you suspect.
For example, saying that a bird developed respiratory symptoms three days after purchase describes your experience. Publicly declaring that a breeder’s entire flock has a particular disease without evidence is a much larger claim.
Moving poultry between properties always carries some health risk, and the source of an illness isn’t always possible to determine with certainty.
Keep health-related reviews factual and limited to what you can reasonably support.
Give the Breeder a Chance to Address a Problem
When appropriate, contact the breeder before leaving a negative review. Mistakes happen. Miscommunications happen. Sometimes there’s an explanation or a straightforward way to resolve the problem.
That doesn’t mean you’re required to accept a resolution you’re unhappy with, and contacting the breeder doesn’t take away your ability to leave an honest review afterward. It simply gives both sides an opportunity to understand what happened.
What Isn’t Allowed?
Reviews may be removed or moderated if they contain:
• Personal attacks, harassment, threats, or discriminatory language
• Private or identifying information that shouldn’t be made public
• Advertising, spam, or unrelated content
• Reviews from people who did not make a genuine purchase
• Second-hand accusations or rumors presented as fact
• Claims that can’t reasonably be supported
• Deliberately false or misleading information
• Retaliatory reviews unrelated to a purchase experience
• Content unrelated to the breeder or transaction being reviewed
Disagreeing with a breeder, having a disappointing purchase, or leaving a low egg rating is not itself a reason for a review to be removed.
Breeders Can’t Remove Reviews
Breeders do not have the ability to delete reviews from their profiles.
If a breeder believes a review violates these guidelines, they can report it to The Breeder Registry for moderation. Reporting a review doesn’t guarantee that it will be removed. A negative review that follows the guidelines can remain even if the breeder disagrees with it. That distinction is important. Moderation exists to enforce the guidelines, not to protect profiles from criticism.
Keepers Can Report Reviews Too
If you see a review that appears to violate these guidelines, you can report it for moderation. Reports help bring potentially problematic content to my attention. They aren’t votes for whether a review should stay or go.
Reviews Are One Piece of the Picture
No breeder will be the right fit for every keeper. Read reviews, but read the breeder’s profile too. Look at their policies, learn about their breeding program, ask reasonable questions, and decide whether what they offer fits what you’re looking for.