The American Cemani Breeders Club...open forum

[maranfarmer563]

Bronze farmer,I actually have fibro Phoenix that have been crossed with cemani. Perhaps you would like those eggs?

 

[bronzefarmer]

I would love those eggs thank you

 

[maranfarmer563]

Pm me your address

 

[Hatchery Hive]

I've seen several requests like this one in here recently so I'm not typing this to be mean or even in direct reply to you, but I just want to explain to everyone who keeps asking why this is unlikely to happen, and I won't be doing it personally.

The first reason is that this breed is very expensive, which no doubt is why we keep getting requests like this. But what that means is that breeders who do have the birds have sunk a ton of money into them, and now that they're producing it's a chance to maybe get back a fraction of what we paid for them, and by giving them away we lose any chance to do that. Also, the breed is a work in progress here, so most breeders need to keep their best stock, meaning that they don't have birds to sell, much less give away, unless you're asking for culls. And culls shouldn't be sold or given away for breeding purposes because it hurts the breed, especially now that's it's so new in the country and really needs working on. Having other people breeding from sub-par birds just overall brings the quality of the breed down. It's bad enough that there are a ton of scammers out there ruining the breed selling crosses and one in particular who keeps lying to people telling them they've hatched 'wild type' chicks when they hatch out looking like chipmunks, we don't need the real purebred birds being ruined thanks to irresponsible breeding. I'm saying this because multiple times we've gotten requests that we give our culls away instead of culling them. We're culling them because they shouldn't be bred, giving them to someone else to breed defeats the purpose of culling entirely.

Also, by asking us to give birds and eggs away you're asking us to lose money. I don't mean the money we'd make selling the birds or eggs if we were going to, but yes, we'd be losing that money too. I mean the cost it took us to produce that egg. The cost of the coop, the care, the time, and the feed, as well as all the necessary supplies like feeders and waterers that we needed to buy to even get the bird to the point that it could lay that egg, all that is completely lost by just giving away any eggs. When giving away chicks we'd lose all that plus the cost of the incubator, electricity, feed that the chick has eaten so far, cost of the brooder, etc.

What I've typed above is true of any breed, really. I just wanted to put this out there because this is the fourth or fifth time I've seen this request in here. I wanted to just give people who are asking this some perspective on what they are requesting. They may find someone wiling to give away eggs or chicks to them. But when they take a look at what I've said above, I think they'll find that it's really very unlikely.

I must agree...
For my family, it was not only the initial steep investment
Its has also been 2 years of Genetic development, high % of Grimm Chick Culling, and acquiring and crossing in new lines...
I am finally hatching out my 3rd generation, 4 way line crosses...

I was happy to see zero white fluff on these chicks.
However, two of my first three test birds, which as chicks looked just a bit more grey on the butt than the 3rd,
have both shown silver feather leakage in their necks at 6 weeks... NOT GOOD.
They still need work,

I am growing the three out past puberty to see how they develop further,
so I know what to look for to more accurately cull after hatch.
after I get this update, I will be culling the two...

All this time and work and already the price is dropping on the breed in general...

To make things worse for me, I made the mistake this year of selling "An Extra Rooster" (from my limited select, 2nd gen)
to a fellow who just wanted a vanity Roo, and that one bird started laying eggs... Fertilized eggs!

Soooo, standing on my shoulders, with very little skin in the game...
He naturally jumped on this opportunity and now is also hatching out MY 3rd Gen Birds.....
So yes, his plan of just "owning a cool bird" has now changed to a new plan to "start selling soon"...
Do I blame him.... nooooo...

Does the guy plan to cull at hatch, to keep cleaning up the breed? Doubtful... but here's to hoping...

I am just sick about it...
I would not have been sick at all, had I known I was selling a Fertilized hen (an instant shake and bake business) and charged appropriately for her....

I guess what I and Phyxis is trying to say is this...
If you get something rare, valuable, and fragile for free or on the cheap, how can you also respect it?

 

[cjwaldon]

Quote:
If this guy got only one bird, what's he mating it in order to sell?

Don't fret too much. Those who are dedicated to breeding and improving AC will stand the test of time. The quality of birds we produce will be testimant to our efforts. Those riding on others' shoulders just want an easy buck and will drop out of the game when the going gets tough.

 

[Peep-Chicken]

If this guy got only one bird, what's he mating it in order to sell?

Don't fret too much.  Those who are dedicated to breeding and improving AC will stand the test of time.  The quality of birds we produce will be testimant to our efforts.  Those riding on others' shoulders just want an easy buck and will drop out of the game when the going gets tough.

I know I am not the original poster, but the bird is laying fertilized eggs because even after being separated from a fertile rooster, hens can lay fertile eggs for about 3 weeks.

 

[Hatchery Hive]

Mailing off a fertilized hen is easily the safest way to mail off "Hatching eggs"...

 

[cjwaldon]

nm

 

[PhoredaBurds]

I was wondering how one could mistake a hen right at the point of lay for a rooster. I've got some 4 week old chicks who are starting to show whether they're gona be boys or girls. And there is no doubt in my mind w my 4 month old birds. If she (hen-roo in question) looks like a he and the guy that bought her is planning on mating her offspring to each other as full sibling matings, my guess is u don't have anything to worry about. And u probably don't want that hen in ur breeding program anyway. Just one opinion.

 

[Pyxis]

Well, it doesn't help that the Mike Bean birds have really large combs on females, like leghorns. Comparing these to birds from the other two lines, it would be easy to think a POL hen was a rooster (although at five or six months I would expect to see hackles and saddles on a rooster). Personally I think that line is different enough from the others and leghorn-like enough that I was suspicious that leghorn was crossed in at some point (possibly not, but I didn't want to take the chance), or the birds were just bred to be more leghorn like. Either way, personal preference I won't use them since I don't like the way they look compared to the other lines anyway, but, and I'll post a picture so you can see, since I think Hatchery Hive is working with the Mike Bean lines if that hen inherited the look of the comb of the MB birds and the other hens all got the TM and GFF type combs, I can see where you might think she was a rooster.

Mike Bean hen on the right:

GFF hen:

As you can see, the combs are very different, and that difference could fool someone.