My intention is to help new folks understand why it is hard to get birds from some of us.
I sell a few birds each year; mostly Asil. I also sell a few Cubalaya each year. With my Cubalaya I'm very particular about the buyers. I've put a lot of time and effort into my Cubalayas. Every bird I keep I need. I don't sell culls period. Thus, if I let a Cubalaya go then I'm letting go of a bird that I really need. I only sell to folks that have some type of track record with Cubalayas. Why? Because I may need to get stock back for my continued breeding efforts. How many Cubalayas to I hatch a year? This year it was around 250. How many will I keep: less than 25 I can promise you that. Is this profitable? It is to me because it brings me pleasure in seeing the breed improve. Am I 'elitist' for being particular about who I sell too? I think not. Like anybody else, I have the freedom to pick and choose. Is everybody going to like my choices? I don't know.... I didn't consult everybody else about my chickens. When everybody else starts paying my feed bill then they can tell me what to do with my chickens. Is this good for the breed? I surely hope so. Is this an arrogant way to think? I certainly hope not.
So how would someone that wanted Cubalayas develop a track record with the breed? Start the same way I did 15 years ago: with hatchery stock. I raised them until I understood the breed. Then I began collecting stock from breeders all over the country. That took a lot of time and money. I integrated those birds into the stock I had and steadily saw improvement. It wasn't easy but I learned a great deal along this journey. I am always seeing folks that want to start on top with some breed that they keep a couple of years or less and then toss by the wayside. I understand that folks can run into problems where they can't keep birds anymore. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about folks that have one breed this year and one the next. That's there right, but I think it is my right to choose not to sell birds to those folks.
Please try to understand my situation and others like me. We have worked very hard to get where we are with a particular breed. We do want to help others out. But that is not always easy for us to do with the limited stock we have. I don't run a hatchery. I'm in this for the love and enjoyment of it all.
Other breeders are more than welcome to make comments.
I sell a few birds each year; mostly Asil. I also sell a few Cubalaya each year. With my Cubalaya I'm very particular about the buyers. I've put a lot of time and effort into my Cubalayas. Every bird I keep I need. I don't sell culls period. Thus, if I let a Cubalaya go then I'm letting go of a bird that I really need. I only sell to folks that have some type of track record with Cubalayas. Why? Because I may need to get stock back for my continued breeding efforts. How many Cubalayas to I hatch a year? This year it was around 250. How many will I keep: less than 25 I can promise you that. Is this profitable? It is to me because it brings me pleasure in seeing the breed improve. Am I 'elitist' for being particular about who I sell too? I think not. Like anybody else, I have the freedom to pick and choose. Is everybody going to like my choices? I don't know.... I didn't consult everybody else about my chickens. When everybody else starts paying my feed bill then they can tell me what to do with my chickens. Is this good for the breed? I surely hope so. Is this an arrogant way to think? I certainly hope not.
So how would someone that wanted Cubalayas develop a track record with the breed? Start the same way I did 15 years ago: with hatchery stock. I raised them until I understood the breed. Then I began collecting stock from breeders all over the country. That took a lot of time and money. I integrated those birds into the stock I had and steadily saw improvement. It wasn't easy but I learned a great deal along this journey. I am always seeing folks that want to start on top with some breed that they keep a couple of years or less and then toss by the wayside. I understand that folks can run into problems where they can't keep birds anymore. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about folks that have one breed this year and one the next. That's there right, but I think it is my right to choose not to sell birds to those folks.
Please try to understand my situation and others like me. We have worked very hard to get where we are with a particular breed. We do want to help others out. But that is not always easy for us to do with the limited stock we have. I don't run a hatchery. I'm in this for the love and enjoyment of it all.
Other breeders are more than welcome to make comments.