Breeders/Sellers, Why Are You Stopping?

[halo]

Quote:
I always ask people to let me know when and how they arrive. If someone tells me one arrived cracked, then I try and pack them even better the next time. I thought I had it down pat, had months and months with no cracks, then one arrived cracked....gahhhh

So I revised again, and so far so good.

But to answer your question, yes, I want to know how they arrive so I know if I need to do something different.

 

[Mrs. Turbo]

Quote:
last month our feed bill was $769... up a little from the prior month. Wyandottes eat a lot of feed, especially the young birds. We use 1 bag of chick starter a day on the chicks alone.

 

[colby318]

Mrs. Turbo :

Quote:
last month our feed bill was $769... up a little from the prior month. Wyandottes eat a lot of feed, especially the young birds. We use 1 bag of chick starter a day on the chicks alone.

Let me help you with that problem when I see you at the end of the month! lol​

 

[tazcat70]

Mrs. Turbo :

Quote:
last month our feed bill was $769... up a little from the prior month. Wyandottes eat a lot of feed, especially the young birds. We use 1 bag of chick starter a day on the chicks alone.

And my husband is upset with $30 every 10 days. I could only imagine if my feed bill matched his truck payment!

 

[cashdl]

I request that people let me know as soon as the eggs arrive. I 1) want to know that they got there in the time frame I expected, 2) want to know the condition they arrived in. I mark all the eggs as to the color of the pen they came out of and like to know which pens are showing development in the hatching eggs when they are candled and again when they hatch.

I don't mark the date I collected them, but I do let each person know that I only collect eggs for shipping, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, to be shipped out Tuesday. Every once in a while I will throw in Fridays eggs for extras.

When I set eggs for myself, I mark the top of the eggs with the date I set them and the sides of the eggs with the pen they were collected from and the hen that laid them ( sometimes a guess).

I want people to be happy with buying hatching eggs from me, but not everyone will. I just have to do the best I can and make sure I keep communicating with those who buy eggs.

Lanae

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Mrs. Turbo :

Quote:
last month our feed bill was $769... up a little from the prior month. Wyandottes eat a lot of feed, especially the young birds. We use 1 bag of chick starter a day on the chicks alone.

yep I average $700-$800 monthly and all I have are bantams, well a few peafowl and turkeys too, but 90% is bantam feed.
As for those talking about notifying the seller, yall are the exception over what we normally deal with. I ship out about 30-50 boxes a week and virtually never have any broken (been doing this for many many years) Problem comes to me when they dont get a 100% hatch. Now mind you most folks are like yall, great about it, but still, I'll get a few every year that want to show their rear about it dispite all the ad warnings and statements of me not being liable after eggs leave here, chicks I do replace if they file a claim at the P.O. on arrival, but eggs, cant help ya there, too much stuff we all know can go wrong, new keepers are the worst seems like too, they have never hatched before yet expect a 90-100% hatch rate, or you get the ones with the old "my personal eggs were set along with yours, I got 95% on them and just 2 on yours" well, they werent shipped!!!

Actually just had one ebay lady, miss read the listing, bid off the lead in pic alone, saw white birds, well it was an assortment 5 pics in the ad and full details, had a 90% hatch, was mad as all get out about them not being all white, re read, said it was her fault, she didnt read the listing...well 2 days later I have a ebay item not as described claim come up from her...obviously ebay sided with me in it, but got a negative feedback saying they werent even the correct breed, all because she screwed up.

This kind of stuff is what we as regular sellers have to deal with, so yes to answer the OP's questions, I can see why a lot of folks are getting out of doing it.

for the one not wanting a "breeder" to make a profit a few pages back...well that's another reason they are getting out. I spend personally abut $15,000 a year just keeping my birds and keeping them healthy and building new aviaries for them, not to count the countless hours answering and helping folks threw emails and phone calls, feeding, collecting eggs, getting boxes and packing material, boxing eggs and chicks, working incubators, keeping up with hundreds of orders over the laying season, making sure every one gets what they want in a timely manner, trips to the P.O. 3-4 times a week, on top of a 10 hour a day job. Sunday alone is a total wash for me, all I have time to do is box and pack orders, and label boxes.
I usually spend 1 hour on line keeping up with it all in the A.M. before work, then 4 hours every evening doing all the other stuff.
Not to mention, I can never go off on a trip any more and enjoy myself due to all that is need here at the farm on a daily basis.
thousands upon thousands of dollars in breeder purchases, selecting and culling the best stock for the breed, breeding and creating new colors for the breed, etc....we arent supposed to get compensated for this?? Come on!!!! Honestly??

When you go to work in the morning, do you expect to do it for cost, or do you want to get paid for you efforts at the end of the day?
Well it's no different for a full time poultry breeder either. True I'd do this weather or not I made a profit I love birds of all kinds, always have, always will, but if I didnt make a profit off it, difference is, I wouldnt be spending half my day working with others, it would like the above post said, all be for ME ME ME ...

I've made many many new colors in the various breeds I work with. Do you have any idea what kind of commitment that is. 2-8 years per color. and all those years are done out of pocket as during the creation process, I personally will not sell anything off them til I know they are right. Mainly cause I know people, they'd be on ebay in a week with them selling them as perfect specimens. Well for the breed sake, I just dont allow that with my birds.
But after all those years, do I expect to profit from all that time, pens, feed, brooders, and effort of course I do. You can just do this over night and off 1-2 birds. It takes hundreds of birds, all that time, and a ton of culling to get them perfect. So lets all remember what a true breeder does for the hobby and not be so quick to slam them. Support them, let them know you appreciate all their hard work and time they put into the avicultural world. After all, remember, if it wasnt for them, well, YOU wouldnt have anything to buy, cause someone somewhere is responsible for all the birds you have.​

 

[mamawolf544]

Quote:
last month our feed bill was $769... up a little from the prior month. Wyandottes eat a lot of feed, especially the young birds. We use 1 bag of chick starter a day on the chicks alone.

yep I average $700-$800 monthly and all I have are bantams, well a few peafowl and turkeys too, but 90% is bantam feed.
As for those talking about notifying the seller, yall are the exception over what we normally deal with. I ship out about 30-50 boxes a week and virtually never have any broken (been doing this for many many years) Problem comes to me when they dont get a 100% hatch. Now mind you most folks are like yall, great about it, but still, I'll get a few every year that want to show their rear about it dispite all the ad warnings and statements of me not being liable after eggs leave here, chicks I do replace if they file a claim at the P.O. on arrival, but eggs, cant help ya there, too much stuff we all know can go wrong, new keepers are the worst seems like too, they have never hatched before yet expect a 90-100% hatch rate, or you get the ones with the old "my personal eggs were set along with yours, I got 95% on them and just 2 on yours" well, they werent shipped!!!

Actually just had one ebay lady, miss read the listing, bid off the lead in pic alone, saw white birds, well it was an assortment 5 pics in the ad and full details, had a 90% hatch, was mad as all get out about them not being all white, re read, said it was her fault, she didnt read the listing...well 2 days later I have a ebay item not as described claim come up from her...obviously ebay sided with me in it, but got a negative feedback saying they werent even the correct breed, all because she screwed up.

This kind of stuff is what we as regular sellers have to deal with, so yes to answer the OP's questions, I can see why a lot of folks are getting out of doing it.

for the one not wanting a "breeder" to make a profit a few pages back...well that's another reason they are getting out. I spend personally abut $15,000 a year just keeping my birds and keeping them healthy and building new aviaries for them, not to count the countless hours answering and helping folks threw emails and phone calls, feeding, collecting eggs, getting boxes and packing material, boxing eggs and chicks, working incubators, keeping up with hundreds of orders over the laying season, making sure every one gets what they want in a timely manner, trips to the P.O. 3-4 times a week, on top of a 10 hour a day job. Sunday alone is a total wash for me, all I have time to do is box and pack orders, and label boxes.
I usually spend 1 hour on line keeping up with it all in the A.M. before work, then 4 hours every evening doing all the other stuff.
Not to mention, I can never go off on a trip any more and enjoy myself due to all that is need here at the farm on a daily basis.
thousands upon thousands of dollars in breeder purchases, selecting and culling the best stock for the breed, breeding and creating new colors for the breed, etc....we arent supposed to get compensated for this?? Come on!!!! Honestly??

When you go to work in the morning, do you expect to do it for cost, or do you want to get paid for you efforts at the end of the day?
Well it's no different for a full time poultry breeder either. True I'd do this weather or not I made a profit I love birds of all kinds, always have, always will, but if I didnt make a profit off it, difference is, I wouldnt be spending half my day working with others, it would like the above post said, all be for ME ME ME ...

I've made many many new colors in the various breeds I work with. Do you have any idea what kind of commitment that is. 2-8 years per color. and all those years are done out of pocket as during the creation process, I personally will not sell anything off them til I know they are right. Mainly cause I know people, they'd be on ebay in a week with them selling them as perfect specimens. Well for the breed sake, I just dont allow that with my birds.
But after all those years, do I expect to profit from all that time, pens, feed, brooders, and effort of course I do. You can just do this over night and off 1-2 birds. It takes hundreds of birds, all that time, and a ton of culling to get them perfect. So lets all remember what a true breeder does for the hobby and not be so quick to slam them. Support them, let them know you appreciate all their hard work and time they put into the avicultural world. After all, remember, if it wasnt for them, well, YOU wouldnt have anything to buy, cause someone somewhere is responsible for all the birds you have.

Very well said

And as far as the feed bill goes, I have a one ton feeder in my front yard that I keep full of 4 way scratch for all my free range birds. It is almost $12.00 a sack now. And then I feed everyone else 28% gamebird crumbles. It is expensive, but I think the birds and the quality of the eggs and hatches I get is worth it to me. Now I also have Boer goats, I dont buy them any feed, I have 10 acres for them and they are strictly grass/weed fed.

And I buy 2 sacks of pig feed a month for my little piggy. Now I wont go into dog and cat food.
I love doing it, I think it is fun. I cant have a regular job. I look out my window and watch my ducks and geese swim and it is so relaxing. I hear the Bob's calling to each other, the roos crowing at all hours and it is worth every nickle to me.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Wow...those feed bills!

I pay .18/lb for feed in bulk. I go through about 360lbs in 6 weeks. It's roughly $75 with tax every 6 weeks. They pay for their own feed through egg sales (hatching & occasional eating eggs).

 

[mamawolf544]

Quote:
We have a place we can get it in bulk. I cant remember how much it was, it is much cheaper but we weren't satisfied with the quality of the feed so we stopped. I am not saying yours is not good, I am talking about only mine in a neighboring town. It was too dusty, had too much of what I consider trash in it. It did not fill my needs, I wish we had a better bulk feed store. In the winter months I do buy directly from the Bryant Feed Mill and it is much cheaper, but I dont like keeping excess feed in the hot months. And there I can still get it in 50# sacks.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
We have a place we can get it in bulk. I cant remember how much it was, it is much cheaper but we weren't satisfied with the quality of the feed so we stopped. I am not saying yours is not good, I am talking about only mine in a neighboring town. It was too dusty, had too much of what I consider trash in it. It did not fill my needs, I wish we had a better bulk feed store. In the winter months I do buy directly from the Bryant Feed Mill and it is much cheaper, but I dont like keeping excess feed in the hot months. And there I can still get it in 50# sacks.

Yeah...I had to shop around for a while...the first place was lots of corn & dust. This is layer crumbles. My birds eat it just fine and they seem to be doing well on it.