Eggs, eggs! I am inundated with eggs! (Mille Fleur Cochin Bantams)

[TennesseeTruly]

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Exactly!

Word of mouth is HUGE! Not only on the internet but offline as well. I've had people come from Atlanta to purchase ducks and chickens from me. They got my name by word of mouth. I get alot of my customers because I sold to someone and they were pleased with my chickens, ducks, geese, or guineas and they share that information and I get more customers.

Anyway, I was just trying to be helpful and not start a war.

Laurie

 

[TurtleFeathers]

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If it helps, *I* knew you weren't, Laurie - I didn't think you were rude at all. I guess it boils down to expression being lost in cyberspace?

 

[Camelot Farms]

I would have bought to add to my bloodlines but I live in VA so I am on the Blacklist.

 

[NEK38583]

I don't know if you have tried this site or not,but out of all the new auction sites that have started it seem like it is the only one that has really taken off. It is http://www.featherauction.com/index.asp I hope that helps.

On another note I agree with everyone else I do not like having chicks this time of year. I am parnoid about them enough in the summer. I know alot of people who do not like hatching in the fall and winter. That could be some of you problem. I know if I have room next spring you have a customer here.

 

[joanie_maine]

I've given up buying eggs until Spring......


The cold weather here is hard on shipped eggs. Sometimes the boxes take longer than expected to arrive. And sometimes the boxes still in cold trucks overnight

I've also noticed that when mail volume increases, the boxes are not handled as gently - causing broken air cells and even sometimes broken eggs.

Hatching eggs are always a gamble and I don't like to gamble with my money when the odds are bad.

Just my thoughts.....

 

[destiny_56085]

I definitely have to agree with the previous posts. Weather plays a huge role. Eggs freezing enroute, getting held up by holiday traffic, etc. The fact that most people would have to brood chicks in their houses for the next few months is quite a deterrant too.

I'm going to bring up another factor that no one else seemed to mention yet. Mille fleur in cochins is one of those 'fad' colors that became really popular about 3-4 years ago. If the gene pool would have stayed fairly concentrated, I can see how prices would remain high. There are now literally thousands of people that have these in their backyard flocks now though and they aren't so 'special' anymore. They are not yet in the APA or ABA standard of perfection and can go no further than best AOV. So you basically have 2 markets you are selling to. First is those still working on perfecting this color and need new bloodlines. For this group, your birds had better have outstanding conformation and color to interest them. I'm not a cochin expert by any means so can't comment on your birds here. If you have top quality birds and something they want, they will pay. Once they get their hands on some they will use them in their own breeding program and probably not need more though. Your second market is the people wanting fancy pets for backyard flocks and broodies. They are the fad-jumpers that want the pretty colors and really don't care about type. This group isn't the type to pay huge money just for pets though. You might get a few, but they aren't going to be regular customers. This isn't just your cochins....its every other pet fad out there.... pot belly pigs, lionhead rabbits, chickens (BLR wyndottes, lavendar anything, coronation sussex). If you get enough of them out there and flood the market, prices will fall out eventually.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

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Might I ask why you are blacklisted? (I'm not trying to be rude here- I just don't know....

)

 

[destiny_56085]

Because to sell to VA, you first need an approval number from the state. You need to get a health certificate from your vet and be NPIP. All poultry must also be classified free of mycoplasma gallisepticum. As a seller, its too costly and/or too much of a hassle to get all the extra testing done just to send birds or eggs into that state. Most of us are strictly NPIP and can get by with just pullorum typhoid testing to send to most states.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

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Thanks!

 

[Funky Feathers]

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Awww, you're not "blacklisted" IMO. It's just those dang rules to ship into VA. I like you just fine. Don't feel bad.