i cant seem to make a good buy

[Germaine_11.20]

I would pick a few breeds that you like and then work with them. Hatch them out, cull, breed ect. Add more stock occasionally.
I was reading about a lady who has 12 of "her" breed but hatches out 150-200 of the same breed and culls down to the best each year. Three years later she had exceptional birds.

 

[TK Poultry]

ive been trying to do that like with my ameraucanas and my swedish ducks its all ready to go its just a waiting game now nmy buff ducks are ready too but i really want a bantam breed or two and i just can seem to get it under control!!! and im still looking for a cockerel for my BR so i still have some work to get my "stock" ready but once i do i dont want to buy much except the occassional rooster or drake! well hopefully after getting some experience under my belt maybe ill do a lil better it doesnt help that no one in my family has any idea so i have no one to go to for guidence and im learning as i go so thats a big thing to!! like i said ive only been doing this for a lil over a year!

 

[NYREDS]

When you go to school you have to pay tuition-that's what you've been doing but you don't seem to be profitting from the lessons. If you are seriously interested in birds that conform to breed standards you have to know what those standards are. First decide what breeds you're interested in. Then buy or borrow a Standard Of Perfection & study it. Go to a couple of shows & comare winners in your breed with the Standard descriptions. Talk to some breeders & judges. Then you'll be ready to buy. When you do buy make it from a reputable breeder-someone who shows & occassionally wins.
If that sounds like too much work you could just keep doing what you're doing. Maybe you'll get lucky.

 

[patandchickens]

Especially with livestock (but with most other things in life too), the majority of "great deals", it turns out, aren't.

If a person is very experienced (and I mean, like, decades, not a year or two) with that livestock, and/or very "in" with the local social network of breeders, it starts to become more feasible to sniff out the few ACTUAL good deals. (Some people are much, much better at this than others, that's just the way it is.)

But by and large, until you get to that point, if you don't like throwing money away, it would be wisest to look for the GOOD part, not the "deal" part. Find someone with a long reputation of selling what you want, and pay what they're asking.

If you are into the whole SOP thing, or showing, it is much better to have three *really good* birds than a motley collection of a dozen or more "but they were cheap"

Good luck, have fun, enjoy your chickens even if they are not show winners,

Pat

 

[TK Poultry]

thanks so much you guys you have really lifted my spirits i have found some actual good deals but just one really other than that ive had some bad luck rite now im just putting "feelers" out and im just going to wait to see wat happens i dont want to shell out big bucks but it sounds like im going to have to in order to do wat i set out to accomplish!! im a bit cheap in nature and to do wat i want to do it looks like im going to have to!! thanks everyone you have been a great motivator!! Thanks so much