Let’s talk meat birds !

[mossypath]

With trying to find breeding stock for a good meat bird is kind of hard when relying on shipped eggs. Without a pedigree like you have with rabbits with given weights and history it is kind of a shot in the dark what you will end up with.
There is more than one post where someone was relying on birds to be a A&M and found they ended up with whites. A lot of egg sellers do not give average weights of parent birds or if they have line breed for generations. Grant you having eggs shipped and Incubated and gowned out is not the same investment in money and time as with other animals but it is still a investment you want to be satisfying.

I now have eggs incubating that the seller was very honest about weights (5 to 6.5 oz. live weight) and understand it is just a starting point in working with the birds, and for eggs to eat you don’t need a large bird and is teaching me a lot.

1. Has anyone found a ebbay seller or someone else who has A&M’s that are A&M’s and not whites.
2. Is it true that A&M’s can revert back to a more wild bird without reintroducing strong lines back in to your flock?
3. Is someone better off just starting with common birds and developing their own stock from a large pool of birds or an established line from multiple breeders? Wondering where those of you who have large birds started to form your lines.

Thanks..

 

[mochicken]

There are good stock out there, if you check our breeder pages in the stickies and check feedback you will see, we have some GREAT breeders here and online but you will get screwed over if you just trust an ebay seller by their word, hell most of the time they steal someone elses description, read a bunch and you will see what I mean.

My best advice is find a quality breeder of jumbos here on our stickies, if you dont want to do that then do your homework online and search breeders online and research them well, if they are close take a scale to their farm and weigh their birds.

Another good way to tell is egg size, I will not set an egg anymore unless it is 14 grams, some of the jumbo breeders are seeing 16-18 gram egg WOWZA

 

[mossypath]

Mochicken
Thanks for the numbers on egg weights. This is something I will save in my notes. I might have to go to a local head shop and get a portable scale like in the old, old days.

For my rabbits I did have travel 2 hours each way to find the heritage breed I was looking for so it is not something I can’t do if I felt there was a good reason to do so. I am sure there is someone around me who raises large birds but I haven’t found anything but commons and nothing less than 70 miles with only a few birds. Unless I can find someone close (I drive a large work van) I think I will be relying on shipped eggs. In the breeders thread I could only find 2 with A&Ms or jumbo whites and one is working on the line and is not selling nImpressive ow. I have gone to http://www.stellar-gamebirds.com/Coturnix-Colors.html Quailladys site and was really and hope to order eggs from her.

When County fairs start is this a good place to find birds? I haven’t been to a fair since my kids where little and don’t know if Quail are shown?

 

[TBTT]

williams3676 <----- That's his eBay name. I've gotten eggs from him with about a 75% hatch rate. I'm no expert, but they are big eggs and big birds. A friend recommend him to me. (Texas A&M)

 

[millebantam]

Don't buy into the hype. Resist buyin' from Ebay ads with outrageous claims or "fancy" websites. If someone is tryin' that hard to sell their stuff, all that means is that their stuff is hard to sell. Most of the best stock out there is raised and sold by breeders who don't push hard advertising. They make their hay by "word of mouth" and repeat customers. Ask a seller to provide you with the weights of their breeder birds, and what that particular breeder will do for you if the birds or eggs that they sell you don't make the same weights. If the claims are legit, the breeder has no worries about "makin' good" on birds that don't match their claims, later on, down the road.

 

[mossypath]

Millebantam
I Believe the web site I posted is a respectable source and can’t believe that someone who spends valuable time helping us newbies with our silly??? and has spent so much time sharing knowledge wouldn’t spend the same effort in taking care of their own birds
It’s not like someone can get rich selling eggs or birds.

.

 

[navasima]

Sorry, but I do not see where a specific website was referenced in Millebantam's post.
As a rule of thumb, anything "guaranteed to be awesome" in sparkly colors probably isn't so. This applies to cars, hatching eggs, late night TV products......
No particular site or seller in mind as I type. Not advocating or disparaging anyone. I must agree in priciple with the point I believe Millebantam was making.
I would further state that people who are new to any type of animal and truly interested in hatching and nurturing young anything are more likely to be good hearted and thus more easily decieved, so more adamantly warned by honest folk. JMHO

 

[millebantam]

Thanks for the clarification Navasima. Please mossypath, show me where I referred to anyone's specific website or sales ad. I have been readin' these forums for years, and durin' that time, have read countless posts by people new to the "quail world" compainin' that they didn't get what they paid for. Now if even half of these people had done their due diligence, and researched both the bird husbandry, and the potential seller of the product that they bought, there would be a lot less "poor me" stories. The truth is there are jackals out there who have no problem decievin' unprepared newbies. Now if after readin' what I had written initially sparked a certain website in your mind, then, well..............I just don't know what to say about that.

 

[cva34]

Mochicken
Thanks for the numbers on egg weights. This is something I will save in my notes. I might have to go to a local head shop and get a portable scale like in the old, old days.

For my rabbits I did have travel 2 hours each way to find the heritage breed I was looking for so it is not something I can’t do if I felt there was a good reason to do so. I am sure there is someone around me who raises large birds but I haven’t found anything but commons and nothing less than 70 miles with only a few birds. Unless I can find someone close (I drive a large work van) I think I will be relying on shipped eggs. In the breeders thread I could only find 2 with A&Ms or jumbo whites and one is working on the line and is not selling nImpressive ow. I have gone to http://www.stellar-gamebirds.com/Coturnix-Colors.html Quailladys site and was really and hope to order eggs from her.

When County fairs start is this a good place to find birds? I haven’t been to a fair since my kids where little and don’t know if Quail are shown?

I just received one doz Jumbo brown eggs from STELLAR .Mailed 5PM Thur in FL,Rec Saturday in TX and put in inc Sunday..Really got 14 .Packing was Best I have seen each egg encased in its own foam hole in a foam block wrapped in bubble wrap and in 1/2 in foam.That made a pack 6x4x3 +-.Then it was put in a priority mail bx 12x12x8 cushioned with newspaper.They arrived safe and sound.I was tracking them and they arrived in my POB and tracking ain't figured it out Yet.That's Fast .Couldn't ask for more ,She done Her part.Now its up to me ...cva34

 

[mossypath]

Sorry,,
Maybe I did not do a very good job in responding to the post. For some reason I do well in conversation but in written words on a forum I have a harder time.I was not trying to challenge anyone’s opinion.

After weeks of trying to find a good breeder I think the one I linked to is the one I would trust the most if I can get eggs from there. I still want to find a different line and was hoping to find someone more local. If a state or local fair judges Quail I thought it may be a good place to find someone rising birds.


I will not be one of those who cry about what I got or didn’t get for I do understand I am responsible for my choices and how I handle the outcome. How my bird’s progress has a lot to do with how I handle them, I would just like to have a good starting point to work from.

I do thank you for your input and hope to learn more every day and hope someday to know enough to share with others.

P.S.Thank you cva 34 That is what I was hoping for !