I have to agree with lildinkem When I want new stock I pay a good price as far as farm birds go, 25.00 a bird or even a day old chick. There has been a dangerous craze by 3 farms wanting to make the big bucks in Orps and it started about 3-4yrs ago. I have seen them try and get up to 5K for their birds and those that don't do their homework fall into their marketing speel. In my humble opinion this gives the breed a bad name. The birds are not showable, nor excepted by the APA. Their are selling self created colors that are for the most part experimental at best. They them selves are new into Orps and probably chickens, this was a money making plan for them. This was not for the love of the birds or the breed.
If you want good birds, find a breeder that admires them enough to not screw them up for a dollar. Someone that takes pride in their birds and their program. These are the people that will help you long after the sale is made and they will sell you maybe not their best birds, but certainly not their worst, as they care about the reputation not of themselves, but of their birds. It takes years of care to create a line. It takes suffering through feed prices, hard weather and what ever is going on in your personal life, and yet.. you trudge on. It takes caring about more then money to make a breeding program work. When you find these people, you will find those that will help you get started, give you support for years to come, and will not charge you more then the bird is worth. These are the breeders that are worth their weight in gold to those just getting started.
When you find passion, you find quality. Look for that.
If you want good birds, find a breeder that admires them enough to not screw them up for a dollar. Someone that takes pride in their birds and their program. These are the people that will help you long after the sale is made and they will sell you maybe not their best birds, but certainly not their worst, as they care about the reputation not of themselves, but of their birds. It takes years of care to create a line. It takes suffering through feed prices, hard weather and what ever is going on in your personal life, and yet.. you trudge on. It takes caring about more then money to make a breeding program work. When you find these people, you will find those that will help you get started, give you support for years to come, and will not charge you more then the bird is worth. These are the breeders that are worth their weight in gold to those just getting started.
When you find passion, you find quality. Look for that.
