How much without shipping though?Oh dear, I hate to even admit how much they costed. It gives me chest pain and was rather an impulse buy. They were $130 with shipping. I tend to hyperfixate on things of interest to me, so once I realized I needed Buffs I had to find good ones, so I researched until I found a recommended breeder with nice birds and that's how it happened. Lord, please let some of these chicks hatch.
Don't feel bad my silver Ameraucana eggs where $150 before shipping and $200 with.$100. When I think about it too long I get very nauseous.
How was your hatch rate? Thank you for making me feel better. I appreciate that.
They have not come in yet. I did order from the same place last year and had about 70% to 80% hatch rate. On shipped eggs I've had some ridiculous hatch rates up in the 90%s.
I have had good hatch rates, and some okay hatch rates with shipped eggs in the past. If I could end up with a good quality pair or trio from the eggs, it would make the cost worthwhile to me. The breeder sells her grow-outs and adults for $100 each. I would have gotten a pair instead if I had time to make the trip to meet up with her. The topline of her birds and lower set, long sweeping tails of her males were very good, and a huge selling point for me. I need birds with good topline and tails to work with since my Red Leghorn has a dang squirrel tail. The bane of my existence is a squirrel tail.
We have one little splash Ameraucana hen and she is a cute little thing. We used to raise Black Copper Marans to SOP, but my husband doesn't care for them too much. I let the line kind of dwindle down, let them free-range out the rest of their lives as layers, and stopped raising anymore of them. We decided to get into raising Leghorns and like the Reds, Buffs, Browns, and Red-Tailed Blacks as a start.
Im thinking of going with Schijndelaar for better production and larger eggs. They where made with leghorn, Aracuna and sumatras. I wanted crested, long tailed green and blue egg layers. They match that but not the color I wanted. Slate legs, silver duckwing or a solid blue or lavender. The Schijndelaar we have in the states is white with yellow legs. We shall see how they do as I have 8 eggs in the incubator right now.
That sounds pretty cool! I can’t wait to see how many you have to hatch. I have never heard of Schijndelaars. I will have to look them up. Good luck!!
