I have never "shipped" as in mailed toads before, but I have shipped hundreds of chicks before. When a toad is hatched you will not be able to tell it from any other white chick with a few markings.
As they grow you will see the difference, they grow at a rate twice our normal breeds, by 2 weeks of age they will seem huge.
You will think they are sickly at this point and something is wrong, they are slower to feather than other chicks. However by 4-5 weeks they will be the size of most chickens as adults. With a full body covered by beautiful mainly white feathers,
The girls will slow down their growing at around 8-10 weeks. The boys will continue to grow fast until week 15 or so, At that pint they slow down and are 15 pounds or more. If you give them another 10 weeks they will hit 20-22 pounds and dress out over 15 pounds.
I am never in a hurry to cull ( process) mine. find the older they are the more they taste like the chickens I ate when I was a kid in the 50's. We have processed them at just a tad over a year and they have been tender and tasty. However, I smoke or roast most of them. If I was going to use them as fryers I would process before a year.
If you get one where the comb is turning blue or purplish process them, they only have a few days left as they have a heart defect. I have never seen this on a bird under 10 pounds, and only see it occasionally. I wasted a few until I figured out what that meant in them.
They are self sustaining and do reproduce true. (or have so far). They are happy friendly birds. When I go sit with the toads they all come up to me and even if they don't let me touch them much they want to be near me. Some want to be held and petted, just depends on the bird. I do not raise them in a special way at all. I do cut their protein back at 2 weeks though, otherwise I find I get angel wings. They are so utilize the feed fully like a CX does, with a CX angel wings does not matter as they only live 6-8 weeks. I grow these for the long haul. You will need to use your judgement on feed and do what you feel is right. This is an experimental bird, that I am getting good reviews on here.
The judges at the fairs have been mixed so far, One loved them and one thought they were too big. They judged them in a meat class against CX's. I do not think they understood the goals with a sustainable meat bird.
They will have larger legs and thighs than a CX, the breast will be slightly smaller or less full. That was by design and luck. We like dark meat better than white in our family.
I cannot think of anything else to tell you. I am sure there is a lot more.
