These Houdans I got from McMurray are making me crazy. I want so bad to work with these, but so many have developed crossbeak or died. What the heck? I emailed McMurray...they are obviously really overly inbred it is so sad. I don't even know if I want to start with any birds from them after this. Out of 26 birds ordered, I sold 4 and kept 22 total.
I lost 9 the first couple weeks, 6 have gotten cross beak (plus two I sold), we had to put one down for really bad wry neck and I am left with 4 cross beaked and 8 that look ok so far. It is so sad! Lots and lots of work raising all of these and I just dunno what to do, whether I should just keep some as pets and not try and keep going with them, or whether it is a sign of how badly they need work. They sure are adorable....and beautiful! But the gene pool is pretty sad I think.
I lost 9 the first couple weeks, 6 have gotten cross beak (plus two I sold), we had to put one down for really bad wry neck and I am left with 4 cross beaked and 8 that look ok so far. It is so sad! Lots and lots of work raising all of these and I just dunno what to do, whether I should just keep some as pets and not try and keep going with them, or whether it is a sign of how badly they need work. They sure are adorable....and beautiful! But the gene pool is pretty sad I think.