Hensndoes
Songster
- Jun 18, 2017
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A few of my best birds I got for next to nothing or for free. My first pair of show quality BB red standard Old English Games were given to me by a friend I met online and happened to live in KY. The hen had won best of breed at the Ohio Nationals an the pair are amazing quality and bred to APA standard.
Just because you pay top dollar doesnt always promise great quality from every chick. There will still be a lot of culls and few keepers from any Marans line from any breeder. Trying to find the best quality you can is great to get a good start, but dont expect perfection from all of them.
I charge top dollar for any of my Marans pullets or hens I sell locally, even though I'm selling my culls as layer quality because I dont care if they sell or not. I have given a ton away to friends as layers, and we eat all the roosters I dont use for breeding.
I have a long way to go before I start selling chicks or anything. I want to focus on bettering my own stock and showing. If someone approaches me and asks for chicks or eggs I will try to help them out, but I'm not going to advertise or anything and try to sell right now.
I agree though, you get what you pay for. I was referring to the going rate for Marans chicks in my area I guess. People wont pay as much for chickens around here. I have seen them advertised on a Kentucky sales page for anywhere from $8 to $15 each. If you order from a top notch breeder, absolutely you will pay more.
So true. I chose to pay what I did because I appreciate the effort and habits of the breeder I ordered from. There isn't much local to me that I have found except people like me - but they seem to have birds that seem to have more flaws than I have patience for. Still - of the first 2 cockerels I got I rehomed 1 for carnation (?) comb and the Chester needs a dark hen with nice tail. Of the 4 chicks I have now 2 had feathers on their middle toe. Still I'm very excited to see what I'll have to work with. It has to be better than what's local. All came from the same place so I think to call them mine I will have to add another line right?