Many people, when they get into the fancy want to get going and to start breeding outstanding birds. But they make mistakes along the way. That's natural.

They need to have a plan.

 

I was one to want to buy this bird or that bird because it was this breeder's or that breeder's. But i found that it didn't always work. They didn't breed for me or the birds they bred was not up to want I expected, so I sold them. I now realise that most of the problems were my fault.

• I was too impatient and the birds weren't in condition, or settled into my avary to breed.
  
• I should have waited till the next generation or the next to judge them.
  
• The birds didn't "click" with what I already had.
  

I now have a bit more experience in what I should be doing and what I should have done.

• I should have, and are now doing, gone to two breeders that have the type of birds I want and bought from them.
  
• I should wait for the second or third generations to see how they are going.
  
• I should go back to those breeders for more stock. This way I also support them.
  

I won't confine myself to those breeders but will be looking very hard at an outcross from other breeders.

 

“Clicking” is an interesting turm. I once was told that breeding good show birds were a bit like cooking. The ingredients were a bit like the features in the birds. A good cake had the right ingredients in the right proportions. They “Click”

I like to think buying birds like making a hamburger. A hamburger has basic parts… the bun, the meat, the salad and the sauce.

 

If the bun is soft, the meat is tender, the salad fresh and the sauce tangy and you put them together properly then you should have a pretty good hamburger.

 

If this is the case then you should go back to that baker for the buns, the butcher for the meat, and the fruit shop for the salad.

 

Support those that give you want you need to get a good result. Those features that Click.

 

If you go out and buy birds from everywhere, you end up with a mess. Features don’t go together well or take time to do so.

 

Being more selective on where you buy your birds will help you over come a lot of problems.

 

The one thing you do need to know is how hot to make the grill, how long to cook the meat. How much sauce to add…. This is where the experience come in.

Edited March 24, 200916 yr by Daz

Very good article Daz...great info

All great advice Daz - The first year i bought in my foundation stock, the first generation were nothing like what i expected and i could've culled them out. But those ordinarily looking hens have now become the most important birds in my breeding program.

 

The point to make re. purchasing birds - i much prefer to buy in cock birds and pair them to my hens. I have found that hens take a long time to acclimatise to a new setup and this can affect breeding performance, cock birds are much more adaptable and can be better utilised.

Great advice Daz, that's what I have done mainly gone to the one breeder and then have outcrossed to 2 other breeders and have found they click .

Edited March 24, 200916 yr by splat

thanks for the article Daz... I plan on going out there and buying my foundational stock early next year, once we move into our new place... Gives me some food for thought...

I think the hardest thing to do is to buy good hens.. I have been told by many good breeders is if I want good hens to breed them myself. That is probibly why it is so hard to find really good hens at auction, and when you do.. the prices are high.

Awesome advice.

I think the hardest thing to do is to buy good hens.. I have been told by many good breeders is if I want good hens to breed them myself. That is probibly why it is so hard to find really good hens at auction, and when you do.. the prices are high.

 

And they generally dont breed

Yes if there is a good hen in a Auction,buyer beware.If it was any good it would't be in the

Auction,in most cases.

That's bad... why do they do that? It just makes new people to the 'fancy' skeptical...

Yes if there is a good hen in a Auction,buyer beware.If it was any good it would't be in the

Auction,in most cases.

 

.... got to believe it. You have to remember that at auctions the birds are culled birds. For one resason or another.

Not saying there is something wrong with them.

Some are recycled birds. Ones that have been bought at another auction, used and then sold. Some are just to make way in the aviary for the next season's young.

 

But it is buyer beware.

For the Geelong Auction we encourage the breeders to enter only young birds.

ie, 09 rings for the next year auction.

Jimmy you would be best to talk to members

in the club & buy a hen or 2 off them,

If buying hens at the auction,only

buy young birds,they havent been in

the breeding box & there is a better

chance of them being okay.

Not only does this thread contain some good advice on buying birds, but, being the hopeless cook I am I now have no excuse for not being able to slap together one tastebud tantalising hamburger

i have done a bit of both worlds

i have brought some birds from same breeders cull from shops and some from breeders straight up

pet type and show

now im intending to get a bit more serious with the look of my birds not just the coulors and mutations im going to ring the local club and get the names of the breeders that breed the mutations i want

let them know the colours and sex i want and just wait till their avalibal of course after looking at their stock and seeing if it fits the look i like

it is way better to wait for a bird to come alone than hunt one down as if you wait you are more fussy if you hunt you just buy as you found it

i started with intentions ended up hunting more than waiting now i find im only happy with half my stock and am culling birds i only brought in late dec 08 and onwards to date as i go out and when i look im not smiling at everyone just the ones i waited for the ones i hunted bar my new lace wing hen im now getting ready to cull off and start all over again and its just as they are the right coulours and mutations but not the look i like kind of wasted money really as im losing out culling them cheeper than i brought as to get them a decent home im talking my club rung stock not my pet types

so daz that is fantastic advice everyone should head or end up like me with lots of nice birds but nothing that i really wanted as i hunted not waited pationce pays

and im in no hurry to replace the birds i will be soon selling although i now have back in place my plan

a plan is worth setting out and a goal of what you want to achive weather they be show or pet type birds a breeding plan is the way to go