What sales in your area?

[Jess]

I had an excess of a few Blacks, Blues and splash.
I ran an ad it the Mississippi Market Bulliten, and The first two people bought nearly all the blues. I sold a couple of blacks and splash, but I could probally have sold 50 blues. It seems that no one wants any black chickens.
I sold my last blue rooster that I had for sale yesterday, and the lady wants me to call her as soon as I hatched out some more blues.
So my first breeding pen will consist of 6 black hens and a splash rooster.
These were culls that I did not want to keep so I sold them for $15 apiece.
I was just wondering what sales good in your area?
Jess

[John]

These were culls that I did not want to keep so I sold them for $15 apiece.

Fantastic!

[Mike Gilbert]

Apparently some of the buyers did not think they were all culls if they were willing to go $15 apiece.

[Jess]

Evening,
There are not many breeders of pure Ameraucanas in this area. I am trying to humbly educate folks that all chickens that have a piece of beard or muff is not an Ameraucana.
Most folks around here think if it lays a blue, green, or any other color of egg other than brown or white it is a Ameraucana.
Most folks are really interested when I tell them that there are only 8 colors of Ameraucanas. Some people look at you like you are from another planet when you try to explain genetics, but I\'m trying.
So I guess my culls are not that bad, I,m just real picky.
I guess I should explain, I got $15 for the hens and $10 for the roosters. I did sell one of my blue wheaten roosters for $15 yesterday.I wound up with 8 Wheaten and 3 Blue Wheaten roosters out of those that I ordered from MS Barbar Campbell, so I sold a couple of them.
I have printed out copies of the genetic makeup of Black, Blues and Splash and of the Wheaten, so I can just give customers a copy, to help them understand.  
Thanks
Jess

[NoseyChickens]

I\'m still working on building up my own flock. But, I have had no problem at all selling my whites when I have some available.

I have them same issue around here with people thinking EE\'s are Ameraucanas. They look at me like I\'m nuts too when I try to explain.

[John]

I generally call my \"culls\" \"rejects\".  My wife doesn\'t like \"rejects\" and thinks I should call them \"seconds\".
I\'ve had locals by my culls before and tell me they are better than what some others offered as \"good\" ones.  
Some of my rejects end up being shown by others, but most are only good for eggs and meat.  

[OldChurchEggery]

Speaking of culls being \"only good for eggs and meat,\" how do Ameraucanas tend to dress out? I have my fingers crossed that next spring I\'ll get to hatch out my own for the first time and I\'ll definitely have to plan for heavy culling. I\'ve trawled the other posts on the forum about when people tend to cull for color, size, etc. but I\'m curious about when the optimal culling point might be to balance out looks and how tender they might still be. Thanks!

[Beth C]

@Jess: I\'ve sold very few this year, I\'ve been letting most of them grow out before deciding who to keep. But based on people I\'ve heard from looking for birds, most seem interested in either lavenders or blue wheatens, some wanted either wheaten or blue wheaten, a few were interested in buffs, but none wanted blacks. The only blacks I\'ve sold were as layers, and even then only if there wasn\'t any other color available.

@John: I agree with your wife - \"seconds\" is more accurate. I\'d rather have LL Bean \"seconds\" than Dollar General \"firsts!\"  

@OldChurchEggery: I\'ve butchered a few, but I\'ve found by the time they were big enough they were too tough (this may not be the case with birds kept more confined, though), so I sell the females as layers and send the males to a wildlife rehab - raptors don\'t seem to mind tough.

As to the Ameraucana/EE thing, few here know the difference and, sadly, most don\'t care. Or if they do, their only concern is what color egg it lays - they\'ll reject a SQ bird because the egg isn\'t blue enough but pay top dollar to ship in wheatens w/calico hackles because they lay turquoise eggs...

[greeneggsandham]

That\'s twice I\'ve seen SQ mentioned.  May I ask, what does that stand for?  

[John]

SQ

Blame Beth...she used it first.  
\"Show Quality\"

[Jess]

We are fast becoming to use \"text mesaging\" as our language.
A lot of it goes right over my head  also  :rolleyes:
Jess

[Beth C]

I was that way long before text-speak. I once ask a teacher if I could submit my essay in shorthand! :p

[John]

Maybe someone should start a topic about many of the abbreviations we commonly use.  I included several in one of the ABC Handbooks, but there are many more that are generally accepted.  It took me a long time to figure out what BBS (for Black/Blue/Splash or something like that) meant when folks started using it on this forum.  Even the SQ I had to think about for a moment when I saw it the other day, before using it myself.  I don\'t text, so I\'ve had to google a couple things that Jean has posted.