When to Start Over

I was texting with a potential customer the other day about her wants and desires and what she planned to order. After some discussion, I finally told her she had what she needed and didn’t really need to buy eggs from me, now I am going to tell you why.

We are discussing quail in this scenario and it would likely apply to turkeys too.

The quail and turkeys come in a limited amount of variable colors and patterns. The fact that some are dominant and recessive is what changes them up. If you have the gene on your farm already, it just takes some breeding with intent, and some notes, and you can clean it up fairly easily.

Let’s use Egyptian for an example. Years ago when I started with quail, I bought browns from a local guy. Through selection and notes, I have turned them into the jumbos they are today. Along the way I would get this funny little yellow one occasionally. Then more often because my genetics were tightening up with each generation. Egyptian is a recessive roux gene and when there are 2 copies, the bird is blonde. So I took some of the Egyptians and put in a new cage and low and behold I have 2 lines of birds!

The potential customer who contacted me for this story was interested in celadon eggs. She already has celadons but had them mixed up and wasn’t happy with the blue. I told her to mark her birds, hatch some more with notes on parentage, and weed out the problems that way. Once the line was pure celadon again, just select the bluest to hatch and carry on as breeders. While I missed a sale, I created trust and she can always come back later if need be.

Conclusion: If you are shopping for eggs or birds, shop with purpose from a breeder and you likely wont need to shop again. I have bought eggs only 3 times in my whole quail career! browns, celadons and fee. Look at my barn now!