So I found a huge list of breeders in my area on BirdsnWays.com (the site that Sandi posted...Thanks Sandi!!). I emailed a bunch of the breeders and only one has responded so far. She seems like a nice enough lady and lives only a couple of hours away from me. She says she will have babies in a few weeks and most of the other breeders I've talked to won't have babies until much later in the Q breeding season.

What I'm worried about is what she said to me in the email. She sells babies at 3 weeks for only $60 each and something about s/b for $100 each...does anyone know what s/b is or what it might be? She asked me to keep in touch, but I'm kind of hesitant about doing so because of the fact that she is willing to sell unweaned babies to people that may or may not know how to hand feed.

What would you do? Would you buy a baby from a breeder who may be careless with where and how her babies are homed? Or would you just leave her alone and find another breeder?

Find another breeder. That price is too low and those babies are too young. It stinks of irresponsible breeding to me, and I'm nervous as to why the price is so low.

I think s/b might be split blue but I'm not 100% positive. If you get your bird from her, you probably can't expect much support from her as a breeder, but it's one less bird she can sell to someone who may not be able to handle the task of rearing a QP. JMO though. Maybe if you meet her you can ask her some leading questions without being too rude and suggest it might not be the most responsible thing to sell unweaned birds...if that's what she's really doing. Like I said though, JMO.

$60 is definitly low, but $100 isn't too far from the average here which is betweeen $125 and $150. BUT if s/b does mean split to blue than that definitly makes me wonder. I guess that would mean that 3 week old split to blues are $100 which makes a little more sense, but that makes me think that she sells all of her birds at 3 weeks. Thats a scary thought...

I like Robin'sGirl's idea, but I also don't want to end up with a QP that's going to have health issues on top of health issues because of an irresponsible breeder.

Don't buy and send an email back telling her why

It is extremely irresponsible to sell unweaned chicks to people that you don't personally know are competant hand feeders. The health, happiness etc of the baby bird is an extremely difficult thing to manage and should never be left to the unexperienced.
I wouldn't be suprised if she is handfeeding them herself for less than a week before she sells them. Meaning she has less work to do to have healthy weaned chicks.

I'm not saying you couldn't cope, but I good breeder wouldn't expect you to.

I've sent her an email explaining to her that I want a fully weaned baby. I also asked her if she hand feeds them herself because I have a sneaking suspicion that her birds might be parent-raised which might explain the low prices. I also asked her what s/b stands for. I haven't heard back yet. If she doesn't hand feed and isn't willing to wean the baby for me I'm definitly not going to buy from her.

I just got a response from the breeder. This makes no sense to me what-so-ever...here is a direct quote from her email :

"yes i hand feed but i dont ween them out because they sell so fast,the s/b is a split between a blue and a green quaker.."

What on earth...

Is there anything that can be done about breeders like this one?? I can't believe that anyone would be so careless with a life that they basically brought into this world. I don't understand why she doesn't wean the just because its been sold.

have you checked out www.birdbreeders.com ?

I have checked that site out before, but had no luck. I'm glad you mentioned it though because I just checked it again and found an AWESOME breeder. Hopefully this one will turn out better than the last...

I really wish there was something I could do for those poor babies...

she lets them go at 3 weeks because they sell so fast??

i can understand them selling fast. i bought Cricket when he was 4 weeks old BUT the breeder would not let me bring him home until he was completely weaned which means he was refusing hand feedings for a week straight.

she can sell them but not let people take them home until they are weaned. that's just sad... how many people out there are getting babies that they don't know how to hand feed correctly???

i'm glad you found a better breeder!! Good luck

Glad you found a better breeder. I'm sorry to hear that things were just as you feared... what a disappointment and how irresponsible! If only we could keep that sort of thing form really going on...

I really have a hard time with people who sell them out of the nest to people they do not know! I would suggest another breeder. I know there are a few people on the forum here who breed and I don't know how many of them ship...but one of them could be close to you. GOOD LUCK!

I wouldn't ever buy an unweaned baby. In my opinion the lady you're talking about sounds pretty irresponsible

To just let a baby go at 3 weeks to someone the breeder knows nothing about is quite sad. Crossing my fingers that all those babies go to people that are experienced enough to care for them properly <sigh>.

Glad you found a more caring breeder though, and looking forward to seeing pictures

Deb

My predicament is finally over! I've been in contact with a breeder who seems very promising and lives just minutes away. She has 10 eggs between 2 pairs, one of which is split to blue, due to hatch any day now. She told me that I'm one of the first people on her waiting list and has promised plenty of pictures and even progress reports until they are about 4 weeks old. At that point I can visit the babies once a week until they are fully weaned and ready to come home.

I'm so excited that all my searching has finally paid off!

I'm glad you have a baby located through a responsible breeder.

There are a number of breeders who sell you birds before they are weaned. I don't have a problem with that AS LONG as they are sold to people who have experience with Hand Feeding. I think its very irresponsible of them to sell them to new parrot owners that don't have a clue as to what to do with the bird.

The main reason they do it is because its a bigger money maker for THEM in the long run. They have less out of pocket money on baby food and equipment and a lot less man hours involved

But selling to someone inexperienced could mean sure death for a baby.

No you're better off getting it from a different breeder who feeds till they are totally weaned!

YAY Congrats! How exciting, sounds like a very nice, responsible breeder.

Don't forget to share the pictures with us!

Congrats on finding a good breeder

I got Dodger while he was still hand-feeding...but he was also from a friend of mine..even then he was 6 weeks and not only 3 weeks!

Well, maybe not "stinks" cause my breeder sells chicks for that same price at the same age. I think its about creating a relationship with the breeders so they can "screen" potential parronts.If the potential buyer is very intersted perhaps a visit to the breeders location isnt out of the question. All of this is JMO though, and I hope to not upset anyone else's views on the subject. I hope you find the perfect chick!

I agree that it is very irresponsible for breeders to sell an unweaned chick to someone that has no experience with hand-rearing at all. I do have experience with hand feeding as it is one of the requirements where I work that we be taught to hand-fed young birds near weaning age. Although I know how to hand-fed, I would much rather leave the hand-rearing and weaning of my fid to the breeder just incase something goes wrong. One of the things that really bothered me about that other breeder was not just the fact that she sold the babies at such a young age, but the fact that she never once asked me if I had any experience with hand-feeding. I'm sure that she was expecting to have to give me a "quick lesson" in hand-feeding when I went to pick up the baby.

On another note, I haven't heard anything from my breeder yet. In her last email she said that she's sure I'll be hearing from her within the week. If I did the math right, the eggs should start hatching sometime between tomorrow and Monday .

I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on any news I hear and post pics as soon as I get them. I may not have any pics for a few days after the eggs start hatching because she doesn't pull the babies to be hand-reared until they are about 10 days old.

Bumping up!!Wondering how things are going?And ifya have picked out a baby & is baby coming home soon??Ready for picture's..

There was a guy that I came across while on my search for a quaker that sold his babies at 2 1/2 weeks old. He was willing to sell it to me right then and there. And he NEVER asked if I knew how to hand-feed or anything. I knew then I had better keep on looking. Luckily I found a good place and I'm waiting for my little guy to get weaned before he comes home.

Hey guys,

I've got some good news and some bad news. Bad news is that one of the clutches was bad. The breeder was sort of expecting this to happen with this pair as she just bought them and the only proof she had of their being a proven pair and s/b was the word of the other breeder selling them to her. The good news is that her proven pair is doing fine and still sitting on healthy eggs. This just means I'm going to have to wait a little longer to get my Petrie. I actually had a dream about him last night!

So, I'm beginning to feel like I'm right back where I started. I emailed my breeder last night to see if any of the eggs had hatched yet. She told me that they hadn't and that one, maybe two, of them probably weren't fertile. She said that she will email me if any of them hatch. She also said that she's going to give them a week and if they don't hatch by then they probably aren't going to.

Do you guys think I should find another breeder?