March 8, 2010: Sale pending on the BBReds. Two groups of Brassy Back/Blue Brassy Back still available! Eggs soon, I promise. Watch this space for updates.
March 6, 2010: BIRDS FOR SALE! I am selling breeding stock BBRed, Brassy Back, and Blue Brassy Back birds. I do not need to keep as many birds as I currently have, since I no longer show very often. These are my absolute best birds. The sale birds will be pulled right out of my breeding pens. These are the birds I NEVER SELL. Except right now. This is what you would call a very rare opportunity. Don't plan on waiting til fall, don't plan on getting any next spring. I'm not ruling that out, but I'm not counting on having anything available. I'm cutting WAY BACK, and will be focusing my own efforts on further perfecting the BBReds.
I will be selling eggs on ebay, hopefully starting in about a week. I want to be certain that the fertility levels are high enough to justify selling them. Stay tuned, I will post that info here when the times comes.
I WILL ship birds, this one time. I haven't done it since the late 1990s. There will NOT be health paperwork. I am not NPIP certified. That wonderful free program you have in other states is an expensive pain in the butt here, so I'm not a member. If your state requires paperwork for shipping, you'll need to make some other plans. I leave that up to you, it's your responsibility to determine whether you can get birds from California.
Prices do not include box or shipping.
I do not export birds. No amount of begging and pleading will change that, don't ask.
Serious breeders only, please. It's important that these birds go to people who plan to show/breed/sell them. I'm not able to do much of that myself, so I'm looking for buyers who can.
Email me, katherine@rosecomb.com, or call me 916-215-7385 (Pacific Time, please don't call me at some absurdly early hour of the morning)
Groups are as follows:
Group 1 (SALE PENDING):
Black Red K (half Black, half BBRed, this outcross was done to improve type on the BBReds)
BBRed H
BBRed H
Black Red P
Black Red P
This breeding pen, as is, will produce 25-50% BBRed. Black offspring should be culled. Black Reds may be used for breeding if desired. I'm sorry I have no BBRed male to sell. $500 in this group, or I'll consider $300 for just the male and two BBRed hens ONLY if I'm unable to sell the group of five together. Not recommended that you do this unless you already have BBReds to work with... you want all the egg production you can get and the BBRed hens are a few years old.
Group 2:
Brassy Back K
Blue Brassy Back H
Blue Brassy Back H
Blue Brassy Back P
This breeding pen will produce 50% Brassy Back and 50% Blue Brassy Back. I do suggest breeding these colors together rather than separating them, it works well. Though non-standard, these birds are probably the best type of ALL my birds and I have been told many time that if they were able, they would beat my Blacks. $400 for this group, or $300 if you prefer a trio.
Group 3:
Blue Brassy Back K
Brassy Back H
Brassy Back P
This breeding pen will produce 50% Brassy Back and 50% Blue Brassy Back. I do suggest breeding these colors together rather than separating them, it works well. Though non-standard, these birds are probably the best type of ALL my birds and I have been told many time that if they were able, they would beat my Blacks. $300 for this trio.
I also have a Blue C available, he's two years old. He produced fantastic Brassy Back and Blue Brassy Back offspring last year, and may be purchased with a group or separately. Let me know if you are interested, price is not set on him. He is of Blue Brassy Back breeding, so I would not use him to breed pure Blues.
Here are fairly recent pics. Please pardon the mud. For the most part, I'm not exactly sure which birds I'll be selling. That would take a few hours to sort them and see who would be best paired with who. These pics should give you a good indication of quality. I really don't have time to fiddle around with individual photos.
Group 1 photos, click to enlarge:
This is the Group 1 male. Not a good photo.
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Group 1 Black Red pullets will be pulled from this breeding pen. That male is not for sale.
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Group 1 BBRed hens will be pulled from this breeding pen. That male is not for sale.
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Group 1 Black Red pullets will be pulled from this breeding pen. That male is not for sale.
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BBRed hens being feisty.
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Group 1 BBRed hens will be pulled from this breeding pen (which does not include the Brassy Backs, pic was taken before birds were in breeding pens).
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Here's another shot of the Group 1 male. Sorry about the tail condition! He'd just come in from the mud...
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Group 1 BBRed hens will be pulled from this breeding pen (which does not include the Brassy Backs or Blue Brassies, pic was taken before birds were in breeding pens).
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Group 2 photos, click to enlarge:
That's the Group 2 Brassy cockerel and the group 3 Blue Brassy Cockerel.
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Same males again. FYI the Brassy male is really young, only 6 months I think. Splash pullet not for sale.
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Group 2 Blue Brassy females will be pulled from this breeding pen.
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Group 3 Brassy pullet. (nice!)
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Group 3 Brassy hen.
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Groups 2 & 3 females are among these.
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Groups 2 & 3 females are among these.
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Blue C for sale. He is of Blue Brassy Back breeding, produced some phenomenal birds last year (Blue Brassy Back, Brassy Back, Splash). Not sure if he should be used for purebred blue breeding, but a real asset for Blue Brassy Back or maybe Blue Red?
I catch a lot of flack for not selling all that many birds. Well...I don't quite know what to say. Let me give you my philosophy on raising birds though. I raise Rosecombs because they interest me, I enjoy showing, and I like to work with the rare colors in this breed. I do not raise birds for the sole purpose of selling them. I hatch enough to improve and propegate my own bloodlines. If I happen to have enough to sell a few, that's like frosting on the cake...it's a nice bonus. But I am not and probably never will be one of those people who has lots of fabulous birds for sale all the time. I'm not equipped to raise or house that many, nor do I want to. I also CULL pretty ruthlessly. If a bird isn't one I'd consider for my own breeding pen, it goes off to auction. Probably I could really sell a lot of those birds, but I don't want to do that. If I wouldn't consider them for my own breeding pens, I will not sell them as such.
I know there are a lot of people out there looking for these colored Rosecombs and I'm sorry I can't help you out. In the past I have tended to sell myself short, and I'm not going to do that anymore. I wish that more people who I have sold birds to in the past were actually making an effort to raise them (that's why I've gotten pretty strict about who I'll sell birds to!) Seems like when I have an abundance of birds I can hardly give them away, but when I don't have enough then everyone wants them.
If you are looking for Rosecombs right now, go to http://www.rosecomb.com/federation/members.html If you think you have the patience to raise colored Rosecombs then PLEASE consider making your own strain. It takes a few years (ok, more than a few...it's a never-ending thing...), but you're not going to get instant perfection out of mine or anyone else's anyway. Truth be told there really need to be more strains of these birds out there. I've already run into some major inbreeding problems, and spreading that around really isn't going to do much good!
That said, I truly appreciate the people out there who are actually dedicated to raising these birds!
1) I do not sell chicks. I have sold eggs. I may do it again late in the spring, but no promises and I'm not taking orders for anything.
2) I sell finished adult birds, in ridiculously small quantities. As of early 2010, I have no shipped a bird for at least 12 years. I may reconsider. We'll see. I am not NPIP certified because it's an expensive pain in the butt in CA, not worth it for me.
3) I reserve the right to refuse sale, but I've never had to do that. :-)
4) My birds are NOT perfect. Please don't expect perfection.
5) I will ONLY sell top quality birds to serious breeders. I have sold far too many birds to people who were not serious and they gave up and sold the birds without even bothering to contact other breeders. These are not easy varieties to find, and I won't put up with that anymore. You'll have to convince me you're very serious and not just a "chicken collector." Unless it's just my cull birds for pets, in which case it's no big deal.
6) Here's a new one: please do not ask me to sell you something that is "guaranteed to win" regardless of how much you are willing to pay. I have always hated that sort of attitude that pops up from time to time in the fancy, and besides that if I was lucky enough to have a bird that fabulous, I sure as heck wouldn't sell it! :-)
