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OK, since no one had any words of wisdom for me re: how to safely hold off my pairs from breeding for a year, I have a new question I'm hoping one of you breeders out there can help me with. I'v never sold any of my babies 'out-of-nest' before, but I'm now thinking this might be the way to go next year. So my question is, is there a web-site I check out for reasonable out-of-nest prices? Or can any of you give me some general prices for very young chicks? I want to be fair to both myself and any potential buyer. I generally have various Pionus species, Congo Grey's and large Amazon's, all of which I usually will pull at around 2 weeks. Any hints or advice would be greatly appreaciated, Thanks!

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Hi, I'v been breeding birds for many years and I now find myself wanting to take a year off. I have several concerns and questions about how to go about this. Have any of you done this? How did you do it, simply close the nest box? What about any pairs that spend all their time in the nest box? Did you cut them off "cold turkey"? If you did, did this cause much distress with them? How long did you keep the nest box closed? And most importantly....did your pairs go back to breeding again once the box was re-opened??? I was told I could simply remove the egg's when layed, but this could cause some birds to continue laying. And if I wait till the entire clutch is layed, well, they could very well be fertile and I would personally have a problem with 'disposing' of the "pre-babies". I should mention that the breeder birds in question include Amazon's, Congo Grey's, Pionus, and sometimes Cockatoo's. Any help or advice on how I can do this and gain a little 'me' time next year would be greatly appreaciated. Thanks a lot!

Out-of-nestbox prices vary, it depends on how much you normally sell them when they are weaned, if you are selling whole clutches, and other factors. I breed lovebirds and I have a clutch of eggs that I know I will not be able to raise like I did the last 3 broods this summer. I decided to sell out-of-nestbox and decided to charge $20 a baby. My normal price for them is $65-$100 so I have reduced the price by about 2/3. I would try to sell them for a little more but I wanted to make sure they would find a home before they started developing too far in the egg (if I didn't find a buyer, I was going to unfortunately have to take the box out). Luckily I found a buyer and if the buyer backs out, I will let the parents raise them. I hope this helps you!

.....it has been a big NO NO for over 2 years now.....an assembly bill took care of that. It is illegal to sell a baby bird to anyone not PIJAC certified. So, if you live and/or sell unweaned babies in the state of CA.....you can be fined big time and even loose your birds possibly if caught. Yes, I know some breeders and store still do it, they just have not been caught yet.

Sandi in So. CA

If I discovered that a breeder that I was talking to about buying a weaned baby from was selling unweaned babies, I would immediately stop all discussions with them.

I appreciate the reply's to my question. But perhaps I wasn't clear about my intentions. Being that this is the 'Breeder Chat', my question was to breeders only. Selling 'out-of-nest' is not uncommon with many breeders. And while I can't speak for all of them, most, like myself, are conscientious in that we will only sell an unweaned chick to someone trained and practiced in caring for such a baby. My original question was not in seeking a fair price to sell a chick to just anyone. Absolutely not! There are accomplished breeder's, as well as others without breeding pairs of their own, with the knowledge and practice in the proper way to correctly raise a chick. These are the people I would consider selling a chick to, and only these people! NOT to any average Joe off the street! I love my babies too much, and I feel I owe them nothing less. So please people, don't read more into my inquiry than is there. I am only an honest breeder looking for honest advice. Thanks!

I too would only sell out of nest to an experienced handfeeder whom I trust. The person who bought my lovebirds is an experienced breeder and handfeeder and I trust her very much. I actually ended up trading the lovebirds for a green cheek conure out-of-nest and after doing that, I have been thinking more and more about buying out-of-nest. My problem is that I don't have a lot of room in the house to have many breeder pairs of birds but I would like to expand my first-hand knowledge of raising different species. Buying out-of-nest can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing but if you are knowledgable and so is the other breeder, there really shouldn't be a problem.

I appologize to Parrontz. I don't belong on Breeder's Chat, please excuse my post.