I should have kept that guy because I've never had another one that looked like
him/her. I don't know the sex of that one. It should have had a white bib like the
other blue series birds but it had a yellow bib. He was born in 12-'04 and is long
sold. I just happened across that picture when I was looking for rump pictures to
show you.
I know this is absured but I price all mine the same regardless of color, $60 at the
pet store(they get a cut of the $$) and $40 from my home. I know a lot of people
have different prices for the morphs because I've had to buy a few of them and got
sticker shock myself. haha But that's just the way I do it. I don't sell at bird
shows any more either. I'm no big time breeder at all. I produce less than 100
babies a year. I band all my birds and only buy 100 bands a year and I have yet to
use all of them. I let my birds have two clutches between October-February and then
take the boxes off. A few stragglers will still have boxes up into the summer but
it's usually only a few pairs.
I will have all these beautiful mutations for sale and a lay person (one who doesn't
breed lovies and has no idea how many colors there are) will always say: "Do you
have any green ones?" LOL I could sell the heck out of green ones because they are
beautiful birds in their own right. But I mainly breed the blue series birds.
What determines value is what someone would pay for one. I'm not trying to get big
dollars. I'm trying to make nice pets and see what mutations I can breed. I really
doubt I could get big dollars anyway. :)
I get all my food, toys, cages, miscellaneous supplies and some vet care at
wholesale prices because I work at the pet store so I'm not in any position to be
able to tell you if it's worth it or not. If I had to pay full price for what I get
wholesale I would not make any money. Last year I made a little bit of money but
that includes baby snakes I hatched and sold too. I didn't break it down by what was
sold. So maybe it's not worth it. I do it because I love the peachfaced lovebird.
I started out breeding cockatiels. I don't know why but I just don't like
cockatiels. I can't stand the noises they make. I can't stand the way the babies
beg, etc., etc., etc. Since I'm doing this for pleasure and as a hobby, I was not
having fun with the 'tiels, I sold some breeders and traded others for lovebirds.
For whatever reason I fell in love the lovies. I also breed TAGs and if I could only
keep one bird I would choose a peachfaced lovebird over even a TAG.
If you can play with the babies every day, you could let the parents feed them and
just handle them daily to make them tame. There was a person who used to post here
that said she knew someone that did that or she did that(I don't remember which) and
it worked well. Oh wait, maybe she did that with cockatiels. Ahhh I can't remember.
Karen
>
> Thanks for all the info Karen!!!
> "Wilma" is very pretty! I sort of understand what you are saying....although my
> head is still spinning....strangely enough, the reason I decided to start
> breeding the Lovies is due to the variety of colors (haha) but deciphering all
> the color variations is a daunting task to say the least. I have always bred
> larger birds. This is my first try at small birds. Maybe I'll just post
> pictures of all the babies and let all of you more experienced people hash it
> out and tell me what colors the babies are!!!!!!!
> Can you tell me why the picture of the last baby is one you should have kept?
> How do I determine pricing for the different colors? I know that there are more
> rare colors but who determines what is more valuable??? I have my personal
> favorites but not sure if I can price babies based upon my own likes and
> dislikes! Also, I am planning on handfeeding and having tame babies....can you
> tell me if it is "worth" taking the time to handfeed, price wise? The pairs
> will feed all the way out if I choose.....
> Thanks SO much for all the help! This is a great board!
> Dee
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