This is a pic of the eggs Haystack asked me to post for him..
quoted from his email to me..
Have you ever heard on tinamous? They are kind of like a quail but the size of a small chicken. They lay the most amazing eggs in Easter-Egg colors that are as shiny as polished marble.
The eggs are awesome!!!
I googled them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinamou
Wow! Those are incredible eggs...
but wait, it's too soon for Easter, I haven't even had New Years yet!
But then again... does this mean we get to see Haystack in a bunny costume? Oh, be still my beating heart...
pretty pretty eggs!
LOL Jay... now THAT would be a treat!!
hmm... i want blue eggs!
those a gorgeous blue eggs.
I ran into a guy who raises pheasants, I think five species and he wanted to see my modern banty game hens that I got from ZZ's. So I emailed him back and we made an agreement for three doz pheasant eggs I would trade him a hen and Roo Gamehen. He was so happy with the pair that he called me and asked if I wanted to go in on a joint venture with him on the Tinamous birds, which I of course had never heard of. He sent me the pic of those eggs and I thought they were fake until I googled the birds and studied them and their famous eggs. So we agreed to purchase six for five-hundred bucks and we would both seek to breed our individaul trio's. One roo and two hens apiece. Who ever was successful in the breeding program would share with the other until both of us had at least six birds ea. and then we would go it alone from that point. I wanted to share that pic of the eggs with the G Ger's just because I thought they were so unusual. Hope you enjoy the pic. Thanks ZZ's. I tried to post it but was unsuccessful, so whats new. Haystack
They are wonderful Hay thanks for sharing...
I looked at the link ZZ posted, they are an interesting looking bird. Which kind of Tinamou are they? Their eggs look awesome! They would make great decorations after they were empty.
Oh, geeeesh...at first I read it that the BIRDs would make really good decorations empty....lol. I love doing blown eggs too! Shoulda thunk faster than that, heh...
The guy in Calif who we are getting them from has, three types and I am waiting to hear from him until after the Holidays. He has the white throated, the crested, and they highlander. The crested looks just like the quail except the are much larger. I am hoping that we can get three of one kind and then get three of another kind for now and later get three of the third kind that he raises. I am presently studying and researching as he said they are not as easy to raise as chickens and are prone to running and tripping, or running at top speed and hitting objects and breaking their necks. What i'm planning is an indoor outdoor coop and run with wire on the outside of 4x4's and clear plactic on the inside of the 4x4's so that if they run into anything it will be the clear plastic which has lots of give and won't break their neck's. My younger sister and one of her friends have already told me they would take a doz of the eggs each just for decorations around the house and conversation pieces. Expensive decorations i'd say...LOL. Haystack
Are the different types responsible for the different colored eggs?
Hi Porkpal, Thats a very good question? My best info at this point tells me that their are five basic colors to the eggs. And there are forty seven species. If that is accurate them it stands that many of the varieties have to lay the same color of eggs. That is similiar to the chicken eggs. Many lay brown, many lay white, a few lay a pinkish, and then their are the ee's and their three or four colors. That seems to make sense to me. I will be asking some of those questions when I get to talk personally with the breeder. Will try to keep you informed. Hay
Thanks!
Very interesting. I'll be watching to see how this goes along. Good luck with it.
I found the source of the picture and the caption identifies each Timamous species with the colour of its egg!
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/puregg/
You have to click on the picture.
This message was edited Dec 29, 2009 1:26 AM
That is just too cool. So shiny and suck pretty colors (especially the green :)
I would not have to color them for easter.... I could just hand billy colored markers and those would be pretty. LOL that is what I did last year, boiled our green and blue eggs and handed him and his brother markers and that was our eggs for the easter bunny
Catscan have you ever tried selling your serama eggs to others to hatch? Good Lord I put an ad on Craigs list just three nights ago and I have already sold over two doz eggs @ three bucks an egg. I wasn't sure I would get any response at all. I also have been selling layers like crazy and I thought people would not start buying til spring. It seems that around here at least so many people are starting to want to raise their own chickens for eggs. I have been shocked to see some wanting to buy layers in the winter. Usually thats when most are wanting to unload them. Anyway Happy New Years Catsy.
Happy New Year, Hay!
I just put the pullets in with the roos about 3 weeks ago--put on of the eggs they laid a week later in the incubator before I left for Christmas--and it is developing!
I suppose I could sell the eggs.....:0)
:( i want a blue egg. I need a chicken who lays a blue egg.
(but a cheap chicken that lays a blue egg)
Heck I just want any chicken that will lay an egg now... Please
I got 3 beautiful brown eggs today. I love my girls.
I really better be careful, when the girls start laying I should be getting 6 a day and if the ducks lay thats 4 females and if everyone layed it would be 10 and I am quite sure Billy could not eat that many... I cant wait to bake a cake with the duck eggs I hear those make the best cakes..
They do. They are mostly yolk and make for a very rich cake.
In my experience, ducks don't lay regularly like chickens. What kind of ducks do you have?
You could likely sell fresh yard eggs pretty easily.
Ummmm there are different breeds of ducks?? oh boy... they are your run of the mill ducks I think.
Now what you have recovered from laughing I have 4 boys that are mallards? they have pretty green heads.
I have 4 girls and they are brown.
Ok well Billy owns them first he got 4 boys and 2 girls and we were fine with that. Then someone wanted 2 males so that gave us 4
Then someone else dropped off 2 more boys and 2 more girls and now we have 8..Not one of them ever layed an egg yet though the first set were 6 months old when I got them about 5 months ago, and I dont know how old the other set is.
When we lived in Washington many years ago we went to the local feed store in Bellingham and bought some ducklings. I asked the man what kind they were and he looked at me as though I was crazy. "I don't know," he said. "Boy ducks and girl ducks!"
Three dollars an egg? I need to get some of those and sell those eggs. Where did you get these birds haystack?
What neat eggs Haystack. I am going to look up those birds and get a good look at them. You said Quail like? I am hoping to get a few Button Quail next summer.
I had a friend that had blue eggs from one of his chickens, can't remember the breed. They didn't look like that. They were pretty but much paler and smaller.
Well I have done enough research to satisfy myself. I have decided after talking with a number of person's who tried raising these birds that they are very difficult under the best of conditions, and our weather up here is not at all even close to the conditions they need to thrive. The investment is more than what I want to invest in a situation that I feel is not conducive to what the breed needs. The eggs are incredible, but having said that we just can't do it all! can we. Just seeing them was a warming experience so alas. NO, NO, NO Howie...Hay
Sounds like a wise decision. (But the eggs are really pretty...)
What does one do with them, Hay? The eggs are very pretty--but could you get enough for the eggs alone to make it worthwhile? Or do you sell breeders as well? And to whom? Is there enough interest?
I'm just wondering what the business plan would be, aside from a very expensive but interesting novelty.
Catscan I you research on line there are some sites that give prices on the eggs and demands for them. One site I researched stated the the eggs are vacumed out of the shell's and the shells sell for twelve bucks a shell. The shell after being vacumed out is sealed with poxy material. I have used very tiny drill bits like dentists use and you can hardly find the hole in the egg. I have already had a number of people email me saying they would like to buy eggs if I get the birds, their a novelty and because of their brilliant colors and gloss they are great conversation pieces. How long the interest would last is debateable. If we had weather that was more to their habitat I would go for it. The weather is just to damp here for to long a period and that gives me great concern. I don't want to raise any animal or bird that I worry about their comfort. Thats just to selfish to suit me. Thanks for asking Catsy, your so provocative, and I like it. Hay.
No Catsy!! NO NO NO
LOL
Looks like a fun project for you, Hay. How large are the eggs?
Don't worry, ZZ. I am not tempted. I like to cuddle my chickens and Tinamous seem a bit too undomesticated for such close contact. I feel the same way about quail--although I had a pet one as a child. It was the first thing I ever hatched.
But generally, anything that freaks and risks injuring itself when you clean its cage, is not for me.
I was just curious about keeping them as a money making project--it made me think of the great Ostrich Explosion of the Seventies. Then there's been the Black Copper Marans Boom, the Blue/Red Wyandotte Frenzy, the Serama Surge and all the other pullety fads....right now they are hardly selling on eBay....not that I am looking at eBay--no, not at all...and the two Giant Blue Cochin chicks that just hatched in my brooder--where on earth did they come from?
Oh! Look! Dahlianut has caught a Blue Norther and is floating over the Midwest....!
(No one looks if you shout "Unicorn" anymore.)
Cat there is a lady in N. MS and a guy in Louisiana getting 100+ for 8 Blk Copper Marans eggs on e-Bay. They start low but the price always goes to 100. It really amazes me what some people will pay for chicken eggs
This message was edited Jan 4, 2010 10:29 PM
BlCM are still pricey if you have good ones, DonnaB--but on eBay so many people jumped on the BlCM bandwagon that buyers are pickier about bloodlines and egg colour. Overall, they are going for less than last year.
There are some gamebird lines that seem to always go for a lot of money--but I think that is a very specialized market.
I tend to look for birds that are described as "friendly" or "gentle"---which doesn't explain my fascination with Shamo and Aseels.
Catsy your just cut from a different material. I also think the Asil's are a very interesting breed. Though I probably would never raise any.
DonnaB: Don't ever be surprised at what some will pay for certain chickens or eggs either for that matter. I'm one of those people so what can I say!!! if I want it I'll pay for it. Sometines my wife thinks I am crazy and so do I...LOL
