Birds for sale on the west side...?

[birdblastinboaz]

I know we just had a similar topic here but it seemed as though all the responses were for east of the Cascades. Does anyone have some birds for sale on the west side or know of any full grown birds for sale over here? Thanks. 

[Birdguy]

This topic is funny to me. I have raised gamebirds for 10+ years on the wet side and know several other folks who have as well. I know of at least four other licensed gamefarmers that let their licenses laps in December as we did. People are always looking for birds this time of year when the farmers only have their breeders as it is VERY expensive to feed birds through the winter. If you are remotely serious about getting birds for training on a regular basis please follow these tips and you will have birds most likely when you need them.
1) When you say you are coming to buy birds...show up and buy them
2) When you are given a price on the phone bank on that price when you show up
3) Let the farmer know what you want them for and what you expect from the birds you buy
4) Make a friend in your birds supplier, they are a LOT more work then most folks want to do
5) When you say you are coming to get birds...show up and buy them
 This list could go on for a while but these few will really help you have birds when you need them. I always had birds for my regular guys that let me know what they needed. If they wanted them this late I would have them but only what they asked for and often I asked for a feed deposit. There are some on craigslist but not many as mentioned earlier. Below is a guy from Puyallup, give him a call and see what he has left. He has been out of chukars for several weeks as they are cheaper but he still has pheasants. Good luck.

CALL 253-302-9937 OR VISIT WEB- PACIFICNORTHWESTGAMEBIRDS.COM

[Special T]

Funny you mention it Birdguy. I have noticed over that past few years also that people what training birds when they are the hardest to get. I do know that it is getting much harder to justify raising birds for sale. New regs, feed cost, TIME, they all add up and make it more of a hobby than a business. So if its a hobby why provide the service of the business if it don't pay?  The one thing i have realized is that just because you can get a smoking price on 250 day old quail doesn't translate to local 1-2 week old ones very well.

[Stilly bay]

I got tired of doing the bird dance long ago. I used to be regular at the auction down in centralia and oakville. I once paid $35 for one pigeon! just so I would have something to work with that weekend.

I saved myself a ton of trouble and money and built a pigeon loft for $200, got six homers that bred like rats ( if you don't shoot them ) and three remote bird launchers used for $500 - with the bird launchers I can make any pigeon rival a spooky ruffed grouse. big initial investment of around $800... but that was almost ten years ago and I haven't wanted for training birds since. the best part is if some one hits me up for training birds at this time of year I can bend them over the barrel to help pay for my pigeon feed, which costs me $14 dollars every two months.


pigeons might not be the real thing but with a remote bird launcher I can ensure my dog will never catch a wet or sluggish one ( which I have had happen far too often with sickly game birds) and if things do get fudged up pigeons aren't game birds so its harder to ruin your dog during a training session. the launchers  make solo training almost fun and relaxing

pigeons are a lot more user friendly, any idiot like me can raise them. IMHO it takes a real gifted artist to consistently raise game birds on the west side that are suitable for proper dog training.... and for the record: just because they are alive doesn't make them good for training.

[boneaddict]

Times are tough so people (possible clients) want to spend less.  In the meantime the guy raising the birds is paying 3x more in feed just last year.  Do the math and then you might wonder why you can't find birds.   That was a good post Birdguy.   

[wildweeds]

Yeah and pigeons are tough too,I had one of mine get hit by a hawk,his crop was visible and there was blood all over him,he lived through that.The best part is they breed so much that you'll end up with a bunch of shooters in not that much time if you feed em right and keep em in fresh clean water.

  I can make a pigeon just like a spooky shot at  before hun................. without a launcher..............A trick I learned from a fella affectionatley known 40+ years ago as the "pigeon magician".

I got tired of doing the bird dance long ago. I used to be regular at the auction down in centralia and oakville. I once paid $35 for one pigeon! just so I would have something to work with that weekend.

I saved myself a ton of trouble and money and built a pigeon loft for $200, got six homers that bred like rats ( if you don't shoot them ) and three remote bird launchers used for $500 - with the bird launchers I can make any pigeon rival a spooky ruffed grouse. big initial investment of around $800... but that was almost ten years ago and I haven't wanted for training birds since. the best part is if some one hits me up for training birds at this time of year I can bend them over the barrel to help pay for my pigeon feed, which costs me $14 dollars every two months.


pigeons might not be the real thing but with a remote bird launcher I can ensure my dog will never catch a wet or sluggish one ( which I have had happen far too often with sickly game birds) and if things do get fudged up pigeons aren't game birds so its harder to ruin your dog during a training session. the launchers  make solo training almost fun and relaxing

pigeons are a lot more user friendly, any idiot like me can raise them. IMHO it takes a real gifted artist to consistently raise game birds on the west side that are suitable for proper dog training.... and for the record: just because they are alive doesn't make them good for training.

[Stilly bay]

  I can make a pigeon just like a spooky shot at  before hun................. without a launcher..............A trick I learned from a fella affectionatley known 40+ years ago as the "pigeon magician".

[/quote]
and that trick is?

its amazing what those pigeons will live through, I have one that I have sowed up more times than I care to remember and it keeps ticking... now quail on the other hand just find ways to die.

[birdblastinboaz]

Thanks for the link Birdguy and the tips on keeping the game farms happy. Sounds like you have had some problems with clients in the past. I can understand why you stopped farming birds, it would appear there's not a lot of money in it and it requires a lot of time. Appreciate the responses this is all very helpful for a new comer to this area. Thanks. 

[Birdguy]

You are welcome. If you think about it give us a report on the guy if you buy those birds. Like I said I have been at it for years and have more calls now that I have stopped then it did when I was actually selling them  . I have had some great folks,and some other folks over the years. I hope it helps. I plan to get back into it someday as I have everything to do it but the licenses (and time right now). It is pretty tough when you have many people call you and say..."I will be there ______", so you are home waiting on a call or for someone to show up and they never do. They then call you a few months later and want to set it up again. I know life gets in the way and things happen but for most guys "training" is a time killer not a real focus, so when "Joe" stops by for  beverage and you kill the afternoon doing that instead of training the only person inconvenienced is the guy waiting for you to show up. You really have no idea how right you are about the time... literally houndreds of hours a year and I have never even broke even on the food/power bill, let alone my time, the materials, etc.

The other guys are really onto something if you can set up a pigeon loft. You will feed the hawks but they are cheaper, easier,  other than cleaning the loft there really is not much work involved, and there is no license required to do it legally. We still have the pigeon loft, but lately the hawks are way better at what they do. We will have them out this spring/summer though.

[huntingfool7]

Hey Wildweeds...What's the trick?   
"I can make a pigeon just like a spooky shot at  before hun................. without a launcher.............."

[whitey]

#1 an #5 are the same, are they not?
 
Just saying.

[Stilly bay]

#1 an #5 are the same, are they not?
 
Just saying.

he was over emphasizing his point via redundancy and humor. SAVY?

[Birdguy]

#1 an #5 are the same, are they not?
 
Just saying.

he was over emphasizing his point via redundancy and humor. SAVY?

Stilly you are absolutely correct, Thanks 

Whitey, we as sportsmen figure ourselves a pretty good, honest, reliable group I truly believe, but if I had a dollar for every guy that called me and said they would be out on _____day to get birds and then not show up I could buy a months feed anyway. I understand things come up but it is a regular occurrence and when I change my plans based on someone else saying they will be there it really does not take long for it to become a real issue. That is why I mentioned it twice, if you want a reliable source of birds let the guy raising them know he can count on you...
just saying. 

[Rik]

Gryphon Ranch in Rochester has Tibetan Quail for dog training for $5.00 each pick up at the ranch.
http://www.gryphonranch.com.


I've used about 40 of them so far, they're good fliers as long as you can keep them dry.


Carlson Canine Country club in Fall City sells pigeons and sometimes has excess chukar and Pheasant for sale.

The Acme Hunt Club in Acme sometimes has birds for sale as well..