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Here it is,the last week of February,2019,and this asshole's still on Facebook runnin' his gums about me.
I first met him on Facebook. I guess it was 2016.He saw my page,Maine-ly Quail and messaged me,He seemed like a pretty good guy at first,not too swift but was okay. He asked me a lot of questions on everything around here with the three main varieties of birds that I keep. We shot the shit about other things too,like boxing. We're both fans of the sport.I actually liked talking to the guy for a while. He was mainly interested in Elegant ( Benson ) Quail and wanted to get a pair from me in the fall. We chatted a bit a few times a week with him asking me a variety of things about the breed,and like I do,told him everything I know. Close to 20 years of knowledge and tips in one summer I gave him,with all of my recommendations of the pen size and design, and basically everything from egg to adult bird. At the time he was 62,a retired toilet scrubber. I normally wouldn't say anything like that but this guy is a total piece of ignorant shit so I don't care now. He lives in a small house in the suburbs of California and up until then had never had a quail before. We talked about different things and people in the hobby / business and I informed him of the Three Golden Boys,Ohio Joe,Keith Zastrow,and Derek Wagner.I warned him of what lying con men and shitbags they are and some of the shit they pulled on me and other people that I know.Some being customers and some were others in the business.He didn't say a whole hell of a lot other than he likes to remain neutral and not say anything about anybody,or get involved. That was fine with me. He took all my information in. I told him that ol' Krazy Keith only had birds for two years at the time,failed miserably in his first season,and then in year #2 had a brand new fancy Facebook page,"Keith's Quail". "Professional Advice From A Licensed Breeder,College Degree,Desert Storm Vet.". He was amused by it but didn't say a whole lot. Well later that year I went on one of the Facebook dummy sites. Idiot conventions for newbies and dummies who don't know shit about quail and never will,and the predators who take advantage of them. Guess who I saw on there right in the mix ? Yup.Earl. It actually kinda surprised me after I gave him solid advice to see him on those asshole outfits sucking right up to everybody.He was asking the same exact questions that he asked me all season long,but was talking to the idiots and newbies like Keith. I'll admit it was kind of an insult to me. I still talked to him though and didn't say anything about it. So all of a sudden he put $30 in my PayPal account. I don't like to take partial deposits. I prefer payment in full right near the time when the birds are old enough to ship and the temperature to where I'm sending is cool enough. So okay. No big deal about that - until later on. So back then I was still looking at those beginner sites fairly regularly and he sure fit right in the mix well. He was on every one just as though he was a real player in the game. He didn't even own a pair of birds yet. It was kind of disgusting.I can't quite remember the time frame but he ended up buying a pair of Bensons from that con man,Sal Alvarez. He set them up in his new pen and after a bit they started laying,and man he was some proud !. He thought he was really something because his were laying and mine weren't. He posted on the groups every single time and day his hen laid. First I remember a post of him saying." I absolutely refuse to sell any." But not long after he was all of a sudden a marketing genius,describing his formula to make a profit. on selling eggs. He went on to say something like The birds cost him $150.He wanted $30 per egg,so 5 eggs would pay for his birds,so many would pay for his feed and shavings,then there was clear profit....... Sow now he's a master breeder and a business owner. I heard through the grapevine that he disagreed with my low prices ! Anyway,of course his started earlier than mine. He lives in sunny,hot,dry California,pretty much the same climate they're native to.I got reports that his eggs were nearly all duds. Mine take off here in Maine late June,early July and are always all fertile.And they did. And I hatched them all. The guy has absolutely nothing to do with his time but look at his banana tree and the beginner sites on Facebook. If you ever have talked to him do you notice it's always,"Here in California this,and Here in California that...". It gets old. Keith Zastrow and Sal Alvarez are his heroes. He now,I hear has got a pair of Mountain Quail,a pair of Mearns,and a rare pair of Banded Quail he got conned into buying from Sal for $1200 being fooled into believing that they're a young breeder pair. These are the same birds that Sal had for maybe 6 years.He used to tell me that he couldn't sex them,and they never laid an egg. Sal offered them to a friend of mine for $200 a pair a few years ago.Probably 2 males or 2 dud hens. Should have listened to me huh Jeff ? Then his old veteran breeder hero of 4 seasons just bought the other 2,a whole year after Earl bought his and never got an egg. Real bright huh Keithmeister ? Got a royal screwing and is now mad because I wrote a post about it with the birds being so old that the feathers on their rumps are white. But Keith will whine and cry to no end when he thinks he got a bad deal and call the seller every name in the book - BUT - it's okay for him to put therm on Facebook and try to dump them on some sucker for $1600 ! No bites of course. Back on the subject of Earl now. The shit hit the fan between him and I a couple years ago now when he was on a site advertising a dozen Benson eggs for sale for $30 each. These eggs were from one pair of birds. A friend of mine from Kansas spotted it the same time as I did. He called him out on it. A Benson hen at peak season will lay 5 eggs a week tops. It would take at least 2 and a half weeks to save a dozen ! Take that plus 3 or 4 days in the Mail by Priority Mail,maybe 4 or 5 might still be good ! Earl didn't like to be called out from someone who knows something. It embarrassed him. He started to go back and forth with Jack a little being a bit of a wiseass. By that point I had enough of Earl so I didn't care and I went on and told Jack that the guy has 1 pair of birds and doesn't know shit. BAM ! Right then and there Earl blocks me and to this day badmouths me to anyone dumb enough to listen. I decided to write this post almost 2 years later because today,he just went on Facebook on a friend of mine,Shawn Cecero's post about buying a variety of really nice Mearns,Mountains,and Elegants from me.Earl started telling him and everybody else on there that I'm a no good prick and a thief for keeping his deposit. HEY JEFF - I TOLD YOU BEFORE.TO GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS AND I'LL SEND YOU YOUR BIG 30 BUCKS !!! EVEN YOU KNOW DAMN WELL I'M NO THIEF ! Then he goes on to tell everybody on that site that I need medication and I'm an angry madman who gets violent and makes fun and threatens of all of my customers ! Hey Jeff,I know you're a dullard with maybe an I.Q. of 15 but maybe if you look very closely at my posts then very slooooooooooowwly you'll comprehend that they're aimed at the Three Golden Boys,bird brokers,some other well known shysters and con men in the hobby / business,and an occasional other asshole or character like you who gets under my skin. A ton of people tell me they love and look forward to my posts. They're amusing and informative not only about the birds,but about the scumbags.I'm helping people with the birds and saving them a lot of grief and money at the same time. People thank me for it frequently. So see Jeff ? I've been in this for a good 20 years plus,have hundreds of customers,sold hundreds and hundreds of birds,and eggs,have repeat customers from way back.I still have people recommending me who bought birds from me during the old Game Bird Gazette days to others. Jeff,are you slooooooooooowwly beginning to understand ? Are you drooling down your chin trying to grasp the concept that I'm honest,take pride,unlike your buddies,Sal,Keith,and Derek,who've dicked around and fucked half of the people they've ever dealt with ? Right. I didn't think you'd get it Jeff. Then he makes a comment to Shawn to watch out because white feathers in a Mearns are a sign of inbreeding and to be cautious when buying from me ! What a fuckin dumbass .His buddies are the kings of breeding brother / sister birds together and selling a bunch of crippled birds with twisted legs,crooked toes,ruffled feathers,small size,won't lay,or will only lay soft shelled eggs. And Jeff - on your comments to Shawn,who did your typing ? I know that some of those big words are far too sophisticated for your limited vocabulary. You've typed back and forth to me in the past and don't even know the difference between there,their,and they're.Your spelling was like a 6 year old's. I'm addressing some of these points right to Earl but I know most of the other people on here reading this will understand what I mean about this drone and why I've had it with him. So if you see this loser on Facebook just laugh and don't waste your time with him. He's a joke. A WELL KNOWN CON MAN / BIRD JOCKEY BY MOST OF US OLD TIME BIRD BREEDERS lives a guy out in California. I'd love to reveal his name here but they'll have me in Facebook Jail again fast. I'm pretty damn sure plenty who read this will know who I'm talking about right away. After getting burned by him a few years ago myself,I finally had enough and washed my hands of him.I was talking about my experiences with him over the last few years before that with a good friend of mine from Louisiana who is quite the cage bird,dove,finch,waxbill,canary breeder and who also created a few of the first true color mutations of the Button Quail. He knows the joker all too well. He told me of another really top old time small cage bird breeder from California that I've heard plenty of good things about over the years.He told me that this man pretty much NEVER says a word about anybody ( complete opposite of me ) but told him a lot of years ago that if you hear the name,S.. A...... , - RUN ! I wished I'd known about that sooner ! As far as Facebook goes,he's trolling all over every single bird page there is from pro to Mickey Mouse,and in between,looking for more new victims to take advantage of. This is a guy who wants,wants,and wants everything but who has almost NEVER paid for a bird for himself,with his own money,for as long as he's been at it.Here's his usual method of operation - By trolling the sites on here or even looking through back copies of The Game Bird Gazette,and The APWS,he'll look to see who's got what he wants.He usually will call them or message them and ask them about their birds and then he'll ask the price.Real friendly to talk to.Loves to talk about the birds. It's all part of the act to set people up for his next move. While chatting with the potential victim,he feels them out and finds out what they like and want for birds,then makes his move ! If the person has something he wants he'll usually try some type of trade.In most instances it's,"Okay. You send me the birds or eggs,and "my friend" will send me some from Central America,I'll hatch them and send you the birds ". It's always,"my friend" will send this,and "my friend" will send that. "My friend",being whoever he's getting something from,wherever or whoever it may be. He has connections everywhere,especially in Mexico,Costa Rica,and even across the pond in Europe.What happens is the person will go for it and never get anything in return but promises,then lies. I fell for it. I was Mr. Nice Guy too many damn times for this clown until I finally wised up ! I've sent quite a few expensive eggs all over the map to all of his "friends",and never got one damn thing in return. His excuse was always that the eggs they sent him didn't hatch so he had nothing for me - "BUT IF-you send "my friend" from another country some eggs,he's gonna send me an even better deal and you're most certain to have some birds then !"
Like I said,after blowing hundreds of dollars worth of eggs that I could have sold or hatched myself,plus a shitpot of money on international Express Mail,that was it for me with that ! He always got a little something out of it though. That's how you see the really rare breeds that he posts pictures of. (always with the scientific name in parenthesis next to the name of the bird,with a long description quoted word for word from one of the books,or straight off of Google ) The people on the Mickey Mouse sites eat that shit right up and think he's a scientist and a quail god .I did have one last thing to do with him after that shit though. He called and came across a deal about some Bensons straight out of Mexico,smuggled across the border around maybe 5 or 6 years ago now. I wanted some and another guy I know from Ohio (no,not that prick 😉 ) wanted some too. We ended up paying a hell of a price too ! He called me one day frantically,like there was a gun to his head,begging me to send him $600 by overnight Express Mail ! He did the same with the guy in Ohio,who wasn't able to send it as quick as I did. He was right panic stricken that if he didn't have the money for the "mules" the next day,that they were going to kill him or something ! I shoulda not sent the money !😂But I did and got a couple nice pairs of Bensons. He gave me one of my original males back that I sent him along with them and acted as though he did me a huge favor,after I lost hundreds of dollars to him already.People like that soon forget. Then every so often I'd hear from him wanting this and wanting that... . I finally had enough and unfriended him on here,and never spoke with him again. Good riddance !!! So anyway,I see he's still at it of course.He stung "my friend"😂from Michigan . I love it. I saw on one of the sites a while back a long line of bullshit from him on "how after many years of working with this wonderful breed,I finally feel comfortable with letting go two pairs of young breeders"......,not quoted word for word,but something along that line.He had some pictures of some of the Banded Quail he smuggled in from Southern Mexico. These were the same four birds he's been telling me about for years that he swore were all males,but he couldn't sex them,and they never laid !😂These were either males,dud pairs,or hens that wouldn't lay ! I guess "Mr,Professional Advice" fell for that one hook,line,and sinker.How I found this out was that on my Facebook homepage,this dumb redneck hick from Tennessee that I know shared the guy's video of the pair of birds that I'm told he paid $1200 for !😂👍👍. He actually put them in one of his little 2' by 2' garage cubicles and didn't even clean the damn thing first. I could see Mearns feathers in the dirty shavings ! I looked at the video and sure enough - the same OLD birds. He actually thinks he got a fresh,young breeder pair ! Just one look and anybody that's had birds for some years would take a look at one of their rumps and see all of the white feathers = old bird. My oldest Mearns hen is six.Her rump is almost all white now. One of her daughters,a year younger,is getting a few white feathers there now. I've had Mountain Quail live 10 or 12 years and during the last few got some white feathers here and there. I looked in one of my books and also Googled Banded Quail and they must show young ones because there sure isn't any white on them !😂 So,the video said,"click for more". I did,thinking that I'd see a little more of the video of the birds.Instead I saw a little of his sickening,pathetic site ! I quickly looked at a couple of foolish things he had on there. One was that he listed the names (all three) of the people who bought his birds this fall.One was one of the other Golden Boys from Florida,and there were two others that I didn't recognize.Next to one of the names he highlighted in parenthesis,"(repeat customer !") ! Now,come on !!! That's pathetic !! This guy needs attention and praise so bad that he has to do that ? !!! WOW !! Imagine if on here that I listed the hundreds and hundreds of peoples' names that I've sold to throughout the years,and highlighted the repeat customers ? !!! Man I'd look some foolish !That's some sort of inferiority complex or something !! His home life must be so goddamn rotten that Facebook and that fraud page is his entire world. If he wasn't such a prick I'd feel sorry for the guy. Anyway,those two dubs deserve one another.Good team !😂 I've been doing this for a lot of years now and look forward to every April when the Mountain Quail start laying.I have quite a list of people who pay me in advance for their eggs throughout the winter.When the birds are just beginning to lay it's one here,two there for a week or so until they all get rolling.All of those I put in my own incubator and do a fertility check around the first 5 days or so. As long as everything looks good and they're all fertile,then I'll start to send orders out. They always have been for me. I keep a decent ratio of males to hens in the pens. So then,in the order in which people pay me,I go down the list and send them out. I've been packing my eggs over the last few seasons in mostly batches of 10. I bought some of the clear plastic quail egg cartons which hold 10 eggs.I pad the bottom of where each egg goes with tissues folded up and cut to fit snug,but not too snug.I place the 10 eggs in,and on top of that i'll fill in any gaps with cotton and / or tissue.I then fold up a whole tissue and place it over the top,close the lid,then tape it shut. After that,I wrap a piece of the "big" bubble wrap around the carton and tape it. I ship in the medium sized Priority Mail box. I put about 3" of either shredded paper or packing peanuts in the bottom.On top of that,a piece of newspaper,then right in the center of the box go the eggs. Then all around the eggs go more peanuts or shredded paper,On top of that,another piece of newspaper,then peanuts or shredded paper all the way to the top of the box. That keeps the eggs suspended right in the center of the box,not laying on the bottom,against a side,or up against the top. I have good results that way. I set a batch of eggs each week in my incubator and candle to make sure fertility is still good as I'm sending out peoples' orders. Here's where it gets difficult.... I have quite a few people who have good results with my eggs,but you wouldn't believe the adventures that I've gone through with some of them. I deal with a lot of idiots and nuts.There are one hell of a lot of them in this business or hobby ! Here's a good example. Last year a guy from Michigan called me in the spring He was interested in Mountain and Mearns eggs. I had a funny feeling,a strange intuition about this guy. He sounded plenty smart enough,but something wasn't right. He asked me a lot of questions about the birds because he never had these two types before.I'm always glad to help about anybody out when they buy from me.Anyway,he sent me the money for 10 Mountain and 10 Mearns eggs. When the Mountains were ready,I let him know,and sent them.He called when they arrived and questioned me some more about everything.A real intense,high strung guy. He told me about his super expensive deluxe model incubator,an XD 53 - 00A model,such and such and all of it's features with the automatic humidity,and the thermometer that reads accurate to the thousandth of a degree. He asked me again about my humidity readings. I told him that I don't know what they are.I explained my method that's been a proven winner for me for quite a while. I incubate mine in a GQF Sportsman cabinet incubator for the first 22 days. I have the moisture pan on the top full,but no extra wick pads. During the last 3 days I put them in GQF circulated air Hova Bators with very little moisture.I use a plastic yogurt container,cut down to about 2" high. I hog ring a piece of hardware cloth to the top so the chicks don't jump in and drown.It's only about 3.5 to 4 inches in diameter,which is plenty of surface area of evaporation for the right amount of humidity. I like close to a dry hatch for all of my quail. I don't fill the moisture rings on the bottom,and I have a glass,mercury stick thermometer at about 99 - 100 degrees. So he started to question me.He went on to say that the book says to have this much moisture,and a wet bulb reading of that much,and on the 22nd day,it has to be this much and so on...... I again told him what I do and that it works really well,but to do what he wanted to do.He started arguing with me about what the manual and the book said again. So,I thought that it was the end of that and I'd send his Mearns eggs in a couple of weeks. Boy,was I wrong !! About 4 or 5 days later he called me again. Really upset and kind of nervous acting. He said that he candled his eggs. Out of the 10 eggs,he saw veins in so many,I don't remember exactly,and described all of the eggs to me.He questioned me all over again. 5 days later,the same thing. He candled and about 6 were developing and 1 had a blood ring,and a couple had stopped developing.. He started to question me again and wanted to know how mine were doing. I told him around 100%.It really bothered him I could tell. Every 5 days or so until he stopped turning on the 22nd day I went through this. In the meantime I sent his Mearns eggs.He had to give me the progress report on those every 5 days too. This was driving me nuts but I tried to keep my composure. So on the 22nd day on the Mountains he was watching those eggs like a hawk. I don't think that he even slept all night for 3 nights. He had to call me and e mail me to tell me that he had 2 pip,then later another 2,then another 1.... He couldn't stand it.He didn't see them wiggle,and couldn't hear a peep,so he opened up the incubator and picked up the eggs,felt and listened,then called me of course..I told him that he shouldn't disturb them at that stage at all. He couldn't help himself. On the 25th day,hatch day,he was climbing the walls. He called me at least 3 times. They didn't hatch. By that night he couldn't take it anymore. He was so impatient,that he took surgical scissors and cut all around the air cells on the 5 or so that he didn't kill already. He helped them all out of the shell prematurely. Their yolk sacks hadn't fully absorbed into their bodies yet.They had rough navels.Premature birds. That means the temperature was too low. Probably the moisture too high too. He just couldn't leave them alone ! I had to hear all about that,and meanwhile,all about the Mearns every 5 days too still.Same thing when those were in lockdown.He ended up with about 2 out of 10,and of course everything was my fault. I thought that I was finally rid of him,but a week later I looked at my e mails. There was one from him, First sentence was,"Okay,level with me man,your birds are suffering from malnutrition and infertility issues." He went on to say that I don't know what I'm talking about and that I have zero people skills,and all kinds of foolish nonsense like that ! By then I was boiling !!!! I sent him an e mail right back and went right up one side of him and down the other. I told him what a psychotic nutjob that he is,how I knew that there was something wrong with him from the start,and that a grown man doesn't act like that unless there's something drastically wrong ! I went on for a while telling him everything that's wrong with him and everything he did wrong after I did nothing but help him from day one. Didn't faze him one bit. He sent me an e mail back,calling me every name in the book and that I owe him eggs,and all this and that..... He sent me e mails every day for weeks,calling me a dumb Irishman,a dumb fisherman from Maine,and begging me for eggs,pestering the living shit out of me !! I decided to use a little reverse psychology on the mental case. I sent him an e mail right back and said something like,"Okay,you got me." "Good one." "I'm bein' Punk'd here,right ? !" He came back,thinking that I was stupid to think such a thing,and said yes and that he was only kidding around !! I rolled with it. He said that he got rid of the fancy incubator and got a new one.He blamed it all on his incubator instead of me,all of a sudden.
Just to get this goddamn nut off of my case,I sent him another 10 eggs. To this day he acts like we're buddy-buddy.I hear from him once in a while,still asking me how to do this and do that... He had a little better hatch the second time with the Mearns. Now he's got his own site,offering professional advice from a licensed breeder !!!!!! He's advertising Mearns and Mountain eggs and started chicks. Big prices,twice the cost of mine !!! He has 2 pair of Mearns to supply all of these and 4 Mountains of which he sent me a video of the other day,asking me how to sex them. It was a bit difficult to see,but to me ,it looked like at least 3 males out of the 4. So folks,the moral of the story is,"Think twice before getting into the hatching egg business " I have many more stories for upcoming posts about the characters on my "bird-shit list" If you've read any of my previous posts,you know I've somewhat talked about this subject before.I want to do some people a favor again and tell them all about a new one to stay away from. Any experienced breeders see this right away but he sure fools a lot of novices. People have told me that Facebook is supposed to be a free site as far as illegal gambling,raffles...etc. ... Maybe they're wrong because there are quite a few out there now. They're run by hustlers. A nice picture or two,slick talk,and a line of bullshit. Looks tempting to some people. I never really paid close attention on exactly how they work but I guess they sell "spots" to people for a certain amount of money. The people send the money.It's gambling. All but one of them loses. It's like a lottery ticket.Say 50 people pay in.49 lose and 1 wins the prize. I know where some of these prizes came from. They came from right here,then to the winner,in a roundabout way. There's a fairly new hustler on the scene. Real slick gift of gab. This guy could sell an iceberg to an Eskimo. Operates out of a filthy little 12' by 14' shed in the city. Been shut down once before for what he says was running a business keeping livestock in a residential area. I've been told that it was for cruelty to animals. I know a guy that went there to pick some birds or eggs up and he said the conditions were deplorable. Birds all crammed into little wire cages hanging off the walls,shitting down onto ones right beneath them,with those shitting on birds running all over the floor. He sells a lot of Coturnix eggs on here.He always displays pictures of all of the Priority Mail boxes going out with,"Fragile,Hatching Eggs" written on them,trying to impress people,or more like fool them that he's legit. I'm sure he puts out decent eggs with those and most people get decent hatches,but face it,anybody can raise a Pharaoh Quail.They're a domesticated laying / meat bird and are pretty disease resistant. They're really hardy birds and can stand to be raised small cramped spaces and still produce where most birds couldn't. But he bullshits everybody about everything else. Last early spring when I really didn't know him too well,he wanted a small order of Mountain and Mearns eggs from me. It all came to somewhere between $250 to $300 with the Postage. Then he came along with an offer. He wanted 100 Mearns eggs for $1500,all Postage included. I kinda hemmed and hawed about it but then agreed,with a little persuasion from him.I said what the hell and went ahead.I kinda looked at it that it would be my last order of the season that I'd take,and then hatch the last hundred eggs for myself. Well being a terrible season it didn't work out that way. The birds started laying late,quit early,and everybody else who ordered eggs were constantly calling me asking me,"Where's my eggs ? ! " over and over. I had to bump one person in front of the other just to try to keep some happy,meanwhile making others mad. And again as I've mentioned,for that reason and others as far as some people bitching about not being able to hatch their eggs,I'm all done selling hatching eggs for good. Live adults only. Back to the topic....I couldn't fill his order. I sent out every egg that I could to people right up until they quit.This is the first year that I didn't hatch any Mearns for myself,and only hatched just over 20 Mountains. So I offered him a refund of the difference. He said that he'd like the birds in the fall instead. I agreed. I did the math and I owed him 9 pair of Mountain Quail with the shipping. He wanted a pair of Bensons which are $100 more.So we agreed on 8 pair of Mountains,a pair of Bensons,with him sending me the extra $100. It was time to ship and I still didn't have the $100 in my PayPal account.Got a couple of excuses but he said he was still going to send it that day. I sent the birds and of course never got the hundred bucks.In the back of my head I really knew I wasn't gonna see it. I don't look at his site much but when I have,I've seen he had Mearns eggs for sale.Like another shitbag that I've mentioned on numerous occasions,he took them,repacked them,then sent them to customers. That keeps them in the mail another 3 days anyway,after being handled again on top of that. He doesn't care when he's getting $60 an egg,plus the Postage after paying me $15,with Postage included. So I talked with a woman overseas who got some eggs from him and they had my hens' names on them.They were in the mail for a few days from here to him,then 16 days to England.Of course they were no good.I told her that they came from me. She was mad. Other people from here in the states have had that happen too. Someone I know sent him some Mearns. I think he had 3 pair. All but 1 are dead now. These can't be kept like a Pharaoh,especially under those filthy conditions. I hope he raffles these Mountains off quick. They won't last long there. Someone will get a royal screwing on the price but they've gotta be going to a better home than in that squalor. After all of this,even with not paying me the hundred bucks,he had the nerve to ask me for every egg that I get next year ! He told me that I'd never have to deal with anybody again and only sell to him. Well that'll be the day !. I'll NEVER sell to any broker again, They're nothing but parasites.Why should I do every bit of the work and have all of the expenses involved with it,for someone to make at least 3 times the profit for nothing more than a phone call,e mail,or a Facebook message ? ! That's insane. It should be a crime. A lot of people who read my posts are experienced breeders,some novices,and some in between. Spread the word about these crooks and tell them that there are still a handful of old time breeders who'll sell them things at fair prices.They'll give real advice too,not just guesses or bullshit made up off the top of their heads to make them look like they actually know something to impress a novice.Stay off of the raffle sites. These guys make a killing off of anything from incubators,to brooders,to wire quail jails... .
A year or so ago a friend of mine called to my attention the new website from a well known liar and con man out of Ohio. I looked at it. Even with me dealing with this scumbag over the last six years or so and knowing what kind of character he is, it's still mind blowing to see the lies he comes up with. So I checked out the pics. Pretty decent pictures but very few, only of a box of chicks, a couple of Mearns Quail,a Mountain Quail,and a pair of Elegants. That's it. Where's the farm ? Answer : There is no farm ! This is one of the big 3 ! The first of who are known as "The Three Golden Boys" to get into this business around six years ago. The "farm" is inside a garage in a suburban residential neighborhood where the birds are in small indoor cages that a carpenter built for him. The guy's prices are insane ! Mearns for $500 a pair compared to my $350, Mountains for $200 compared to my $125,and Elegants (Bensons) for $300 compared to my $200. No pictures or videos of any outdoor pens or any sign of an actual farm. No tour, not even a picture anywhere of himself, only a hand holding up a quail. People who don't do their research are easily fooled and get excited by a couple of cute pictures and a big line of bullshit. So after looking at his outrageous prices, I clicked on the "About" section. WOW !!!! This had to be the biggest crock of shit I've ever seen or heard ! It starts out by saying that he's been doing this for twenty years ! "Twenty years of experience raising a variety of game birds !" He's been at it for maybe six years as of now, as I'm writing this post in December of 2018. On to another HUGE lie : Says he "maintains a relationship with his customers, providing education ,product recommendations, and more !!! Happy to serve you and bring you the best quality service and support for your quail breeding needs." !!!!! This is the same guy who's told me probably ten times over the years in his squawky, screechy little voice, "Fuck telling people anything ! You're just creating competition ! I ain't helpin' anybody out with anything !Fuck them !" I wrote a post about him on here a little over two years ago and after a while deleted it because it caused a shitstorm between myself and a couple of loyal conned flunkies of his at the time. I believe he's ran out of supporters now and pretty much all of my friends and followers on here know who I'm talking about, but I thought it's a good time to revise and update this for the ones who still don't. I'll take it from the top. One spring, just over six years ago now, I got a call from a guy wanting Mearns Quail. Voice sounded like some kind of kids' cartoon character, real high pitched and screechy. Real annoying, especially when he started to call me around ten times a day for a few months or so. No I'm not exaggerating about that. He didn't know a thing about them at all, in fact, less than nothing. He had a few pairs of badly inbred ones that he bought from a well known bird broker, who was friends with an old timer, who died and left him all of his stock. He asked me a ton of questions which I answered, and really educated him on this breed. He was climbing the walls that mine were laying to beat hell, I was hatching nearly every one, plus selling some eggs at the time. I made some suggestions for him to change his pen design, and do certain things that he wasn't doing. Still no luck after a week or so. By the way, these were the first quail he's ever owned so never mind about the lie of twenty years with all kinds of game birds. So he bought a few pair from me and they still laid after they got settled in and he started buying eggs like crazy from me too. I think I sold him around three hundred Mearns eggs that summer.
I told him all about incubation, humidity, brooding, pretty much everything there is to know. This was around four years before I even had a computer, so I had no access to Facebook, Softbills, or Ebay. I sold everything by word of mouth from the old Game Bird Gazette days. I was selling the birds for $300 a pair,and the eggs for $10 each. Anyway it got to the point where he was driving me nuts, calling me every hour or two, asking how many eggs I'll have for him, or how many eggs I got today, along with picking my brain some more. I was patient where he was buying steady. I told him I'm a lobster fisherman, have a ton of work to do, and get up at 4:00 in the morning. Didn't matter. He's call me at midnight asking, "How many eggs ?" I often asked him of what the hell he's going to do with all of these birds. Every time he changed the subject. I smelled a rat. Turned out I was right. Then one day the shit hit the fan. A woman that I sold some eggs to called me and asked me why his hens' names are on my eggs that I sent her. I said, "So that's what he's doing ?" " I KNEW it !". I always write the name of the hen on the egg like some write the cage number. Mine are like pets to me. I explained to her that those are MY eggs and that I sent them to him,he re packed them,and sent them to her,keeping them in the mail for an extra three days ! Little sneaky weasel ! He was brokering my eggs, buying them from me for $10 a piece,reselling them on ebay for one hell of a profit ! All the guy had to do was ask me if I wanted to do that and I'd send them directly to the customer so they'd still be good. I wouldn't go for it knowing that he'd be skimming a good profit for all of my work. The point is that it's a weasel thing to do to somebody and at the same time,telling me that he was hatching every single one of them. The next time he called I confronted him about it. He threw a hissy fit just about crying, telling me that it's none of my business of what he does with the eggs. I told him he's right but it's a weasel move. He said,"Whatever". The phone rang off the hook for around two weeks til he finally got the hint and gave up. I washed my hands of him. Since then he's been lying about me to anyone who'll listen. He tells people that my low prices reflect the inferior quality of my birds, and all of my stock is no good ! All of this bullshit from a guy who hasn't ever kept one note in all of the years he's had these and has been inbreeding the offspring to each other every season since. I've got several reports from people telling of his inferior quality and of all the defects in the birds because of it. He's pulled a lot of shit on me ever since,coming on here under fake profiles,lying about me,and creating an alias by the name of Ivan Gelo, for almost two years,asking everything there is to know about raising Elegant Quail. The reason for that is because he knows I'll help about anybody but not him. Nobody else will either. All of us old time breeders hate the slimeball and there's really not too much information out there on raising them. Every time he emailed me as "Ivan", he always tried to stir the pot between myself and the second "Golden Boy" from Michigan.I eventually caught on it was him, wrote a post about it and never heard from this "Ivan Gelo" since ! |
AuthorI'm Scott O'Brien, proprietor of Mainely Quail. I've been raising quail for 20+ years and have lots of stories. I tell it like it is, and don't hold back. Archives
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