Maine-ly Quail

11/02/2024

California (Valley)Quail. I probably have around 100 left.

10/25/2024

Got a good crop of Elegants coming along. This flock is around 7/8ths grown. I have three younger age groups up above.

10/22/2024

TODAY'S SHIPPING COST EXAMPLES

I HATE TO SCARE MY POTENTIAL BUSINESS AWAY BUT HERE'S WHAT I SPENT AT THE POST OFFICE TODAY. IT TOTALED $934.45.

1. A 4-section chick box from here to Alabama with 8 Gambel's hens and two males. 4 pounds, 2.80 ounces - $174.05!! They call the 4-section boxes, "oversize" so the cost is a lot more than it was a few years ago before they pulled that bu****it.

2. 2 male Mearns to Carrolton, Ohio. 1-section chick box, $54.20. Not that bad. More than last year though.

3. Another 4-section box to Montville, Ohio with 4 pairs of Mountain Quail, 6 pounds, 2.9 ounces, $116.75

4. 2 Horizon single boxes taped together to make one package with 6 Barbarys in it to Halifax, VA, 8 pounds, 9 ounces, $224.30

5. Two more Horizon singles taped together with six Barbarys were sent to the same address, weighing 8 pounds, 15.8 ounces and cost $211.40

6. once again, another 6 Barbarys in the same Horizons to the same address(he got 18 Barbarys total), 7 pounds, 10 ounces, $153.75 I have no idea why the price was cheaper on the last one. Same birds in the same boxes. I'm going to ask tomorrow. I think I got charged for insurance on the first two, but not the last.


This can kill my business. The only good thing for the buyer is that I sell for a lot cheaper than others. For instance, a couple of those websites want $80-$90 a pair for Valley, Gambel's, and Scaled, compared to my $50.

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10/21/2024

A flock of young Mearns on a beautiful fall day.

10/17/2024

At first I put these political posts on here by accident. I wasn’t paying attention and meant to put them on my homepage along with a ton of others. But then a few people commented, some actually sticking up for that imbecile. I just wanted to see who these followers are so I left them on.
One young little liberal sissy from an hour away from me started in being a keyboard warrior. One of those young, naive brainwashed college aged kids. This is one of those that normal folks make fun of every day. Pictures wearing a mask out in the fresh air. Typical scaredy cat wusscake. He’d never get away with talking to me like that to my face. Just a little smartass punk kid.
He said I’m going to poison my quail page by talking politics. About this quail page. I have only 2600 followers since 2016. Only a tiny fraction are serious quail breeders or hobbyists. At least 90% are just casuals who never owned a quail and never will.
There are some regulars from the start in 2016. A bunch of them have done business with me. A few more possibly will but there’s been a new crop of people every year, all fired up at first, liking and commenting on my posts but completely lose interest in quail within one season. They haven’t looked at this page for years.
There are a lot of what I call, ”gonna-dos”. For a year or two, gonna build some pens, gonna get some birds… Of course they never do. Just dreamers. Most of my business comes from other places, not here. I’m not worried about it.
As far as the politics go, watch Candace Owens, Meghan Kelly, Stephen Gardner, Barry Cunningham, Piers Morgan, and other podcasts. They have the true facts and tell it like it is. Trump is far from perfect but is the man for the job. Even Dr.Phil knows what’s going on. Kamala refused to go on his show. That’s the man who’d dissect her simple mind and expose her lies and her character to a lot of the non believers.
A big chunk of her others are only voting for her because they have severe Trump Derangement Syndrome and don’t want to hear the truth. I don’t know what’s the matter with the rest.
Feel free to unfollow my page. It’s fine with me. I sell out every season and as I said, very few come from here. This website gave me another boost.

My name is Scott O’Brien and I live in the Midcoast Maine town of Jefferson. My quail business is over twenty years and also have this new website designed to finally get with the program and catch up to modern times. I’ve been focusing on the three rarest and most expensive species over the pas...

10/16/2024

😲😫😫
WOW!! Postage went way up and I took a bad hit!

When I go to the Post Office to ship birds every fall, the Postage costs rise. This time it was a lot more than usual. here are some examples:
This doesn't include the boxes that I have to charge for. I sent two separate boxes to one person in Ohio. One was a single-section box with four Snowflakes. 2 lbs 4.4 oz. The Postage was $61.55. I think I charged him $50
He also got two 2-section boxes taped together to make one with some Mountains and Gambel's. 8 lbs 5.4 oz. $139! I charged way under that.
A single-section box with a pair of Snowflakes to Florida was $58.80. I guessed that one close enough and only lost $2.00.
Two pairs of Gambel's and an extra hen to Arizona in a 2-section box was 3 lbs 3.50 oz and cost $82.05!
San Bernardino, CA- Two 2-section boxes taped together to make one package, with Gambel's, Mountains, and Elegants was 5 lbs 12.10 oz and cost me $170.15!
The last one was a 2-section box to Texas, with two pairs of Snowflakes and weighed 2 lbs 10.80 oz. That cost $73.60 to send!
I hope some of these people will be good enough to send me the difference but you know how it is..., "That's what you quoted me and it's not my fault. Too bad. Tough s**t."
Anyway, here are some examples of the new prices, so when I give you a guesstimate, from now on I'm going to shoot high, and if I go too high, I'll send back the difference.
As they say, "Don't shoot the messenger." I'm not the one who makes these insane prices up. If I had my way, the cost would only be half of that.
Some people ran when I quoted them $5 for a small box with a pair in it and another $55 or $60 for the Postage. This will really discourage some folks! It hurts my business for sure.

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10/14/2024

All ready to start shipping here tomorrow and the next day but I can't get ahold of most of the people. Some don't take messages on here. A lot don't give a PH #. After only getting a portion of the deposit, I need to collect a balance for the shipping costs or the entire amount.
As it is now, it looks like I'll only be shipping three people's birds.🙄

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10/12/2024

Quail are flying off the shelf. I sell out every year. Some people want “deals”. This is a deal here. Look at the other websites out there.
Feed is expensive. Shavings cost money. Electricity bill is crazy through the spring and summer from all the incubators and brooders going. Shipping boxes cost money and Express Mail is through the roof.
No dickering! And again, I don’t want to sell all of my hens and be stuck with all males that I can barely give away.😫

10/08/2024

Time to start shipping next week!🥳

10/07/2024

It’s crazy how when I post videos explaining everything about the birds, then people ask me the exact things that I just explained. 😲🙄

10/07/2024

Elegant Quail are for serious quail breeders. I’ve seen so many guys fail miserably with them over the years.

10/07/2024

Anyone up for the challenge of Elegant Quail?

10/01/2024

It's great to get orders but everybody wants mostly my hens on everything. I have to charge more for them because it leaves me with a ton of extra males that I'll have a hard time moving. I'd probably dump em cheap on local dog trainers before they ate me outta house and home.

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09/27/2024

All new forests for some young flocks.😃🌲🌲🌲

09/25/2024

I don’t know if this is fake or not but I just got 2 PMs supposedly from Meta at Facebook saying that I might have my page taken off permanently because of a certain post. I have no idea which post or what I did wrong.
I sent them both replies with no response yet. Both had names of people but a blank profile picture. It said it’s the Facebook Marketing Team.
If this page disappears anytime soon, look me up on YouTube. I have a page there called, Mainely Quail- Exotic Quail. I haven’t done anything with it for a couple years but I’ll add some new stuff and pick up right where I left off here. I planned to get that one back going again in the near future anyway. I also have an Instagram page, mainelyquail Scott O’Brien and of course my website is maineexoticquail.com
I’m not sure if it’s a scam or not but in case my page disappears, you’ll know why.

My name is Scott O’Brien and I live in the Midcoast Maine town of Jefferson. My quail business is over twenty years and also have this new website designed to finally get with the program and catch up to modern times. I’ve been focusing on the three rarest and most expensive species over the pas...

09/24/2024

Sniffles is shedding her summer fur.😄 A lot of floof to blow around.🎉

09/23/2024

Some Snowflakes, Tennessee Reds, and Valleys about ready to go.

09/23/2024

Early fall already. It seems like it was just April and I was waiting for things to start laying. This is one of those seasons where things seemed to fly by extra fast. I’ll be shipping in a few weeks.

09/22/2024

I hate to say it and have mentioned not too long ago but am still getting requests every day for Mearns Quail and have to refuse everyone.
I wish I raised more but I moved too many eggs and then some of the hens quit laying a few weeks earlier than normal. I have some pairs spoken for and am keeping at least ten young pairs for next year, maybe more.
One thing that’s good for me is that so far I’m about a 60/40 ratio of males to hens. Last year and the year before I had about 100 extra males. I’m not positive yet because I still have a couple age groups that are too young to tell. I have noticed over the years that I get more hens hatch later in the season. Hopefully these will be mostly hens!
It’s a good idea to keep some young vigorous breeders, especially the males. I noticed that the young ones stay fertile right up to the very last egg sometimes. If I do have a few extra males, I might pair those with my 4-year old hens. The hens are pretty good layers except for the ones that quit early. They may go longer next year. I had three that lay right into the first week of this month.
I’ll have a good number of Mountain, Elegant, Harlequin, Valley, Gambel’s, Scaled, and five colors of Bobwhites. Also a good bunch of Barbary Partridge. In a month I’ll start shipping to wherever it’s not still too hot.
Eggs available in the spring and summer. Some species lay earlier than others and have a longer season. I still have people asking for eggs. The only thing that will go a bit longer are the Harlequins and they go in cycles. They’ll lay for two or three weeks, then stop for a week or two. I’ve got one person’s to send out and will hatch anything that they lay until they’re done.
By the way, I unplugged my cabinet incubator for the season the other night and put the remaining few eggs in one of my Hova-Bators.🎉 My electricity bill will drop a lot now. I always look forward to get it going in April by late August I look forward to pull the plug. I hatched one hell of a lot of birds this year!

09/22/2024