Study Beitzah folio 10B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אבל ביום טוב אסור, דזימנין דמשתכחי שמנים כחושים וכחושים שמנים, וקמטלטל מידי דלא חזי ליה. אי נמי זימנין דמשתכחי כלהו כחושים ושביק להו, ואתי לאמנועי משמחת יום טוב.
However, on the Festival it is prohibited, as sometimes those that seemed to him to be fat ones will be found to be thin, and thin ones will be found to be fat, and he will move an object that is not suitable for him, thereby transgressing the prohibition against moving muktze objects. Alternatively, sometimes they will all be found to be thin, and he will leave them all, and he will come to neglect the rejoicing of the Festival. If, however, one announces the day before: I will take this one and that one, he will indeed take only those fledglings, thereby enhancing his Festival joy.
מתני׳ זמן שחורים ומצא לבנים, לבנים ומצא שחורים, שנים ומצא שלשה — אסורים. שלשה ומצא שנים — מותרים.
Mishnah: If, on the eve of a Festival, one designated black fledglings to be slaughtered, and on the following day found white ones in the dovecote, rather than the birds he had designated, or if one designated white ones to be slaughtered and found black ones, or if one designated two fledglings to be slaughtered and found 3, they are prohibited, as these are not the same fledglings he had designated earlier. If, however, one designated 3 to be slaughtered and found only two, they are permitted, as it is presumed that one of the fledglings escaped.
בתוך הקן ומצא לפני הקן — אסורין, ואם אין שם אלא הם — הרי אלו מותרים.
If one designated them inside the nest and the next day he cannot find them there, and he found fledglings before the nest, they are prohibited, as they might be fledglings other than the ones he designated and left inside the nest. But if there are only those fledglings in the immediate vicinity, they are permitted, as it can be assumed that these are the ones he designated inside the nest.