4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Scooby]

Ok, bit of a long story, so bear with me.

 

We were just wondering if anyone has been to one of these auction marts and felt a bit out of their league?

 

We spent our first ever Saturday morning at our local auction mart thinking we might pick up a couple of blue egg layers. However, we came back empty handed as apparently we don't know as much about chickens as we thought we did!

 

I think I expected the cages to be labelled better for people like us who aren't as clued up on sexing chickens.

 

Saw a few cages with Araucana's advertised as a 'trio' so we left them well alone as I'm pretty sure a trio means two hens and a cock (we can't keep a cock as we are in a residential area).

 

Then I got very excited as spotted two cream crested legbars and we hung about for a couple of hours so we could bid on them. However, after we'd been there for a bit I did notice that one of them appeared to have rather large spurs on the back of its legs so we asked a couple of people around for their opinion, some said definately two hens, others said the one with the 'spurs' was a cock

 

We didn't dare risk it so came home empty-handed. The two legbars looked very similar apart from this - how do you tell?

 

And what does it mean when they are advertised as a pair?

 

Very confused.

[Egg Lou]

Sorry can't help with sexing breeds but a pair is a cock and 1 hen.

[Katie]

A pair is 1 hen and 1 cock. I was after two Australorps and got excited when they were advertised as a pair! Automatically presuming they were a pair of hens.

Never been to a bird auction so I can't talk from experience! If its Araucana's you're after how about getting in touch with the club, they should have a website and can point you in the right direction to breeders near you

[Scooby]

If its Araucana's you're after how about getting in touch with the club, they should have a website and can point you in the right direction to breeders near you

 

Thanks, do I just google this as Araucana club or something then?

 

I had an idea that a pair would be a cock and hen. The legbars we looked at didn't say this either which made it more confusing.

[Karen Pimlott]

legbar males look different to the females, sometimes a female can have a small spur.

was the sale not catolouged?

 

 

male is silver coloured at the back, note also the difference in the tail too.

 

if you are uncertain please buy of a reputable breeder NOT from an auction.

 

karen

[Egluntyne]

Auctions are best avoided.

 

Unscrupulous dealers use them to offload sick or elderly birds to the unsuspecting or inexperienced hen keeper.

 

It is also a good way of offloading unwanted males.

 

It is not unusual to see roosters abandoned by the roadside when people have bought a pair or a trio too.

[Katie]

http://www.araucana.org.uk/

 

Just had a google, that site is the GB club. There should be someone on there you could e-mail i'm sure they'll be happy to help

[Scooby]

legbar males look different to the females, sometimes a female can have a small spur.

was the sale not catolouged?

 

male is silver coloured at the back, note also the difference in the tail too.

 

if you are uncertain please buy of a reputable breeder NOT from an auction.

 

karen

 

Most informative Karen, thank you.

 

There didn't appear to be a catalogue but, then again, we wouldn't have known at that point to look for one - we'll know better if we go again.

 

Unscrupulous dealers use them to offload sick or elderly birds to the unsuspecting or inexperienced hen keeper.

 

It is also a good way of offloading unwanted males.

 

 

It was most definately a learning curve for us, and we went knowing that there was no way we would risk buying anything we weren't sure about.

 

 

http://www.araucana.org.uk/

 

Just had a google, that site is the GB club. There should be someone on there you could e-mail i'm sure they'll be happy to help

 

Thanks, I'll have a look and see if I can contact someone.

[Karen Pimlott]

i know the secretary of the auracana club very well.

 

ky thurland shes from wales a lovely lady....

 

01352 720043 she'll help you out