AmberSky Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Off to melton mobry tommorro to the bird auction to replace my two deceased girls, and i wondered if anyone had any tips for buying girls at auction? Any tips would be good from checking health to how to bid lol not used to auctions and they seem intimidating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Melton Mowbray standard auctions arent great and the amount of sick birds can be surprising, watching single cockerels being sold to dodgy people is heartbreaking, some lots are not as described either, its not a terrible auction but not somewhere for a novice to purchase birds My suggestion would be to either go to the Salisbury monthly auction or maybe wait until the Melton graded 'show' auction at the end of March where there will be some cracking birds up for grabs, there are two of these a year and they are ligt years better than the standard auctions In general look for bright birds that are loking around with interest, look for clean birds with clean legs and feet (surface dirt is ok but really ingrained begs the question where they came from) no wet vents or runny noses. notes on cages can have useful info, eg: free range flock, wormed etc.. take them in context wth the bird to evaluate their truthfulness Carefully check pens with eggs in 'that the hen laid on the day' coloured eggs can be used to fool you in to thinking a brown egg layer is anything but. Also cockerels masquerading as hens is common so look carefully, sometimes a young cockerel is put in with an older hen in a pen marked as two females Auctions can be a great place to bag a bargain but you have to be super careful Whatever you buy keep it completely separate from your hens for at least a week and attend to the new hens after all of your own to prevent moving an illness back to your normal birds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky1 Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Tasha - what an informative post. Really useful stuff thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Be very very careful at an auction ! I know it's tempting to come home with chooks, but if you can..please just go to view & not buy! Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmab Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I quite fancy going and having a look at an auction (not particularly for buying-more because I'm nosey!) Has anyone ever been to penkridge market near stafford? I think they have poultry auctions every wednesday. Or do you know of any others near me-I'm in the west midlands x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 If you are tempted, it is sensible practice to have separate accommodation for any newcomers to quarantine them for a week or so. It would be such a shame if illness was introduced to your healthy flock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I quite fancy going and having a look at an auction (not particularly for buying-more because I'm nosey!) Has anyone ever been to penkridge market near stafford? I think they have poultry auctions every wednesday. Or do you know of any others near me-I'm in the west midlands x the only other one I know to is Henley in Arden I've not been to either but i do know some one that brought hybrids from Henly they looked ok and were laying ok to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmberSky Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 I agree very good post Tasha, but on the off chance i called in at a local farm to see what they had (last year they only had goldlines) and was delighted to see some good breeds so i bought another cream legbar (lagoon) and a Bluebelle (chalky) hens from her, i cant find much info on the Bluebelle and i'm sure she had another name for it as well, has anyone any ideas or links on info? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Excellent, well done! A Bluebelle is a Maran based hybrid will lay plenty of eggs, some Bluebelles lay a darker egg than normal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmberSky Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Got it its Blue Ranger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
