Visited a "barn auction" today for the first time... wow.

[silkiechicken]

If this is your first time, I too would avoid the auction for your first birds. Go with someone local that you can SEE the parent stock to make sure they are healthy, or go with a hatchery for chicks. Nothing worse than starting off with a bunch of auction birds that end up sick, all roosters, being spent hens, or carrying a disease you'll never be able to get out of your soil.

 

[Opa]

Funniest thing I ever saw at a auction was woman wanting to buy a horse and she kept raising her bid when a man on the other side of the crowd bid. The only problem was that she didn't know that the man bidding was her husband trying to buy the horse for her.

[/img] seriously, unless you are very knowledgeable and can examine the bird or animal before the sale, you should avoid livestock auctions.

 

[Katy]

I grew up going to all kinds of auction with my dad. I still enjoy going to them and for several years I clerked for a neighbor who was an auctioneer.

I kind of take offense at the thinking you can't get healthy birds at an auction. I sell my extra birds at our local poultry auction and I'd never take birds that I didn't think were ok to sell. The only reason mine are there is because I don't need a bizillion roos!! Yes, I know there are those who take unhealthy birds, but not all of us do. You just need to check out what you're buying.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I agree, as far as my birds are concerned. But the auction in my area is pretty questionable. There are some that look real healthy, and then there are some that look like it's amazing they made the trip. I have gotten good and bad birds from my auction. It is just hit and miss. That's why I go early, to look at the birds for sale, instead of just seeing them when they are up.

 

[panner123]

Quote:
I agree whole heartly with Lisa. Your first chckens should not come from an auction. A few people pass off thier old and sick birds there. you need to be able to spot them fast. Most people are not that way. At one local auction I watched a person buy a cage full of sick birds. By the time she had paid for them four were dead and the other three were close to death. Some of us tried to tell her not to bid on that lot. Once you learn to spot a sick bird, then go to an auction.

 

[horsejody]

I don't buy birds at auctions, but I buy just about everything else that way. I love auctions. DH hates them, but I can't stay away. I have bought horses that way, tack, farm equipment, poultry supplies and all sorts of assorted junk. Crazyhen, if you lived close by, I would take you to the sales and act as an interpreter. DH hates going because of the stuff I find that I can't live without. He has even tried taking the pickup somewhere and making me go alone with just the car to haul stuff. The last time he tried that was at a horse sale. I ended up calling him a 11PM and saying, "Bring the trailer. We bought something." Now I rarely get to go alone. He insists on being there.

 

[patandchickens]

A thing to remember about buying livestock at auction is that even if the animal you get CAME to the auction healthy, it has had hours or all day to exchange germs with all of the non healthy animals there. Airborne from sneezes, and from objects and hands of people that have touched one then the other... the way the bird looks on auction day is no particular warrant it'll stay that way.

It's one thing to buy animals with generally-curable illnesses (horses, cows, whatnot)... but remember that for a number of chicken diseases, the bird can remain a carrier for life -- and it is not even easy to tell whether a particular disease is one of those or one that a bird *will* totally get over...

It's a real gamble. Don't do it unless you fully realize that.

JMHO,

Pat