I was just wondering if anyone knew of a poultry auction here in Colorado? Or anywhere in general... I have two reasons for asking this question:

1. Where and when are there these auctions? 2. How well do they end up going? Has anyone ever gotten ripped off or scammed? Or have you had nothing but good experiences?

Thanks in advance!! I've been thinking about it and I'm starting to think that a auction might be a good option for actually getting the laying chickens, but I'll probobly get my cornish x's from Mcmurray... Oh well, that's another subject :) Anyway... What do you guys think?

-- Aubrey (AubreyLovesHorses@TheMail.com), April 16, 2002

Answers

Aubrey, I live in Maryland. I have three livestock auctions within 30 minutes, ( and I think a fourth may have re-opened recently). One of them has a seperate poultry auction one night a week.

I have both bought and sold there. I love to hatch little chicks, and I put nearly all my eggs in three large cabinet incubators I have. The foxes love me. . . . . all their families love me. . . . and even their distant cousins love me and come for visits! I think they may even have sent a telegram to a coyote friend about my smorgasboard, for the "fox" I saw the other morning was a golden color and something wasn't quite "right" about that fox. My chickens range free.

Anyway, there are always too many roosters, and I usually take them to auction. I hate going there for my truck has trouble leaving, I stay for the sale, and I always ending up buying. A turkey, pheasant, or a cute little banty hen, guineas, or maybe a muscovy duck, my softest spot. I love those ugly ducks!

I have noticed prices seemed to have jumped a lot for poultry in the past three years or so. I got as much as $9.00 for one of my roosters last year, and the cheapest was $5.75.

I've never had a problem. . . buying or selling the live birds. Like anything else, look at the merchandise. I DID get taken to the cleaners the year before last. I bought two dozen "fertile" wild turkey eggs, ( paid a dear price too), and some "fertile" pheasant eggs. Not a single turkey pipped. Ouch! I think I had a total of three pheasants, so I learned that lesson.

Go to Switchboard.com. Under business category enter, "livestock sales" or "livestock auctions", and you can check with them to see if they have poultry sales. You can also check on "poultry sales or auctions" and see if they come up, using the state of Colorado as your search area.

I would think any rural area would have both livestock and poultry sales. The sales here have lots of birds, ducks, geese, guineas. They have the game birds and they even sell the birds people raise indoors - canary - cockatoo - everything.

If you have one close enough to make the trip - - you will likely enjoy the new experience. Try it!

-- Judy (JMcFerrin@aol.com), April 16, 2002.

Check with your local feed stores. They should know if there are any poultry swaps/auctions in your area.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), April 16, 2002.

What area of Colorado are you in? There is one in Elbert Colorado that a friend of mine goes to. She buys alot of poultry there and I think has been happy thus far. They also sell various livestock.

-- ellie (elnorams@aol.com), April 16, 2002.

The problem with poultry auctions is that you have a lot of birds from different coops all in one place. If some of them are carriers of a disease then you run the risk of buying a bird that will become sick after you get it home.

I bought a hen and 6 chicks at an auction last year and within days they all had a horrible respiratory ailment. We struggled to save them for weeks and even resorted to antibiotics, but when they did not improve we finally put them down. After they became sick, I spent a lot of time researching poultry diseases and reading poultry boards. Reading the poultry boards I found out that our experience was not uncommon and that "many" people bought birds that were sick. Some of these folks didn't quaranteen the new birds so that their existing flock also got sick.

Ripped off? Well, we had the chicks long enough to see that all 6 were male and none resembled the hen or each other at all. My guess is that the seller knew how to sex chicks and matched up various unwanted male chicks with a broody hen that didn't lay well.

I personally think you would be safer either buying poultry from someone's home where you can visit the coops, see what conditions they live in and see the rest of the birds or buy chicks from a reputable hatchery. Some hatcheries also sell started pullets, but usually by reservation.

We sterilized all of the chicken equipment and let it sit out in the sun for days. Then we waited over a month before we ordered day old chicks from a hatchery. They arrived in good health and with the exact number of males & females I had ordered. They started laying at 6 months and have been laying almost an egg a day ever since.

-- Dash (forthechix@yahoo.com), April 16, 2002.

Great! Thanks all... Also to ellie, I live in Arvada which is near Denver. I hope that I can go and get some birds... Well, thanks all!

-- Aubrey (AubreyLovesHorses@TheMail.com), April 17, 2002.