auctions

[duncan]

Has anyone had any experiences of getting birds from Salisbury auction??

[Annie]

I am too far away to have been to that auction but their is one not far from us that my friend used to buy her hens from.
As a rule I believe that birds are ususally sold in trios - that is 2 hens and 1 cockerel , the poor cockerels on their own go for buttons.
You need to be mindful of the age of the birds you want to buy, if they are young and not laying then they can be aged easily enough but once they have started laying it is pretty difficult to age a hen so you have to go on trust as to the sellers word.
No doubt there will be a good selection of breeds to choose from , more than your normal poultry breeder as they normally stick to certain breeds.
Is it a monthy auction, if so why not go along for a browse and see which breeds take your fancy. Then you can research a bit at home before making your mind up if you should buy from auction next time ?

[Mo]

I'm also too far away. I friend used to sell Call Ducks at Chelford market and the regulars liked to buy his birds. If you just go once you may not know who the reliable breeders are, and who is just passing off their culls. So it's 'buyer beware'.
But you can also have problems with any breeder, as Lisa has found. (But some chance to see if their place is unacceptable)

[HazellB]

York auction is my regular haunt, not been to any others for hens.

As above, try to find out who sells what and how well they sell them. Just chatting to anyone and everyone around pays dividends at auctions, it's how I started and now I have a large circle of friends who I can call on for almost any problem/requirement/advice you could think of! Auctions are better than pubs for meeting handy people to know

[duncan]

The guy I get them birds from is going there soon, ive had a conversation with him on what im looking for and how much I want to spend, he said it was upto me but he does suggest for him to keep and quarantine for 7 days, he will worm deredmite and give poultry tonic.

[Annie]

Must say Duncan, your poultry man sounds a lot more helpful than some , thats a great thing he is offering to do for you, I am guessing he has a seperate shed he can quarantine them off in as he wouldn't want to risk and cross infection with his own birds, should there be anything amiss with the ones sold at auction.
I would do a bit of research before hand to see which breeds really take your fancy and fit the bill for your hen house. Some are beautiful but have special requirements ( because of heavily feathered legs or curled feathers etc) so dont fit in everywhere . If eggs are quite important too some breeds are pretty but poor layers or like my silkies , pretty and good layers but very broody throughout the warmer months.
Good luck whatever you decide, keep us posted .