North Dakota

[twisted-acres-farm]

I have some older one's if it would help 2 or 3 or 4 years I honestly can't remember with out some research.

 

[Tuhmu]

What was everyone's thoughts on the sale at New Salem yesterday??? I hadn't been to one in probably 10+ years - curious to think what other's thought of prices. Did you bring anything to the sale; and did you bring anything home!!?

I thought it went extremely slow. We stayed until they finished the baby chicks, went to Bismarck and had lunch, came back for a minute around 2:30 I think and they were still on the hoofstock.

How long did the whole thing last?

As far as prices go, while I didn't see any of the adult poultry, I thought everything else was going for quite a bit less than what I've normally seen at the spring sale. I wonder if there being the same type sale in both Rugby and New Salem on the same day had an effect on that. Because normally there's people that come from miles to this, I think the normal crowd go split up.

There was also considerably less poultry there, normally they have both sides of that barn full.

If I would have been more prepared (actually had a trailer with and was looking to buy something) I would have picked up two of those highlander heifers that went for $500ish. Grass or not, I could have found a place for them for awhile.

 

[maverick7wi]

Thank you for the response. What would you be asking for cost? I live near Grand Forks, and don't mind the drive as I haven't been to that area of ND. I'm still active duty military, so I'd have to wait until a Saturday that works for you. If there are other types of hens you might want to sell, could possibly be interested if you don't want to sell a bunch of the Brahmas. I really appreciate the offer as my daughter was quite upset about losing "Feather Foot". I know predators are part of the deal, but the only other issue I had was a hawk got a couple Cornish X's a couple years ago. This is my third year having chickens, so I guess I've been fortunate. But it's a learning experience.

 

[EMorical]

What did prices go for chicken wise?

I guess - in my personal opinion - they went HIGH. Guieneas were going well over 25$ per bird (I think maybe only one cage went under that price)... Roosters were not a hot item, $1-4 per bird altho a cage of two Buff Orphington Roos went for $14 per bird...hens were high. $20 for Americana hen; $15 for another; trios of Banties went from anywheres of $12.50 or so all the way up to $27.50 for a d'ullce (or however it's spelled) hen trio and rooster. Do they make a Lavender Orphington Bantie??? Of course the Silkies were popular. I had some of my older birds I had brought, and I was AMAZED at how well they did. I bid on a few cages of Legbar/Creambar/Rhodebar pullets...I didn't NEED 10 of them so I didn't bid very aggressively. Just need a few olive eggers for my coop. The bunnies....holy smokes. $$$. $40 - $100. Not a bun-bun person so I'm not sure what they wanted them for but apparently I will be no longer running cow-calf pairs and starting a Rabbitry haha

I thought it went extremely slow. We stayed until they finished the baby chicks, went to Bismarck and had lunch, came back for a minute around 2:30 I think and they were still on the hoofstock.

How long did the whole thing last?

As far as prices go, while I didn't see any of the adult poultry, I thought everything else was going for quite a bit less than what I've normally seen at the spring sale. I wonder if there being the same type sale in both Rugby and New Salem on the same day had an effect on that. Because normally there's people that come from miles to this, I think the normal crowd go split up.

There was also considerably less poultry there, normally they have both sides of that barn full.

If I would have been more prepared (actually had a trailer with and was looking to buy something) I would have picked up two of those highlander heifers that went for $500ish. Grass or not, I could have found a place for them for awhile.

The only thing I did not watch, was the baby chicks/ducks/etc...can you tell me how those went?? I am powerless against those so I removed myself from the area haha.

Ditto on the slow...didn't start poultry until after 3:00? or there abouts? Not familiar with sheep/goats/llamas/etc but I was absolutely SHOCKED at how low the ponies were going. Starting them at $2.00!?!?! I think a few went for $20 to $40...I mean, that barely covers the cost of the halter

I thought there was less birds! I was disappointed in the variety. Only a few ducks, no geese (or one set? Of ornamental), and just lots of chickens. Didn't think I noticed a Brahma rooster....??? Did you end up bringing one up?

I had been sent with NO checkbook, and NO trailer...for a reason. I was super disappointed b/c there was a sow that went for $40 and that would have set us up for all our grinding pork for the year for venison etc etc....and the weaner piglets went for $30 a pig. Dang. Don't even get me started on those Highlands. And for that angus calf to go for $575 right after those....yikes.

Already looking forward to fall!!!! Will be going with trailer this time. Regardless of what Husband says

 

[I Love Layers]

I guess - in my personal opinion - they went HIGH. Guieneas were going well over 25$ per bird (I think maybe only one cage went under that price)... Roosters were not a hot item, $1-4 per bird altho a cage of two Buff Orphington Roos went for $14 per bird...hens were high. $20 for Americana hen; $15 for another; trios of Banties went from anywheres of $12.50 or so all the way up to $27.50 for a d'ullce (or however it's spelled) hen trio and rooster. Do they make a Lavender Orphington Bantie??? Of course the Silkies were popular. I had some of my older birds I had brought, and I was AMAZED at how well they did. I bid on a few cages of Legbar/Creambar/Rhodebar pullets...I didn't NEED 10 of them so I didn't bid very aggressively. Just need a few olive eggers for my coop. The bunnies....holy smokes. $$$. $40 - $100. Not a bun-bun person so I'm not sure what they wanted them for but apparently I will be no longer running cow-calf pairs and starting a Rabbitry haha

The only thing I did not watch, was the baby chicks/ducks/etc...can you tell me how those went?? I am powerless against those so I removed myself from the area haha.

Ditto on the slow...didn't start poultry until after 3:00? or there abouts? Not familiar with sheep/goats/llamas/etc but I was absolutely SHOCKED at how low the ponies were going. Starting them at $2.00!?!?! I think a few went for $20 to $40...I mean, that barely covers the cost of the halter :/

I thought there was less birds! I was disappointed in the variety. Only a few ducks, no geese (or one set? Of ornamental), and just lots of chickens. Didn't think I noticed a Brahma rooster....??? Did you end up bringing one up?

I had been sent with NO checkbook, and NO trailer...for a reason. I was super disappointed b/c there was a sow that went for $40 and that would have set us up for all our grinding pork for the year for venison etc etc....and the weaner piglets went for $30 a pig. Dang. Don't even get me started on those Highlands. And for that angus calf to go for $575 right after those....yikes.

Already looking forward to fall!!!! Will be going with trailer this time. Regardless of what Husband says

Prices are like that every year in the spring.. I spent $42 a piece on my first cochins last year. I usually buy in the fall. I was hoping to take my ducks but I couldn't cause of the track meet..

 

[maverick7wi]

Question...do any of you raise guinea fowl? As I said in post above, first big issue I've had with hawks going after my chickens just happened. I just wonder how Guineas would do in the winter. I have a couple options for coops. Nothing great for a heat source, but could insulate better in the one the chickens aren't in. Still irritated the hawk got my daughters favorite chicken Too bad they didn't go for the production reds!

 

[Tuhmu]

I guess - in my personal opinion - they went HIGH. Guieneas were going well over 25$ per bird (I think maybe only one cage went under that price)... Roosters were not a hot item, $1-4 per bird altho a cage of two Buff Orphington Roos went for $14 per bird...hens were high. $20 for Americana hen; $15 for another; trios of Banties went from anywheres of $12.50 or so all the way up to $27.50 for a d'ullce (or however it's spelled) hen trio and rooster. Do they make a Lavender Orphington Bantie??? Of course the Silkies were popular. I had some of my older birds I had brought, and I was AMAZED at how well they did. I bid on a few cages of Legbar/Creambar/Rhodebar pullets...I didn't NEED 10 of them so I didn't bid very aggressively. Just need a few olive eggers for my coop. The bunnies....holy smokes. $$$. $40 - $100. Not a bun-bun person so I'm not sure what they wanted them for but apparently I will be no longer running cow-calf pairs and starting a Rabbitry haha

The only thing I did not watch, was the baby chicks/ducks/etc...can you tell me how those went?? I am powerless against those so I removed myself from the area haha.

Ditto on the slow...didn't start poultry until after 3:00? or there abouts? Not familiar with sheep/goats/llamas/etc but I was absolutely SHOCKED at how low the ponies were going. Starting them at $2.00!?!?! I think a few went for $20 to $40...I mean, that barely covers the cost of the halter

I thought there was less birds! I was disappointed in the variety. Only a few ducks, no geese (or one set? Of ornamental), and just lots of chickens. Didn't think I noticed a Brahma rooster....??? Did you end up bringing one up?

I had been sent with NO checkbook, and NO trailer...for a reason. I was super disappointed b/c there was a sow that went for $40 and that would have set us up for all our grinding pork for the year for venison etc etc....and the weaner piglets went for $30 a pig. Dang. Don't even get me started on those Highlands. And for that angus calf to go for $575 right after those....yikes.

Already looking forward to fall!!!! Will be going with trailer this time. Regardless of what Husband says

Yea I figured the birds would go for more, there just wasn't anything I was really that in need of.

Was pretty disappointed in what was there for poultry too.Though I was eyeing that pair of royal palm turkeys.

The baby chicks were going for pretty cheap I thought, around $2-5 and that was for some of the rare breeds like Swedish flower hens, call ducks (which go for around $15-17 if you order them from a hatchery), etc.

My box of Ancona duck eggs went for a whopping $1 lol. Apparently eggs weren't a hot item this year, the only other ones was 6ish doz of bantam eggs that also went for $1 or something like that. Hopefully I have better luck with ducklings this weekend via bisman, I have a batch due to hatch on Saturday.

Ponies and llamas always go for low, I think they even have you pay $20 to sell a pony just so they get something. I wasn't very impressed with any of the goats, a lot didn't look very good. I did like that one young white female llama. Did you happen to see what the pony and the cart bring? We left just before they started and was kind of curious since a lot of people where talking to that guy about it.

The two roosters I brought were in the first row on the left just as you walked in, I have no idea what I got for them but I'm assuming they went for something since I never got a call to pick them up lol. The one I had was a surprise chick and the other, the calico brahma, was really hard to let go but him and my other calico brahma keep fighting.

Question...do any of you raise guinea fowl? As I said in post above, first big issue I've had with hawks going after my chickens just happened. I just wonder how Guineas would do in the winter. I have a couple options for coops. Nothing great for a heat source, but could insulate better in the one the chickens aren't in. Still irritated the hawk got my daughters favorite chicken Too bad they didn't go for the production reds!

I had them for one summer, my broody hen raised a batch of them. They are pretty tough birds winter wise from what I've heard. They are extremely annoying birds though, and fly on everything when allowed to free range. Mine had spent a month or so roosting on top of my big pole barn. I had got mine with the intent of them keeping the tick populations down.

I finally couldn't take the noise anymore, I missed my quiet evenings instead of that shrill cackle constantly; that and that they basically evicted my chickens from the chicken coop and would regularly gang up on a random hen. So I ended up butchering all of them, should have kept them a bit longer and sold them in New Salem though. They are always in high demand there it seems.

Were you looking to get some to alert your chickens to hawks or ? Because that's all they're really able to do in defense of your chickens is act as a bit of an alarm for anything they think is out of the ordinary. Which is a nice bonus. Though a good rooster will do the same, and aren't quite as annoying with they're crowing. (biased here since I have deep voiced brahma crow which doesn't carry as much maybe?)

They are very pretty birds (minus the head haha), plus no ticks at all that summer but I just couldn't handle the noise anymore. I see them on bisman all the time, and I think runnings should start having them pretty soon too. (or they might be done now, not sure, I've been actively avoiding that section of the store)

 

[stryker]

I agree with you that the birds were not that impressive. The nicer looking birds went high because in my opinion they looked better than the not so good looking birds. There was a mature buckeye roo that I was eyeing that went for about $6 but he had no tail so I didn't bid on it.. I went for a rabbit and couldnt bring my self to paying over $40 for one..

 

[holm25]

I agree with you that the birds were not that impressive. The nicer looking birds went high because in my opinion they looked better than the not so good looking birds. There was a mature buckeye roo that I was eyeing that went for about $6 but he had no tail so I didn't bid on it.. I went for a rabbit and couldnt bring my self to paying over $40 for one.. 

If you want a Buckeye roo and are up for a drive I have one out of Urch lines. I am not using him due to some flaws I dont like but he would make a good flock roo. OR I will have some this fall...

Here is my main brreeder.

And the one I am getting rid of.

 

[twisted-acres-farm]

Thank you for the response. What would you be asking for cost? I live near Grand Forks, and don't mind the drive as I haven't been to that area of ND. I'm still active duty military, so I'd have to wait until a Saturday that works for you. If there are other types of hens you might want to sell, could possibly be interested if you don't want to sell a bunch of the Brahmas. I really appreciate the offer as my daughter was quite upset about losing "Feather Foot". I know predators are part of the deal, but the only other issue I had was a hawk got a couple Cornish X's a couple years ago. This is my third year having chickens, so I guess I've been fortunate. But it's a learning experience.

SORRY didn't see this before the giant cluck up that is a conversion.

I could let about 1/2 dozen go as far as price um 5.00 a bird ??