Buying Chickens at the Fair

[chickenboy44]

Hello,

Right now in my county, we are having our annual county fair. I know that on the last day of the fair most of the poultry at the fair goes for sale. As of now, I have no chickens in my coop and could use some advice on if it is a good idea to buy grown-up chickens at the fair. Also if anyone as any idea on how much it could cost to buy them?







Any help would be appreciated,





Evan

 

[dawg53]

Hello,

Right now in my county, we are having our annual county fair. I know that on the last day of the fair most of the poultry at the fair goes for sale. As of now, I have no chickens in my coop and could use some advice on if it is a good idea to buy grown-up chickens at the fair. Also if anyone as any idea on how much it could cost to buy them?







Any help would be appreciated,





Evan

Welcome to BYC. If I were you, it would be best to order chicks from a reputable hatchery such as Meyer, Ideal or others. Buying chickens from shows, swap meets, craigslist, farmer down the road etc...is risky. They may look and act healthy, but as soon as you get them home...they usually start showing symptoms of some sort of disease(s.)
It's called "biosecurity."

 

[chickenboy44]

Ok, thank you for your help. I have been reading that some other counties have been choose to not have any birds at the fair because to stuff like the bird flu.

 

[aart]

Many fairs all over the US have been prohibited from having any poultry this year because of the avian flu outbreak.

Agrees that it's best from a health aspect to get chicks from a reputable hatchery.

 

[N F C]

Many fairs all over the US have been prohibited from having any poultry this year because of the avian flu outbreak.

Agrees that it's best from a health aspect to get chicks from a reputable hatchery.

x2 I know it's hard to wait, but it's worth it to get off on the right foot with healthy stock.

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If your wanting a specific breed and to breed standard birds then shows are an excellent place to get stock. If you want hatchery quality then poultry shows are not the place to go.

All birds at shows have a recent certificate of health. All birds are inspected at entry and any sign of health issue, lice, mites are sent away. These are facts and not propogation of fear. There is a relatively small geograph with avian flu. Fairs not showing birds and gov. restrictions outside this area is ignorant, knee jerk polotics.

Of course the quality of birds is dependant on your area at county fairs. My areas quality has definitely gone downhill over the years. It still is a good place to hob nob will poultry people, see what stock is in your area and either decide on a breeder to get birds from there or realize you need a better out of state breeder to start with quality stock. The upside of purchased show birds is the quick turn around to breeding them and your looking at the grown bird, there is no guessing and hoping one of the two dozen shipped eggs is breeder quality.

 

[aart]

If your wanting a specific breed and to breed standard birds then shows are an excellent place to get stock. If you want hatchery quality then poultry shows are not the place to go.

All birds at shows have a recent certificate of health. All birds are inspected at entry and any sign of health issue, lice, mites are sent away. These are facts and not propogation of fear. There is a relatively small geograph with avian flu. Fairs not showing birds and gov. restrictions outside this area is ignorant, knee jerk polotics.

No doubt.

Wonders tho, about the stringency of the 'certificates of health' at shows.
I suppose they differ from show to show, but there's some pretty scary diseases carried by asymptomatic birds that are not detectable by physical inspection.
Always a risk to buying poultry.

 

[chickenboy44]

Does anyone know any good chicken hatcheries that shipping prices are not too high? I have looked and lots of them are expensive shipping prices

 

[sourland]

The fairs in my state have canceled all chicken shows; however, the 4 H kids have started pullets for sale. In a way the ban is good because these birds will only have been exposed to whatever is present in their rearing environment. Try contacting your local 4 H and see if they have a similar program. Prices here in NJ are very moderate for 6 birds.

 

[chickenboy44]

Yes,at are fair we do have chicks and pullets but I'm not sure if we sell them. Last year I don't think they sold any of the younger chickens.