MARYLAND THREAD!

[creaney]

Hi

Hi.
Hi.

. What state is your mom in? I'd like to help you find someone who can help those poor babies!

 

[fiddlebanshee]

I have four 14 week old Ancona Roosters for sale:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/814660/14-week-old-ancona-cockerel

In case someone would be interested.

 

[faerieannette]

Look at what I have!!! Meet Creamy and Sapphy (Sapphire)

 

[Anna Lee]

Look at what I have!!! Meet Creamy and Sapphy (Sapphire)

Cute! What kind are they?

 

[faerieannette]

Cream Legbars!

 

[Anna Lee]

Yay! So you will get blue eggs even if your Ameraucanas turn out to be cockerels.

 

[faerieannette]

Lol exactly! I am pretty certain one of the birds a hen the others I keep going back and forth on.

Yay! So you will get blue eggs even if your Ameraucanas turn out to be cockerels.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Anyone ever brought any birds to the Westminster Livestock Auction on Thursdays? I wonder how this works and what the process is. I may be looking at 14 roosters in the batches of chicks I got from Will Morrow at Whitmore. If I can't sell them all (I sold 2 yesterday, yay!) it's either butchering them or selling them at auction.

Questions
1. I understand you drop them off in the afternoon. Do you need to stay around for the actual auction and take any remaining birds back home, or are you virtually guaranteed to get rid of them all?
2. How much on average would you get for roosters? I'm trying to figure out if it is worth my while to take a day off, load them all up, and drive them 30 miles or so to the auction and 30 miles back.
3. Do your birds need to have any health certification? NPIP?
4. Is there a minimum # of birds?
5. What is the optimum age to bring them to auction?

Any advice on what to do with these boys is appreciated. The other thing I'm looking into is sending them to a bulk processing facility so any ideas on that would be great too.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[faerieannette]

We went to check it out. Most roosters sold for $0.5-$4. They take a fee on the sales but I am not sure the # or % though. With 14 roosters I wouldn't expect to bring home more then $10 if that. I did got some great animal carriers for $5 each.

Also, it looks like a disease nightmare to me. Birds don't need any health certification. If you have information about the birds other then breed or sex they are really not interested. All the birds are stacked up on top of each other in the center and you can go look at them before the auction but it is hard to see any because they are mostly in cardboard boxes. The auctioneers will pull them out of the boxes and hold them up for the crowd. Birds in metal cages that you can see were not removed and the cages were just held up. In those cases cages were typically not included. They had boxes for people to use from previous auctions stacked up in the corner that had who knows what germs on them.

It was an entertaining/educational experience but very very long the line to check out was long two. I thought that they were way too rough on the birds but that may be because my chickens are completely spoiled.

If my Witmore chickens end up being roosters I may be taking them there because we don't have the heart to butcher our pet chickens. If I am to bring my boys i think i may make them portable chicken wire cages that would not be included in the sale. Also I recommend showering very well when you go home before going near your flock and to launder your clothing and shoes. All just my opinion and experience.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Thanks for your report. Very helpful. I think I'll just resort to butchering them myself. I have no problem (mentally) doing that but it is a lot of work. Another thought occurred, I could also take them to the poultry swap in the fall at MsBear's place.