Okies in the BYC The Original

[okcarla]

Great to see so many BYC Okies at the Harrah auction! Many thanks to all that bought my chicks and/or eggs! We just got home and I am totally exhausted ... I put my new baby bourbon red turkey poults in the brooder with the ones that hatched a few days ago ... and I just had 3 more hatch (eggs I bought at the Harrah auction 4 weeks ago. Yeah, there still were things happening at the auction that were a big disappointment. Gerald was very upset that they sold something when he was waving his hand and the auctioneer looked straight at him and said sold ... then said sorry, you were too late. Needless to say ... Gerald was not happy.

And one more thing that upset me ... all the kids playing with the baby chicks. One lady went and said something to the people in the office, which stopped the kids until after the auction, but they were playing with them again when the auction was over. I was in line to pay when I looked over to see 3 kids playing with my turkey poults ... one boy I saw drop a poult on the floor (I think intentionally) another had one on the table ... and another was holding one. I asked the person in line behind me if I could leave for a minute to go get my baby birds from those kids before they killed them. I asked the kids to please not play with my birds, and took them away from them ... Where are these kids parents?

I have one turkey poult that isn't looking very lively now ... probably the one that was dropped.

Rebecca (I'm not sure what your member id is) send me a pm to discuss a trade for some of my jersey chicks for some of your bourbon red turkey poults. I'd love to have more unrelated .... sorry I missed talking to you more at the auction.

We talked to a lady from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture that was at the Harrah Auction. She was taking samples of poultry to test for Avian Influenza. We asked about testing, and if they could test our flocks. She said that we could call the office and request our flocks be tested for AI, and also could get NPIP testing, and if anyone was interested, could enroll in a testing course where we could learn to test our own birds. The person to contact regarding testing and the testing course is Marie with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture at 522-6129.

Also while we were at the auction, we sat next to a nice couple and I recommended they look up this website and join the Okies thread. I hope they do!

Sorry we missed Monty at the auction tonight.

Gerald and I are still thinking we may go to Blue on Tuesday if we can take off work. It is fun just to look ... even if we don't buy or sell a thing! And I hope to see Grace there for some of her eggs

 

[jimd]

Here's what I added to the poultry shows section:

Looks like I will have to change my opinion on the Harrah auction. They are now biweekly, which is fine. But now non-poultry items are getting to the point that I don't really care to go. This evening they started at 5, and it was 7:20 when they started selling eggs. There were lawnmowers, washing machines, microwaves, tools, tons of home decore, and things I would have personally just thrown in the trash. I was tired of waiting and went home. Which is unfortunate because there were birds I wanted to bid on. Specifically Carla's silkies. So since I went home, she likely got less for her birds.
I watched a couple of debates over which bidder was actually the winner, a few times, they had to stop and ask who bought something, because they wrote down the wrong bidder number. To me that should NEVER happen. Granted most of the time I'm at auctions, it's a 4 digit number before the decimal, but the principle is that mistakes shouldn't happen. Their professionalism has been overtaken by what looks like amaturism. Do people attend auctions before they try to run them?
Sad to say this auction went from very promising to disappointing in just a few months. At least I got to meet a couple of forum members before I stopped attending.

JImD

 

[okcarla]

Thanks Jimd for addressing your concerns about the Harrah Auction. Gerald was even thinking we shouldn't go again. And yes, my silkies went for considerably less than I had hoped, but I'm sure glad Kaacres bought them, THANKS! Also, as Poultryandbees mentioned, she bought my spitzhauben chicks, THANK YOU! and came to me after the auction saying she knew she bid more for them than the ticket showed ... and again, yes they are not keeping accurate records ... the record-keeping is EXTREMELY disappointing! I noticed too many birds selling entirely too cheap because so many people had already left the auction.

Luckily for me, my birds are just a hobby or I would have been more upset about the prices ... also, I am SO HAPPY that it was mostly BYC members that bought the birds!

Jimd, I still have some silkie chicks that are about the same age if you are interested, also some younger chicks and my silkies have begun laying again (after a month of being broody) so I have eggs for sale!

I know this isn't poultry, but I just had to mention a garage sale purchase I made on Friday. I bought 2 cockatiels and a large parrot cage & stand, with accessories for only $35! I was shocked it was so cheap but the lady said her son got tired of them & wouldn't take care of them. Also, she said the female lays eggs but she thought the kids played with them too much so they didn't hatch. I told her they wouldn't have hatched anyway because they were both females. Does anybody know of someone that has a male cockatiel or two? I intend to put them in a large flight cage outside for the summer where they'll be much happier. One of the females has plucked herself badly ... she is one unhappy bird. Both appear to have been hand-fed because they don't bite or fly away when I put my hand in, and the daugher even grabbed & held them to put them in a box so I could take them home. A wild or untame cockatiel will deffinitely bite!

Kaacres, I'm glad you got Dominiques ... they are more rare & desirable than Barred Rocks!

Maribeth, I hope you got some rabbits! Also, I'm glad you got more chicks & eggs! Downsize? What's that mean?

 

[okcarla]

Hooligan, the only breed of chicken that I know of that has black skin is the silkie. The Asian culture considers silkie chickens a delicacy because of their black skin. I don't think I could eat one though! They are too cute!

 

[hooligan]

Well he is Hmong so that might be it...I know ppl eat chickens but a SILKIE?!

ETA: I just spoke to him and he says the chickens his relative had were standard, black and had a single comb with normal feathering. I need to ask if these were from the US or not.

 

[okcarla]

Yeah hooligan, I'd about bet it's the silkie chicken he is referring to. Here's a link to a website telling about it:

http://eatingwithsimon.blogspot.com/2006/08/siu-wuo-tian.html

 

[hooligan]

I am betting that has a dead bird on that website so I will refrain.

I googled it and it seems the silkie is the most common and is used for food in Asian countries, all the other breeds a VERY rare.

 

[kaacres]

Just came across this and found it very interesting, so I thought I would share.

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/lastword/2007/03/twin-chicks.html

 

[Buckguy20]

OK, I am going to go to Harrah this week and I will talk to the owner about the auction problems. Those of you that have had trouble let me know the problems and I will compile a list and go see what I can do. I think I can glean most of the concerns from the posts over the last few weeks.
Gotta get my son to school now but will be back shortly.
Sorry I missed getting to see everyone at the auction.
Monty

 

[Buckguy20]

Rooster, good to hear from a Northern Okie. I have been to Snyder a few times. The big Mangum Rattlesnake hunt is this weekend I think. Do you ever got back to Oklahoma?

I have posted this twice already and it didn't take.
So here goes again.

Welcome to Ugly Cowboy from Corn and Webfinity from Coweta. They bring our group total to 79. Can we hit 100 by the Fourth of July?
I added you guys to our list. Please jump in and ignite some conversation.