Taking 50 babies to the flea market! Wish me luck?

[Goat_Walker]

Well this is the largest number of ducks ive ever taken. I sell ducklings at the local fleamarket once a month for some extra cash.
Im taking :
7 mutt ducklings
16 ducklings from my white scovie hen ( mostly whites but a few blue pied )
20 ducklings from my black bibbed scovie hen ( All going to be solid black or barred )

Ok - so maybe its not 50. But im leaving six babies with the mamas , three each. So it would have been 49.. ish.. and I have another mama due on Monday with 12 babies ( hopefully )

I guess im just hoping for some luck! Ill be working my little "stand " ( A folding chair and a corral full of ducklings) all by myself

Im going to be dealing with little children that want to squeeze my poor babies , people who know nothing about ducks and laugh about keeping them till they arent "cute" and then releasing them onto a local pond. And then of course the meanies that like to talk about eating them or using them as chew toys for their other pets.

Im simply asking that yall wish me luck - Luck that i dont lose control of my tounge and give some of these people a peice of my mind. usually im really good about being patient and explaining things to people, but its going to be a LOOOONG day. In 5 hours ill be heading out to said fleamarket ( 3 am here ) and wont be home till 5 or 6 tomorrow evening.

 

[mgw]

I do wish you good luck. have some fun.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

I've experienced flea market selling before, and it isn't a fun experience when you have chicks or ducklings because you have all kinds who 'oh and aw' and like you said you got kids who parent's need to leash or reprimand cause they're over bothering you and trying to get in the pen with the critters, open things up, hurt the animals (accidentally), and I have told off quite a few parents before for their lack of attention to their child.

My friend who recently moved to Kentucky, for 2 years I would go with her, we'd both go up with chickens, ducks, birds, and what not and sell...We knew roosters were bound for the stew pot, we can deal with that, and even that those chicks will prob be raised for meat as well...Its part of life, thats fine. But I would absolutely turn someone down if I caught wind of them releasing the animals or abusing them. They'd ask me why, and I 'd tell them "They are MINE until I DECIDE to sell them to someone, and until that time I DECIDE WHO I will sell them to, and you aren't the kind of person who I'm willing to hand an innocent animal over to"...That was my line, and if I ever venture back to a flea market it will still be. Also, "Come back when you KNOW SOMETHING about ----- and then I may do business with you."

I am not a nice person when I get rubbed wrong, I can be quite nasty

- lol. I also enjoy pissing idiots off, it makes my day.

Anyway, try to stay out of trouble, don't fry in the sun, and don't let idiots get you down, laugh at them when they leave.

 

[MysticalMom]

Good Luck G_W. Let us know how it goes.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Quote:
I dont sell at markets myself- But I do go to auctions and unfortunately the rules are a little different there.. I do always set my reserves at a price that would discourage meat buyers though. I will remember this line in future for if it is ever needed. ( I hope not though )

Goat_walker - something else I do is provide a care sheet with the ducklings I sell. It has their hatch dates and various information about their lives so far- as well as information on care including food and water needs, housing and pest protection. Maybe you could get a big sheet of cardboard.. and write up a few "RULES" about owning ducklings for any future trips to the market. You could include things about NEVER dumping animal...Not buying them just because they are cute now. Anyone who has done previous research and genuinely wants ducks wont be shocked to read they can be messy and smelly... But it may put off those who wont be responsible for them.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Ducky thats a good idea putting a big sign up in front of the pens with the 'Things to Know about ducks'...

When I was breeding and selling, I went to an auction twice, but I decided 1) they were too far away from me for the driving, and 2) I didn't have control over who got them except like you said, setting a reserve price, so I stopped going and kept back up with the fleamarket 20 miles from me that attracts alot of people.

LOL - I'm in the middle of writing this and my dad calls - he's at the other flea market south of me, and calls me to tell me someone is selling a chicken tractor up there and has I quote "Those funky fuzzy chickens like yours up here" - lol.

but I like the "Things to KNow about Ducks" this will let people who are serious know what the need to do (and I would make a dozen copies of paper to pass out if someone wants it when they buy some) and let them know what they setting themselves up for with the mess, clean-up, feeding, etc... If I find myself with a junk load of baby ducks next year I will definately do this myself next year!

 

[PlumTuckered]

It's so hard to part with those darlings, isn't it?
I wish I could buy all of your babies. I've had 3 Muscovy eggs in the incubator for a friend (they were laid by her scovy gal. Well we had a severe storm the other day, 5 hours with no power and even though we wrapped the incubator we lost all 3 babies, my heart is broken and now I have to go break my friend's heart too :-( I will promise to hatch some of my girls' eggs out for her once my Drake is mature enough but I won't be able to give her any scovies since I only have 1 scovey baby. She hates Pekins but I might be able to talk her into some Pekin/Mallard crosses in the fall.

I hope your day goes well for you!

Michelle

 

[Goat_Walker]

Well I sold all my scovies - but still have 5 mutt ducklings left. I actually wanted to hand out a care sheet with them but i havent had the time to type one up.

i was thinking of using a three sided project board i have! And yall jsut gave me the perfect thing to do with it!!! YAY!
Anyone interested in helping me decide what to put on it???

Also - Just wanted to add that I came home to 10 more mutt ducklings seems someone hatched me out some early babies

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Glad you did well....hopefully you didn't have to put anyone in their place....

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
I have an old 4-H booklet called "Raising Waterfowl" that I photocopy and give to all my duck customers. It's probably copyright infringement, but I'm educating people, and it saved me the time of typing one up.