Texas Panhandle AMARILLO TEXAS Chicken Swap Meet at TSC

[allen wranch]

Here is some information about importation of animals to Texas from the Texas Animal Health Commission.

http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/regs/TAHC_Entry_Summary.pdf

 

[d_cat88]

Hmmm... I'm just starting my flock so I won't have chickens to trade but I can bring food

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[amyquilt]

Carla...thanks for the information...now I need to read up and see if I can actually pull this thing together.

 

[allen wranch]

Let me know if I can help.

We are having the central Texas CS in May. Everyone is welcome...

 

[The Poultry Peanut]

any idea on the date yet?

 

[allen wranch]

Saturday of Memorial Week-end May 30.

 

[d_cat88]

Any ideas yet for a date on a swap in Amarillo?

 

[ltlchicken]

Quote:
amy, you can pull it together. it get's a little overwhelming on that day, but otherwise, you'll have alot of fun.

contact the texas pullorum-fowl typhoid program and find out who your tester is in that area of texas. their phone number is 979.845.4186. if you've had your birds tested, he's the same guy. let him know what you are planning to do. he will have to have tsc sign some paperwork (which if they sell chicks like on chick day, they probably already have it).

create flyers about the trade/swap and make a bunch and leave it at each cash register at tractor supply and post your ad on craiglist. this will get your customers. find out from your feed store and the local chicken gurus of other trade/swaps in your area. go to them and hand out the flyers. this will get your vendors and more customers.

the important thing is to make sure on your ad that you require everyone selling their poultry to have their typhoid certificate and their permit card and those that don't have it will be turned away. you don't want to be caught by the texas animal health commission with people selling chickens without the proper certificate and card or you'll be fined. unfortunately, out of state birds need a health certificate in order to enter birds into the state of texas. if you have out of state people, you need to make sure they have health certificates.

all this, i'm sure, can be explained from the tester in your district.

our trade day is located at our local feed store also. our first trade day we only got five vendors. LOL. but we all were able to sell/swap all our chickens/turkey/ducks, etc and it was alot of fun. we're going on our third year this year and have changed from twice a year to three times a year. we now have people coming from as far as centerville texas to sell their parakeets and other birds as well as goats, pigs, horses, food vendors, fresh fruit, plants, tack, etc, etc. our last one got a little crazy with people showing up at 6.30 am when we weren't suppose to start till 9am, so we're rethinking how to organize the parking area better.

make sure and figure out where your sellers will be and where people can park so they don't run over each other. you'll need to get more help from the manager at your store. have one of their people go around collecting copies of the certificate and making sure they have their cards and it's not expired. later on, if people start bringing other livestock, you need to make sure they have coggins for horses and scrapie tags for sheep.

if you can find a swap meet anywhere near you, go and see how they do it. i learned alot from those swaps and most of my questions were answered by talking to the person who organized it.

good luck. and sorry for the long post. but i promise, it'll be alot of fun. i wish i could be there to help you organize.