trade day at arcola feed on june 6, 2009 (houston, texas)

[ltlchicken]

our next trade day will be on june 6, 2009. response has been great and we hope to have even more vendors at this next show. we have asked the state to be there this time to make sure everyone has their paperwork, tags, registration, etc.

at our last trade day, we had poultry, waterfowl, gamebirds, horses, donkeys, goats, home made yummies, plants, hardware, tack, crafts, canaries, etc. etc.

hope to see ya'll there!

 

[PoultryScienceAggie]

where is this? if you have other livestock to trade what do you have to do to bring them?

 

[ltlchicken]

let me know if you can't read it.

equine (horses, donkeys, etc.) need their coggins

sheep need scrapie (sp?) tags
goats comingling with sheep need tags

poultry and game (turkey, quail, etc.) needs typhoid certificate and state registration card. ducks (and i think other waterfowl) only need the state registration card.

there will be a rep from the state there checking paperwork and one of the employees at arcola feed will come around and collect the $5 vendor fee.

the address of arcola feed is:

6215 FM 521
Arcola, TX 77583
281.431.1014
www.arcolafeed.com

or you can call my business at 713.306.0377 with any questions.

 

[Brindlebtch]

Arcola was somewhat of a disappointment.

 

[ltlchicken]

Quote:
OMG, you can't just say that and not say WHAT the disappointment was. LOL i'm so sorry to hear that. if you could let me know what you didn't like about it, we'd love to know. we've only been doing it for a little over a year, started out with only 5 vendors and at this last one, we had over 40 vendors. we had a 4H group there distributing their information, a lemonade stand by a little girl for charity, purina was giving away coupons.... any constructive criticism would help us with our next trade day. what did you like about other trade days you've been to that we didn't have?

we hope to one day do as well as conroe, but they've been doing it for decades. they also take alot of money from the vendors to offset what they have to pay for their facility. i set this trade day up in hopes that people that can't get to conroe can still find poultry on the south side of houston and the vendors can actually make some money without worry of too much overhead. i feel grateful that some of these vendors drive all the way from moscow, splendora, la grange and as far as from centerville, texas. we've come to get to know some of the regular customers to chat about how their chickens are doing and learn about their new chicks....it's become kind of a big get together for a bunch of us. hope we can do better next time.

 

[Brindlebtch]

I should have said Arcola was a disappointment because I didn't find any hens I could buy, and I was in hen buying mode.

I wanted a cochin and the one I wanted was in a cage with a sick bird AND had mites and I didn't think it was worth the risk to buy and take home. It killed me because she was lovely. The sick chicken in the cage had goopy eyes and looked really sick. I could have kicked myself for not noticing it and handling its cage mate. I was surprised somebody would bring a chicken that looked so sick to a trade day. Since I handled a potentially sick chicken my friend and I had to do serious biosecurity when we got home. If we brought something home to our flock we would be really upset.

Everything else that caught my eye was either a rooster or came with a rooster. I appreciate the fact that people want to get rid of their roosters but package deals like that make it very difficult for someone who doesn't want a rooster. It is very frustrating to have to pass on a desirable hen because you have to get a rooster with her.

The lemonade was good, though.

So that was my disappointment, sick chickens and lots of roosters.

I will probably go to the next one, but won't be planning on buying a hen and will think very hard before I decide to handle a bird.
I will allow myself to be pleasantly surprised if I decide to buy something.