WTB aracauna pullet in SD at 4H auction

[chick_newbie]

Going to an auction later this morning for some 4H poultry. There is a beautiful white aracana pullet for sale but have no idea what the bidding could be for this bird. They also have some roosters, different persons though. They also have some blues for sale. Anyone give me an idea what is a good price for these birds. Thanks.

 

[amazondoc]

A "good price" is whatever you are willing to pay.

I imagine it's hard to get birds in South Dakota, so a "good price" there could easily be higher than, for instance, Tennessee. OTOH, white seems to be a common color in araucanas (I produce way too many whites myself), so that might keep the price down a bit. OTOH, there may be a bunch of people at the auction who don't know anything about araucanas who bid the price way up. There's really no way to predict.

Don't get into the breed with any expectation of making money from them. They are very frustrating to breed. They tend to have low fertility, and you've got to get a lot of slippery traits together (tufts, rumplessness, leg color, feather color, body shape, comb shape, etc.) before you can claim to have a show quality bird.

If you just love the birds, then bid whatever you yourself feel comfortable with. But if you want a profitable enterprise, then save your money and let somebody else buy them!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Thank you so much for reminding everyone what the fertility is like on Araucana eggs. It seems that everyone wants to tell me how bad my birds fertility is when I try to explain from the start that these eggs are harder to hatch than other breeds. Yes, I can boost the fertility a little when I change the roos around but 2-3 weeks later the boys will be back to handling the girls the same way and not nearly as often as when they were "new" to them but for the most part, they just don't have the ability to fertilize as well as others.
You can set several hundred eggs a year and still only get a few good chicks. I had a good year this time around but next year may show me nothing at all, like last year (all roos and no tufts at all).
I am sure this can be explained much better by someone other than myself, like Ione.

 

[chick_newbie]

I ended up getting 5 ameracauna pullets for $65. I was still looking for the aracauna when I got there but couldn't find it and settled on these cuties instead. They seem to be pretty tame and 1 of them layed an egg on the way home. Thanks for the answers but by the time you posted I was already at the auction.

I already have some "americana" from the feedstore last year and this year, but these just looked so cute that I couldn't pass them up.