Tips for attending a poultry auction

I go to a lot of animal auctions. I really enjoy them and eventually build relationships with the staff and owners of the auction house. My foot keeps time with the voice of the auctioneer and my eyes keep a sharp watch on what’s up for bid and how much it goes for. There’s always the burst of excitement when a chicken flies out of the hands of the floor man and straight into the audience or when when a dove or guinea escapes and the entire audience and staff are diving and chasing it, until it gives up and allows someone to grab it!

There’s a few things I’ve learned about animal auctions. Each one is different in some ways, but basically they are the same.

When you arrive at an auction, you’ll want to find the desk where you can get your auction number. They usually want to see your license and copy it before giving you a number. After you’ve gotten your number (usually on a piece of card stock paper), find a seat where you can see well and ‘hold’ that seat with a jacket or other non-valuable object (surely not your new number or your wallet)!

Some auctions allow you to view the merchandise before the show starts. That gives you a chance to see what you want to bid on. I use the back of my number card to jot down the number on the boxes I see that interest me. Each box or item has a number on it. Some auctions don’t, but they may have the number of the seller on it. Then, you jot that down and wait until that sellers number comes up and you’ll have an idea that your item is soon to be displayed.

Find your seat again and get ready for the fun! The auctioneer is fast paced and the boxes move through quickly. Some auctions take the animal out of the box and holds it up for all to see and others just hold up the box with the number on it. The auctioneer will do his/her best to describe the animal or item. When a box comes up that you wish to buy, you can start the bid by holding up the number of fingers you wish to begin the bid with (ex. one finger- NOT the middle one- for $1.00). Many bidders will continue the same motion to stay in the bid. Some raise their hand, other nod or move their fingers continuously until the price reaches more than they are willing to pay. It’s fun to watch the audience and see who and how the bids are placed. It’s also fun to watch the bidder when the item has went over the amount they have chosen to decline. It is usually one shake of the head to the side or lowering the eyes to no longer make contact. Some just stare ahead without making any emotion until the floor person ignores them.

At every poultry auction I have been to, there is a rule called, one times your money. That means, if there are three chickens in the box and your bid was $4.00. You will pay $12.00 for that box because it is $4.00 per bird. That can run your budget up quicker than you realize if you forget how many birds are in the box. I’ve watched at nearly every auction, people that come up to pay and didn’t realize that they were buying 20 chicks at $2.00 each and couldn’t pay for them. Each auction I go to, they explain this at the beginning, but it always happens that someone didn’t ‘get it’. Once you bid on an item, it is yours. You are expected to pay for it.

I had someone today ask me if they had to buy the chickens at the auction if they got them and they were sick. The answer is yes, because you had the chance to look at them before the auction and if you didn’t, that would have been your fault for bidding on them. You bid, you buy and take them home; end of story. I guess there are always exceptions, but that is the general idea. I’ve bought many boxes of chickens that I wished I had not when I got them home and saw how sick they really were.

A word of caution from my experience is to watch what you bring home. It is so easy to bring home one sick animal that infects the rest of your farm or animals. Be sure to quarantine your new purchase until you are sure it is healthy. Some illnesses are air borne which makes quarantine even hard to handle, since taking care of the animal may spread on your clothing or shoes.

Another thought about the auctions is that seasons and times of year changes the prices drastically on animals. As expected, turkeys bring in a big price during Thanksgiving and chickens sell best during spring. Fall and winter is a hard time to make any profit on your poultry. Rabbits sell well at Easter time, but the rest of the year, will not go as high. If you are a careful buyer, learn the off season and you can buy animals cheaper than you could raise them and feed them. (again, watch the health of the animal).

When you are out of money or just finished buying, you can stop at anytime and turn in your number to the same window/space that you got it. They will tally up your order and give you a receipt of your purchases. Some auctions charge a buyers fee (10% or so) of everything you buy, so be sure to look for that or ask about that before you budget your spending. Some auctions only take cash and others will allow debit/credit. Find out before you go up to pay.

It’s also easy to be a seller. The process is nearly the same as far as getting a seller number (usually the same place you get your buyers number). Most auctions (if not all) charge a sellers fee, which is around 20% at the auctions I attend. When you are ready to leave and your items have sold, you can tally up at the desk. The staff will either hand you a check or just give you the difference of the money you made and spent, all with receipts, of course.

At most auctions, you will take your receipts to the person holding the animals, and he/she will collect your purchases and check them off your list (or you check them off to make sure you got all of them). Usually, this is the fun part for me, because I had forgotten exactly what all I had bought! Then comes the part of trying to figure out how to fit them all in the back of the truck!

Lastly, take your purchases home and remember to quarantine. I can’t stress that enough. You may not see any immediate signs of illness but give it a few days and the stress of the auction and trip of the animal might show up as a cold or illness that is contagious. Some chickens carry illnesses for life and stress will bring it out. You’ll want to know about that BEFORE you introduce them to your own flock.

Enjoy the auction and feel free to leave comments about your experiences!

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