The Stanthorpe Chook Auction

Yes, I know that I said no more chook stories, but this one just has to be included. (My "no-more chook stories" must be regarded as a non-core promise!) So please bear with me.


For some time we have wanted to add to our tally of two hens, and when the above auction was publicised, we decided that we'd attend.

I'm not sure if you can read the front of the above sheet, but it tells us that from 0830 we could view the poultry on sale. So off we set, to the Stanthorpe Show Grounds, and the Poultry Pavilion in particular.

It was a dull, very wet and cold day but the attendance was large. There are a great many "poultry-philes" around, and foul weather (sorry!) couldn't deter them.

Mud and rain everywhere, and lots of utes!

There were over 230 lots for auction. Yes, over 230.
There were chooks of many varieties....a lot were very attractive, while others certainly did not appeal to us.
There were also turkeys, ducks, pigeons, guinea fowl.
I wish that I had taken more photos, to show you some of these unusual breeds.
But I'll show you a couple.

Aren't these a handsome couple?



A pair of Large Wyndottes, Gold Laced.

 





 

These delightful little hens are Belgian D'Uccle bantams.
They are said to make excellent pets!
Look at their feathered feet.


At the pre-auction viewing there were a lot of opinions being exchanged between the possible buyers, as they walked along the cages inspecting the birds.

Now will I bid for this lot or not?

Once decisions had been made, and the catalogue marked accordingly, it was time to enter the Poultry pavilion.

The smells which greeted us were mouth-watering.

Breakfast, cooked by volunteers, was available.

We wished we known this before we'd left home, because we'd have joined the rest of them eating huge hot meals....just the thing for a wet, cold morning.

And aren't the embroidered aprons catching? Love the rooster striding across the wearer's chest!

The crowd was at last ready for the auction.

The auctioneer was also ready. Let the show begin.

Photos of each lot were displayed on the screen on the front stage.

The bidding was spasmodic. Some lots were keenly fought for, others attracted very little interest.

The auctioneer spoke at one hundred miles an hour....as do auctioneers, and horse-race callers, the world over. There must be schools where this rapid delivery is learnt, and practised.....it can't be innate.

 

Our chosen lot came up for bidding. We had two other interested parties bidding for "our" chooks.  But we were the most committed, and we bought them. Two hens and a rooster, White Sussex Bantams, for $55. That's less than $20 per bird. We were chuffed with that.

Here are "our" birds, seen at the pre-auction viewing. There is a 2nd hen behind the rooster and first hen. She must be camera-shy.

And here they are, below,wandering around the farm.

And yes, the pecking order took a while to sort out, but incredibly the rooster is not the alpha bird. Our brown hen, with the black-feathered collar, is still number one. Maybe she's read about assertive females?

She'd be a hit in the corporate chook world!

And wouldn't you know it, the egg hunt is on again. These white hens also eschew the laying box, and lay their eggs where-ever. Life is certainly not dull for us and our chooks.