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Sources
for chooks from traditional breeds
We prefer to buy fertile
eggs rather than birds where possible. This minimizes the risk of
introducing a disease into our flock. Sometimes this is not possible
and we have bought birds from respectable breeders in the past. Eggs
are available in the breeding season from July to January. Birds are
available at any time of the year but breeders tend to sell surplus
stock at auctions or sales in autumn. Auctions and sales are a good
place to look at the different breeds and to talk to breeders. Prices
at auctions can be rather high, but prices at sales meetings are often
fixed and chooks sold on a first come first served basis.
A very good place to buy
birds is the sales day of the Southern Tasmanian Bantam Club, which is
usually held in the second half of April at the Glenorchy showground.
The birds sold there are of high quality and the sale is not run as an
auction but firm prices are posted on each pen of birds.
Several auctions are held at Longford in northern
Tasmania during the year, the first one in late April.
A regular poultry auction is held at Ranelagh in
southern Tasmania on the first or second Wednesday each month. It is
organized by Roberts Rural Produce Huonville. They have the
details.
The Tasmanian Rare Breeds
Poultry Club holds its largest show in August. In 2009 this show was
held on a Saturday and a large auction followed on
Sunday.
Almost all chook shows
offer birds for sale and there are quite a number of shows held in
various parts of Tasmania at different times of the year.
The Australasian
Poultry Magazine contains a club directory with a lot of
helpful information. Most poultry clubs with their contact information
are listed here. Some Tasmanian clubs are:
-
Poultry Club of Tasmania
-
Tasmanian
Rare Breeds Poultry Club
-
Southern Tasmanian Bantam Club
-
Southern Tasmanian Poultry Club
The contact phone numbers
may change and the current contact details can be found on the
Internet or in Australasian Poultry Magazine.
A very good online source of information is backyardpoultry.com.
This website has a wanted/sales
section on the actual forum plus a notice
board. More importantly though it offers a breeders
section where you can search for breeders by state or
breed.
backyardpoultry.com
also has a section dedicated to upcoming auctions and sales.
Once you have chosen a particular breed you want
to keep it might be helpful to find out if a club exists in Australia
dedicated to that special breed. Most of these clubs keep contact
details of breeders in all areas of Australia. Club details are often
listed in Australasian Poultry Magazine. |
