Got yet more young cockerels, bantam and large ones, coming out of the closet (as in starting to crow) so just rooting round for boxes to take them to the local poultry auction tomorrow.
There are only limited pens (its not a big market) so they are quite happy to sell birds in cardboard boxes - have seen ferrets in buckets before now with wire over the top!! Sale is early, and most are sold within half an hour. Auction is fast and furious, all crowded round the auctioneer, and you cannot tell what is said half the time. Newbies sometimes get a shock. You are bidding per bird, not per pen or box, so £12 can sound ok, until you time it by 4.
If I take mine in a box, I only put 2 cockerels in each, shavings on floor, and poultrynetting on top. They will have feed and water in, but like I said, the sale is pretty quick, so they are not sat in there too long. Some people just put them in and fold the top of the box over, which is not my way, but never mind.
What I am getting at, is that every now and again, a woman will cause a fuss ....burst into tears and rant on about how cruel it is to have the hens in cardboard boxes, they should all be in pens .....and shouting for the RSPCA. They do attend this sale regularly, and I assume they see the boxes .....but even so, it does unnerve you that this lady may leap up and accuse you of cruelty!!
My view is, so long as the box is big enough, they have bedding, and have got netting on the top, I cannot see it as cruelty. What I do not agree with, is poultry being carried in sacks tied with string, with no air!! At least the buyer has a box to carry the birds home in, and a box with air. If they are sold out of the markets pens, its likely the buyer has no box, so he will be the one to put it in a dinky box, or worse still a sack.
Topic: Poultry Sales (Read 3292 times)
