Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I went to the Huronia Fur and Feather BST this morning. Sorry Cliff is far better than me at reporting and I neglected to get any pictures I get too dazzled by the birds!
Met a lot of great poultry people and oohed and awwwed over the chicks and poults. Only bought some Ivermectin and some vet rx and was very close to coming home with a hoody that read "All I want to do is drink beer and hang with my chickens" or something close to that but it was a little too big for me! There was one vendor that I recognize from years past that always seems to give me the cringe factor and I wonder why I went. Sick birds. Crammed in cages to the point of not being able to turn and roosters placed immediately next to each other to fight and draw blood until somebody buys one if them. Ever breed imaginable. Some with simple head shakes, some with bubbly eyes and some standing hunched up with eyes closed. I stood there for a while watching the frenzy of buyers. When a young couple with kids decided on purchasing a pair I turned to her and said "those birds are sick and it's up to you what you do but I wouldn't take them home". I don't know what they did. I had to get out of there before I said something to the vendor and now I'm regretting that I didn't. I don't mean to make it sound like this event isn't a great one. It is great and there was TONS of awesome poultry people there. Sadly that one is the one I seem to remember each year.

I know the SOB you are talking about and I have had a few run ins with him. (He's lucky that I wasn't there today!! This guy should be banned from all sales!!! Pete.

I agree Pete. He leaves a bad taste. But I was in awe of the people flooding around him in a frenzy to buy his birds. Even the birds that did not appear on deaths door were so disheveled or scabbed that I would have been embarrassed to present them like that. When you buy from people like that you encourage them to continue mistreating more birds. To me it’s no different than a puppy mill.
@kortispoultry perhaps we should arrange to meet at the fall bst.

Its hard for me to see them and not want to help them. I have to walk away very fast.

Me too. Thankfully, there was a seasoned poultry keeper at that sale that convinced me not to bid on the 5 little Salmon Faverolles babies that were producing big-time bubbles out of their eyes. He said, "I know you want to fix them, but they are too far gone, and you don't know the first thing about treating poultry illness. This should not be your introduction to raising poultry."

Sorry for not getting back to you yesterday Happy, I had several friends of mine call me, (who filled me in on all the things that went on at the sale), and I lost track of time. I would love to meet up with you in the Fall, if I have the time to attend the BST.
The gentleman that runs this event, (John Hawkins), is a very good friend of mine and one of the finest and honest people around, I will fill him in on some of the complaints about this SOB. In the mean time, don't let it get you discouraged or let you down, there are many excellent people in our hobby and only a few a..holes. Pete.

That's my general rule for anything I do in life...I'll meet a lot of great people and a few jerks I just try hard not to be the jerk!

If John would like to hear from me directly I'd be more than happy to share what I witnessed. I know that all of the members are very busy on this day and don't get to walk around much.

I tried to send you his phone number via private message, hope it worked. Good luck. Pete.