Bird sales and my observations

[SamDavis]

I'm a sucker for gadgets and always manage to find a few new ones. This year it was the all-plastic carry boxes from Italy. They are excellent, and well done to the enterprising young forum member who brought these in. You deserve to do well!!

I was keen to see the full range of these but unfortunately for me they were all sold by the time I got a chance to have a wander around. I only saw Craig's briefly but it looked to be great quality.

One thing that has concerned me about sales is some comments from non-bird people about the small size of cages. Many just have no idea that most of us keep our birds in large and often planted aviaries. This ignorance does our hobby a huge disservice and I suspect may be used as a catalyst for huge issues by the animal lib fraternity at some stage in the future. We need to be proactive - some thoughts include sellers having photos of their setups (also good for us all to see) or maybe aviary builders could setup displays including plants from the local nursery and some birds to show a typical setup.

[Pictorella]

I'm a sucker for gadgets and always manage to find a few new ones. This year it was the all-plastic carry boxes from Italy. They are excellent, and well done to the enterprising young forum member who brought these in. You deserve to do well!!

I was keen to see the full range of these but unfortunately for me they were all sold by the time I got a chance to have a wander around. I only saw Craig's briefly but it looked to be great quality.

One thing that has concerned me about sales is some comments from non-bird people about the small size of cages. Many just have no idea that most of us keep our birds in large and often planted aviaries. This ignorance does our hobby a huge disservice and I suspect may be used as a catalyst for huge issues by the animal lib fraternity at some stage in the future. We need to be proactive - some thoughts include sellers having photos of their setups (also good for us all to see) or maybe aviary builders could setup displays including plants from the local nursery and some birds to show a typical setup.

Good idea but maybe just having simple signage around the entrance and in the hall explaining why the birds are in smaller cages would be simpler?

[TomDeGraaff]

I feel that some sellers need to get their act together when presenting birds for sale.
As we see on this forum, people are out and about with their smart phones taking pictures.
I love to see these but worry a bit about what other photos are being circulated to our detractors when a person presents their birds in shoddy, dark, crowded cages.
It concerns me that these people care so little for their birds that they house them this way and expect others to accept that as okay. It is not okay.
Tom

[landferno]

Ive always enjoyed birdsales and will usually go to the geelong, bendigo, ballarat, melbourne and mornington peninsula sales in victoria every year. Sell at some, not at others I have breathing issues with birds in small spaces so I find the mornington peninsula sale easily the best for space, easier to get around and breathe!! The ballarat sale really needs to be held in a different venue, being the last sale of the year its always a mad crush (and I cant breathe!). I think on the whole they are great but like anything there is a few things that frustrate. The obviously wild caught doublebars and particularly red brows that certain sellers try to flog off down here really annoys me, as well as the guys that buy Cubans and red faced parrot finches for export. Apparently hybrids are banned in Vic but I see assorted old world finch/canary mules every sale. I don't really have an issue with this but are only viable hybrids banned?!! surely its one rule for all. Overall its great and Im looking forward to the ones coming up

[finchbreeder]

comments from non-bird people about the small size of cages.
I always say to people like this "You and I live in houses and holiday in caravans. Well the birds are the same, they live in avairys and visit sales in cages." Maybe a sign to this effect with photos of a couple of avairys, as already suggested, at each sale would be good. Also requesting that any reporters from the local paper include this information in their reports.
LML

[Red]

comments from non-bird people about the small size of cages.

I have seen pairs of grass parrots in 1.5 x x 2.4 x 6 meter flights and people still saying the cages are too small. They don't think, it's just the first thing that comes to their mind whenever they see a cage.

[Diane]

The first hour of any bird sale could legally be classed as a contact sport!
Everyone pushing and shoving and using the carry boxes to protect themselves which generally bumps into the person in front. Prams and pushchairs end up doing the same thing as the driver is more focused on watching the birds than the direction of the pram, however prams are preferable to the young running amok in the aisles with parents either chasing or shouting at their offspring.
Chatters in the middle of a busy aisle is definitely a minus, they end up being an immovable island while the reduced available space around them clogs up with people trying to pass in each direction, what never ceases to amaze me is their total lack of understanding of the situation they are creating. The same situation can be seen in supermarkets....argghhh!
As has been suggested a one way system would help but as with all things there will always be the individual who wants to buck the system.
My local club is strict on the seller having clean and not all wire cages. The committee believes it reflects badly on the club to allow such things. Good for them they back it up with action too. They also use the sell by table method rather than sell by bird.

[TomDeGraaff]

If you take a six-year-old to a bird sale, provide them with a helmet!!! My daughter got her fair share of clunks when I took her to one. Those boxes are dangerous.

Wider aisles would alleviate many problems but organisers often want a maximum of stall holders to increase the numbers of birds to see and buy.

I've noticed over the years (since the first Geelong Bird Sale in the 70s) that the quality of a sale rises and falls depending on the organisers and their helpers.

Also, when our Code of Practice came in, the VAC provided stewards to oversee the implementation. Most organisers supported the stewards and backed the steward when confronted by some not-so-happy sellers. This is very important in sales. Make a policy, advertise it but make sure you strongly support the policy and the steward enforcing it. If you make an exception, it weakens the stance of the steward. I think this sometimes happens when hybrids, mixed species cages (" it's just one bird!") or overcrowded cages are brought in.

Whilst I haven't been around the Bird Sale scene that much in recent years, Victoria also banned other animals in the venue both for sale and being lead/carried by people. The exception was guide dogs. Is this the case everywhere? Invertebrates are excepted since they are live food!!

I would like to see wider aisles and rope barriers between sellers and the public. This means less sellers but it also means a less stressful sale for the sellers and the birds.

Tom

[wagga]

After reading through the replies that my (negative) observations are very similar to others, as are the positives too. The solutions to rectifying some of the minor 'problems' that we all have encounter over the years at the bird sales can vary from simple to logistically unachievable. We all realise that the size of a suitable venue will dictate the space available for the amount of sellers, tables and isle widths. Remembering that most smaller regional towns are limited to a hall/pavilion at the show grounds or the multi purpose sports centre. Enforcing or educating people into abiding by their rules and regulations will depend IMO on how each bird sale committee decides to comply or not. To try and change a persons perception or belief, in relation to bird keeping or breeding, can be near impossible. Educating the public by utilising the print, electronic and social media's should be encouraged by all. Signs displayed inside and out of the venue can used as a visual stimuli that we are trying to achieve in aviculture, our hobby.

The Positives that I receive from attending these events always reinvigorate my enthusiasm into my bird keeping.

Here is my observation list of positives.
Seeing old friends or making new ones,
buying that elusive bird,
selling my surplus birds in a single day,
buying from the producers of bird related products,
a change in location each time,
visiting aviaries outside my area which can include the above items,
exchanging ideas with fellow enthusiasts,
keeping up to date with current technologies,
actually speaking to someone in person,

belief in good people still exists in society, ie those who helped my friend on the weekend in his time of need,

Al