As many of the New Zealand members will know today was the Manawatu Avicultural Society Sale Day held in Feilding. Regarded as one of the biggest if not the biggest annual sale day in New Zealand, I thought I would give everyone a brief update on the sale.

 

The day started early for us leaving at 5.30am from Wellington to make the 2 hour trek to Feilding. We were fairly lucky as some bird breeders had  travelled far and wide.  I spoke to a gentleman who made the long haul from the South Island and a couple who came down from Auckland.

 

The doors opened at 8am and the hall was quickly filled with eager bird breeders looking for a bargain and  hard sellers not wanting to give away a bargain.

 

The selection of birds this year was particularly good with some good examples of Princess of Wales, Mutation Red-rumps and a good variety of the usual Budgies, Finches and Cockatiels.

 

I was personally looking for Lutino Budgies and could only find one which was a little disappointing but this was made up by finding some hen Gouldians for sale rather than pairs. All in all I was fairly satisfied and left with everything (except a roll of wire) that I went to buy.

 

The Manawatu club have obviously been making a concerted effort to enforce cage standards for sellers and this was evident more this year than in the past. Lots of bird breeders are now using show cages and double breeders to display their birds and the club has to be congratulated in a move towards this. I could never understand why sellers would put birds in hard to see cardboard boxes with little light, surely if you want to sell your birds you should display them in clearly easy to see cages?

Anyway that's my little rant over and the club seem to be doing their best to help address the problem.

The Manawatu club themselves couldn’t have been more accommodating.  They were quite happy when I asked if I could place flyers advertising the website at the main entrance as customers came through and they also put on a fantastic morning tea with cakes and savouries.

 

The usual faces within the birding community were there and as always it gave a chance for breeders to catch up and have a chat about last years breeding season or for some a lack of one.

 

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day and an excellent selection of birds and accessories. Roll on next year when hopefully the website might prove to be popular enough to run a small stand.

 

Once again thanks to the Manawata Avicultural Society for all their hospitality.

 

For more information about the Manawatu Avicultural Society please visit http://www.manbirdclub.co.nz/